Sunder Krishnan is an Indian-born Canadian pastor, Bible teacher, and author best known for leading Rexdale Alliance Church in Toronto for 36 years. He grew up in an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family in New Delhi, trained as a mechanical engineer at MIT, and gave it all up to preach the Bible in a working-class corner of Etobicoke. Today, retired from the pulpit he held for over three decades, he spends his time mentoring younger pastors and training people to pray. This is the story of how an engineer from India ended up shaping Canadian evangelical preaching for a generation. [IMAGE: Sunder Krishnan preaching at Rexdale Alliance Church]
At a Glance
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Sunder Krishnan |
| Born | New Delhi, India (exact date not publicly documented) |
| Nationality | Indian-born Canadian |
| Spouse | Shyamala Krishnan (m. 1971) |
| Children | Vijay and Sheila |
| Grandchildren | Five to six (sources vary) |
| Education | |
| Undergraduate | B.Tech, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi |
| Graduate | M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) |
| Ministry | |
| Title | Pastor Emeritus (retired Senior Pastor) |
| Church | Rexdale Alliance Church, Etobicoke, Toronto |
| Denomination | Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada |
| Pastoral staff since | 1980 |
| Senior Pastor since | 1997 |
| Retired | 2016 |
| Career | |
| Pre-ministry career | Safety analysis engineer, Atomic Energy of Canada |
| Books | Loving God With All You’ve Got (Moody, 2008); Pray Big and Pray Bold |
| Net worth | Not publicly documented; unverifiable |
Early Life and Background
Sunder Krishnan grew up in New Delhi, India, in an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family. Hindu ritual shaped his childhood. Faith of any kind, in his own later telling, was more custom than conviction at that point in his life.
That changed at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, one of India’s most competitive engineering schools. During his first year there, Krishnan encountered Youth for Christ, a campus ministry group. That encounter led to his conversion to Christianity, a decision that would have been costly and countercultural inside a devout Brahmin household.
He finished his B.Tech at IIT and then crossed the world for graduate study, earning a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in the United States. From there, he moved into a technical career, working in safety analysis for Atomic Energy of Canada. He was, by every measure, on track to be a career nuclear engineer. [IMAGE: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi campus]
From Engineering to the Pulpit
Krishnan felt a call to full-time ministry in 1980. He walked away from engineering and joined the pastoral staff at Rexdale Alliance Church in Etobicoke, a working-class, increasingly multicultural part of Toronto. The church belonged to the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada, a denomination built around evangelism, discipleship, and world missions.
He didn’t arrive as senior pastor. He spent 17 years on staff before being named Senior Pastor in 1997. That patience shaped how he later mentored younger leaders: he’d lived the long, unglamorous middle of ministry himself before he ever led from the front.
Rexdale sits in one of Toronto’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods, and the church grew to reflect that. Over the years it added Mandarin and Cambodian-language services alongside its English congregation. Krishnan’s engineering background showed up in how he taught: structured, logical, verse-by-verse, but never dry. People who sat under his preaching often describe it as intellectually serious without losing pastoral warmth.
Rise to Prominence
Krishnan didn’t build a media empire or chase a national platform. His reputation grew the old way: through the pulpit, through conferences, and through people who heard him once and told others.
He became a regular speaker at missions conferences, concerts of prayer, and college ministry events across North America. He was invited to speak at the General Assembly of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada and the General Council of the Alliance in the United States, two of the denomination’s largest gatherings. He also spoke at Urbana, InterVarsity’s massive student missions conference, putting his preaching in front of thousands of young adults weighing a call to missions.
His overseas ministry ran alongside his Toronto pulpit. He regularly traveled to teach and encourage missionaries and pastors serving in difficult fields, work that Rexdale’s congregation supported by releasing him for weeks at a time each year. [IMAGE: Sunder Krishnan speaking at a missions conference]
Books and Publications
Krishnan has written on the two subjects that mark his ministry most clearly: love for God and bold prayer.
Loving God With All You’ve Got, published by Moody in 2008, works through what wholehearted devotion to God actually looks like in daily life, not just in feeling. Pray Big and Pray Bold reflects his post-retirement focus on training intercessors and pushing Christians past small, safe prayers.
He’s also contributed writing on missions and global vision within Alliance denominational circles, drawing on his years of overseas ministry to pastors and missionaries.
Personal Life
Krishnan has been married to Shyamala since 1971, meaning their marriage predates his call to ministry by nearly a decade. They have two grown children, Vijay and Sheila, and several grandchildren.
Outside the pulpit, Krishnan is an amateur photographer and a jazz enthusiast. Neither shows up often in his public ministry, but both point to a man who never fully lost the curious, detail-oriented mind of the engineer he trained to be.
Theology and Ministry Philosophy
Krishnan’s preaching sits firmly within evangelical, expository Bible teaching. He treats Scripture as the final authority for faith and practice and builds his sermons around walking through books of the Bible verse by verse rather than topic-hopping.
Prayer sits at the center of his theology of ministry. He’s said plainly that no effective ministry happens apart from prayer, and his post-retirement work leans almost entirely into training people to intercede seriously rather than casually. He also holds a strong view of the local church as a place where genuine discipleship happens through community and spiritual gifts, not just through the sermon.
His approach to church diversity is worth noting on its own. Rexdale didn’t just tolerate its multicultural neighborhood; it built services around it. That reflects a conviction that the local church should look like the actual neighborhood it sits in, not a curated version of it.
Influence and Legacy
Krishnan’s clearest legacy is Rexdale Alliance Church itself: a congregation that grew from a standard suburban church into a multilingual, multiethnic body that still runs services in English, Mandarin, and Khmer. That kind of transformation rarely happens by accident. It happens because leadership decided the church’s shape should match its neighborhood.
His second legacy is less visible but arguably more lasting: the younger pastors and ministry leaders he’s mentored since retiring in 2016. Rather than stepping fully out of ministry, he redirected his remaining years toward raising up the next generation and building a culture of serious prayer among them. He still guest preaches at churches across Ontario, including First Alliance Church in Toronto and West Highland in Hamilton.
Within the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada, he’s remembered as a preacher whose engineering precision and pastoral heart reached beyond his own congregation, shaping how a wider circle of Canadian evangelicals thinks about expository preaching and missions engagement.
Criticism and Controversies
No significant public controversy or documented criticism of Sunder Krishnan’s ministry, theology, or personal conduct appears in available records. His public profile has stayed consistent: a Bible teacher known for depth and integrity rather than scandal or public dispute.
Net Worth and Financial Information
No reliable, publicly available figures exist for Sunder Krishnan’s net worth. He spent his career as a denominational pastor rather than a media personality or business figure, and Alliance churches don’t typically publish pastoral compensation. Any specific dollar figure circulating online would be speculation, so none is offered here.
Interesting Facts
- He trained as a mechanical engineer at MIT before ever preaching a sermon.
- He grew up in an orthodox Hindu Brahmin household and converted to Christianity as a university student in India.
- He worked in nuclear safety analysis for Atomic Energy of Canada before entering ministry.
- He led one church, Rexdale Alliance, for the entire 36 years of his pastoral career.
- He’s an amateur photographer and a jazz enthusiast outside of ministry.
- Rexdale Alliance Church runs services in English, Mandarin, and Khmer, a direct reflection of the diversity Krishnan built the church around.
Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| Early life | Born in New Delhi, India, into an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family |
| University years | Converts to Christianity through Youth for Christ during first year at IIT Delhi |
| — | Completes B.Tech at IIT Delhi |
| — | Earns M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT |
| — | Works in safety analysis for Atomic Energy of Canada |
| 1971 | Marries Shyamala |
| 1980 | Answers call to ministry; joins pastoral staff at Rexdale Alliance Church |
| 1997 | Becomes Senior Pastor of Rexdale Alliance Church |
| 2016 | Retires as Senior Pastor after 36 years at the church |
| Post-2016 | Focuses on mentoring young leaders and mobilizing intercessors; continues guest preaching |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Sunder Krishnan?
Sunder Krishnan is an Indian-born Canadian pastor and author who led Rexdale Alliance Church in Toronto for 36 years before retiring in 2016. He’s known for expository Bible teaching and for mentoring younger ministry leaders.
What church did Sunder Krishnan pastor?
He pastored Rexdale Alliance Church in Etobicoke, Toronto, part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. He joined the staff in 1980 and served as Senior Pastor from 1997 until his retirement in 2016.
Is Sunder Krishnan connected to Back to the Bible Canada?
No. Back to the Bible Canada is a separate national Bible-teaching ministry, currently led by Dr. John Neufeld, who joined that organization in 2015 after pastoring a large congregation in Vancouver. Sunder Krishnan’s ministry has always centered on Rexdale Alliance Church, not on radio or broadcast teaching.
What did Sunder Krishnan do before becoming a pastor?
He trained as a mechanical engineer, earning his B.Tech from IIT Delhi and his M.S. from MIT, then worked in safety analysis for Atomic Energy of Canada before entering ministry in 1980.
What books has Sunder Krishnan written?
He’s the author of Loving God With All You’ve Got (Moody, 2008) and Pray Big and Pray Bold, both centered on wholehearted devotion to God and bold, disciplined prayer.
Is Sunder Krishnan still preaching?
He retired as Senior Pastor of Rexdale Alliance Church in 2016 but continues to guest preach at churches across Ontario and speak at conferences, alongside mentoring younger pastors and training intercessors.
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