Glenn Smith

Pastors and Church Leaders Track Lead Presenter

Glenn Smith did his graduate studies in Patristics at the University of Ottawa and his doctoral thesis in contextual theology at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago. He has received an honorary doctorate from the Union des universités privées d’Haïti for his contribution to urban theological praxis in that country.

He has been the Executive Director of Christian Direction in Montreal since September 1983—a multi-faceted ministry committed to see God transform urban communities by the concerted actions of committed Christians in the cities of the Francophone world. He is a professor of urban theology and missiology at Institut de théologie pour la francophonie (Université Laval) where he is Academic Dean. He is sessional lecturer at McGill University and at the Université chrétienne du Nord d’Haïti.

He is the co‑author of the book, Espoir pour la ville, Dieu dans la cité (Hope for the city, God in the city), the book, Éduquer les enfants : une vision protestante de l’école, and the book, Histoire du protestantisme au Québec depuis 1960. He is the co‑editor of L’Évangile et le monde urbanisé (The Gospel and Urbanisation), a 3,000 page reader that is into its 5th edition in French and English on urban ministry.  He is the author of the book Suivre Jésus : Dieu nous invite à une formation de disciples qui transforme that was published in English, in French and in Spanish. His forth-coming book is entitled, City Air Makes You Free: To Transform the city through a fresh, biblical hermeneutic. He has also authored a Bible study called Following Jesus into the public sphere of Québec culture. He is the author of numerous articles on urban mission. He was a Senior Associate for Large Cities with the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and has been the director of the afternoon program for the 3rd Congress of Lausanne that took place in Cape Town in October 2010.

While directing the ministry of Christian Direction, Glenn Smith was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities from 1986 to 1990 and its President from 1990‑1992.  He was a member of the Protestant Committee of le Conseil supérieur de l’éducation (Superior Council of Education) from 1986-1991 and its President during the two school years of 1992 and 1993.  He became the President of the Protestant Partnership on Education in 1994.  Moreover from 1993-2006, he was a member of the Board of Directors of World Vision Canada.  In 1994, he became the Chair of the Education Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. In 1996, he also became Vice‑chair of the Alliance francophone des protestants évangéliques du Québec (French Alliance of Protestants and Evangelicals in Québec). Since 1995, he chairs Urbanus, an international partnership committed to providing reflective, practical and contextual education for urban practitioners in large French speaking cities. From 1999-2004, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of IVCF: Canada and of the executive committee of IFES (its international expression). He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Éco-quartier Peter-McGill an organisation located in Montréal.

Urbana Year