Brendan Witton is a Canadian pastor and church leader based in Toronto, Ontario. He serves as Lead Pastor of Toronto City Church alongside his wife, Sharon Joy Witton, and as President of Ministers Network Canada, a national fellowship of nearly 1,000 ministers. Witton is known for planting a youth congregation out of the back of a motorcycle shop and growing it into one of Toronto’s more visible non-denominational churches.
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Brendan Witton |
| Born | Not publicly disclosed |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Spouse | Sharon Joy Witton (m. 2005) |
| Children | Micah Witton; Shiloh Witton |
| Education | |
| Bible college | World Harvest Bible College |
| Ministry | |
| Title | Lead Pastor; President, Ministers Network Canada |
| Church | Toronto City Church, Toronto, Ontario |
| Denomination | Non-denominational (Charismatic), affiliated with Ministers Network Canada |
| Since | 2013 (as Lead Pastor of Toronto City Church) |
| Website | torontocitychurch.com |
| Career | |
| Teaching role | Professor at Canada Christian College (since 2019) |
| Net worth | Not publicly disclosed |
Early Life and Background
Brendan Witton grew up in a Christian home. Church websites describe several “profound experiences with the Lord” that shaped him as a child and teenager, though the details of those moments haven’t been made public. What is clear is that faith wasn’t a side interest for him growing up. It was the center of the house.
By age 20, Witton was already working in full-time ministry. He took a job as the English Youth Pastor inside a Korean-Canadian church in the Toronto area, a role that put a young leader in charge of reaching kids who were growing up between two cultures and two languages. That job became the training ground for everything that followed.
[IMAGE: Young pastor leading a youth group Bible study]
Ministry and Career
Starting Church Without Limits
Two years into youth pastoring, Witton did something most 22-year-olds wouldn’t attempt. He planted his own church.
He called it Church Without Limits, and the name fit the origin story. It started as a Saturday night Bible study for teenagers, held in the back of a motorcycle shop in Toronto. No sanctuary. No parking lot. Just folding chairs, a group of young people, and a pastor barely older than the crowd he was leading.
Sharon Joy, who would later become his wife, joined him not long after the church began. Together they built Church Without Limits into a full congregation over the next 13 years, with Saturday night services becoming the church’s signature rhythm. It reached young people who weren’t necessarily looking for a traditional Sunday morning experience.
The Merger With Toronto City Church
Toronto City Church has a longer history than Witton’s own ministry. It began in 1988 as Covenant Christian Church, planted by Pastors Paul and Elaine Yuke after they moved to Toronto from Halifax, Nova Scotia. In the early 2000s, Paul and Elaine stepped into a more apostolic role and handed leadership to their son, Pastor Steven, and his wife, Pastor Katherine, who oversaw the purchase of the church’s current building on Curity Avenue.
In 2013, Steven and Katherine felt called toward a new season of church planting. They invited Brendan and Sharon Witton to step in as Lead Pastors. Rather than simply taking over, the Wittons merged their own congregation into it, forming what’s now known as Toronto City Church, a Church Without Limits. It’s a detail that matters: Witton didn’t abandon what he’d built. He folded it into something bigger.
[IMAGE: Toronto City Church building on Curity Avenue]
Ministers Network Canada
Witton’s influence extends past his own church. He serves as President of Ministers Network Canada, a fellowship connecting close to 1,000 ministers and several hundred churches across the country. The network runs an annual national conference, regional gatherings, ordination and licensing services, and monthly training calls for pastors.
He took on the presidency after Dr. Rick Ciaramitaro, who led the network for years, intentionally stepped back to hand leadership to the next generation. Witton now serves on the network’s board alongside fellow pastor Jonathan Bounds, who leads churches in Lloydminster and Loon Lake, Saskatchewan. Federal incorporation records list both men as directors of the organization, a rare case where a leadership connection can be verified on paper and not just in a bio.
Teaching at Canada Christian College
Since 2019, Witton has taught at Canada Christian College, where his courses focus on Church Planting, Next Generation Ministry, and Emotionally Healthy Christianity. It’s a natural extension of his own story. He’s not teaching theory. He’s teaching from a church he planted himself, in a motorcycle shop, before it grew into something else entirely.
Personal Life
Brendan and Sharon Witton have been married since 2005. They have two children, Micah and Shiloh, and by all accounts Brendan is the kind of dad who shows up loud at Micah’s basketball games. His faculty bio at Canada Christian College even admits he has to work hard to remember that the same energy doesn’t belong at Shiloh’s ballet recitals.
Outside of ministry, Witton enjoys mountain biking and a good story, whether that’s in a book or told across a dinner table. His favorite verse is Acts 13:36, which describes David serving God’s purpose “in his own generation.” It’s a fitting choice for a pastor who’s spent his career trying to reach the generation in front of him, whether that meant a motorcycle shop Bible study in 2000 or a Bible college classroom in 2026.
[IMAGE: Family portrait style image representing pastoral family life]
Ministry Philosophy
Toronto City Church’s mission statement is short and direct: know God, and make Him known. The church operates around a set of values it calls CREEDS, which stands for Creativity, Relationship, Evangelism, Excellence, Discipleship, and Supernatural. Witton has described the church’s posture using a memorable image: they see themselves as a rescue ship, not a cruise ship. The point isn’t comfort. It’s reaching people.
That same instinct shows up in how the church was built. It didn’t start in a rented auditorium with a polished band. It started with teenagers and folding chairs in the back of a motorcycle shop. Witton’s ministry philosophy leans on relationship over formality, and on meeting people where the culture actually is rather than waiting for them to show up somewhere traditional.
Influence and Legacy
Witton’s reach runs through two channels. Locally, he leads a church that traces its roots back to 1988 and has passed through three generations of pastoral leadership, a rare kind of continuity in church planting circles. Nationally, his role at Ministers Network Canada puts him in a position to shape how hundreds of churches across Canada train, ordain, and support their own pastors.
His teaching role at Canada Christian College adds a third layer. Students studying church planting and next-generation ministry are learning directly from someone who did both, starting as a 20-year-old youth pastor and eventually taking over a congregation founded before he was even in ministry.
Criticism and Controversies
There’s no public record of controversy, litigation, or formal criticism connected to Brendan Witton or Toronto City Church. That absence is worth stating plainly rather than leaving unaddressed, since readers researching any public ministry figure often want to know one way or the other.
Net Worth and Financial Information
Brendan Witton’s net worth, salary, and personal finances are not publicly disclosed. Toronto City Church has not published compensation figures, and no independent financial reporting on Witton exists. Any number circulating online should be treated as speculation rather than fact.
Interesting Facts
- Church Without Limits, the congregation Witton planted at 22, began as a Saturday night Bible study inside a motorcycle shop.
- He started full-time ministry at 20, as an English-language youth pastor inside a Korean-Canadian church.
- Toronto City Church has had exactly three pastoral leadership generations: founders Paul and Elaine Yuke, their son Steven and his wife Katherine, and now Brendan and Sharon Witton.
- Witton admits he has to consciously tone down his sports-dad enthusiasm when he’s at his daughter’s ballet recitals instead of his son’s basketball games.
- He sits on the board of Ministers Network Canada alongside fellow pastor Jonathan Bounds, a connection confirmed through federal corporate filings.
Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| ~2000 | Becomes English Youth Pastor at a Korean-Canadian church in Toronto, age 20 |
| 2000 | Plants Church Without Limits, starting as a Saturday night Bible study in a motorcycle shop |
| 2005 | Marries Sharon Joy |
| 2013 | Merges Church Without Limits into Toronto City Church; becomes Lead Pastor with Sharon |
| 2019 | Begins teaching at Canada Christian College |
| 2023 | Toronto City Church marks its 35th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of the merger |
| 2025 | Becomes President of Ministers Network Canada |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Brendan Witton?
Brendan Witton is a Canadian pastor who leads Toronto City Church alongside his wife, Sharon, and serves as President of Ministers Network Canada.
What church does Brendan Witton pastor?
He is Lead Pastor of Toronto City Church in Toronto, Ontario, a role he has held since 2013.
Who is Brendan Witton’s wife?
His wife is Sharon Joy Witton, who serves as Co-Lead Pastor of Toronto City Church. They married in 2005 and have two children, Micah and Shiloh.
What is Church Without Limits?
Church Without Limits was a youth-focused congregation Brendan Witton planted around 2000, starting as a Bible study in a motorcycle shop. It merged with Toronto City Church in 2013.
Is Toronto City Church part of a denomination?
No. Toronto City Church is non-denominational and is instead part of Ministers Network Canada, a national fellowship of churches and ministers.
What is Ministers Network Canada?
Ministers Network Canada is a fellowship of roughly 1,000 ministers and several hundred churches across Canada, offering ordination, licensing, training, and an annual national conference. Brendan Witton currently serves as its President.
Where did Brendan Witton study?
He attended World Harvest Bible College and now teaches church planting and next-generation ministry courses at Canada Christian College.
If Brendan Witton’s story shows anything, it’s that a church doesn’t need a building to start. It needs someone willing to show up on a Saturday night with folding chairs. If that stirs something in you, take one step this week: find a way to serve the next generation in your own church.
