On January 23, 2023, World Renew Canada Acting Board Chair Dennis Degroot announced that the Canadian Board of Directors approved Jamie McIntosh to the office of executive director for Canada. McIntosh will be introduced to the Christian Reformed Church of North America’s Council of Delegates in May and the decision will be ratified by the denominational Synod in June.

McIntosh has obtained an undergraduate degree in pastoral studies from North Central University, a graduate degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford, and leadership training through Genesis Fellowship, Arrow Leadership and Africa Board Fellowship.

McIntosh will transition into the Canadian directorship over two months beginning February 16. He succeeds Ida Kaastra Mutoigo, who held the role from 2006 until 2022, and Kenneth Kim (Director – International Disaster Response), who graciously stepped into the role in an interim capacity over the past year and will continue on for the transition period before returning to his previous role.

“We are excited to have a dynamic and inspired person such as Jamie McIntosh in this executive co-leadership role, leading us into what we know to be a challenging and exciting time in our world as we seek to meet the urgent needs for justice and mercy, reconciliation, and restoration, bringing to life Christ’s Kingdom realities for the world’s most vulnerable,” said DeGroot.

McIntosh will be working alongside Carol Bremer-Bennett, Executive Director for World Renew, U.S. McIntosh‘s extensive experience in international humanitarian, development and justice work includes more than 25 years of organizational leadership in a variety of pastoral and executive positions in Canada and the United States. His professional activities also include board and advisory roles for child development, entrepreneurship, and community health organizations around the world. He is perhaps best known to many in the Christian Canadian community as founder of International Justice Mission Canada.

As Executive Director for World Renew Canada, McIntosh will provide overall direction to the organization, perform its executive and administrative functions, and support the Canada Board and US-Canada Joint Ministry Council.

“I’m excited to serve with World Renew, joining families courageously at work rekindling hope and reconciling lives in their communities, amidst rising volatility, vulnerability, and violence,” said McIntosh. “The hallmarks of dignity and equality evident in World Renew’s approach to local empowerment resonate deeply, as does the urgent imagination to see all God’s creation, our battered planet, and our broken worlds beautifully restored. I am drawn to this expanding movement of souls seeking to live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with all humanity, in the light of Christ’s boundless love.”

World Renew is a faith-based non-profit that works each year in more than 30 countries to address poverty, hunger, and injustice through development and disaster response programs in communities of poverty. These programs are carried out through local Christian partner organizations and churches and are supported by World Renew’s generous constituents in North America and its alliances with well-established networks of government and non-government organizations worldwide.

For media enquiries, please contact Naomi Bula, Director of Marketing and Communications, World Renew Canada, at [email protected].