Nathan Phillips Square will be alive with the sound of Christian music June 15.

The Christian Music Festival returns to downtown Toronto for the eighth annual celebration of music, culture and faith. It is bringing nearly 250 artists to the stage in the square outside City Hall from noon to 10:30 p.m. While a soundtrack of uplifting Christian music is the main attraction, attendees can also enjoy talks from worship leaders, dance performances, art displays and food vendors. 

Throughout the event, organizers will also be petitioning the federal, provincial and municipal governments to declare December Christian heritage month in Canada.

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Founded by Jay and Molly Banerjei in 2016, the Christian Music Festival has since become the largest non-denominational Christian event of the summer in the city.  

“The festival started because the Lord had told us to do it, and He told us to do it at Nathan Phillips Square. Humanly speaking, this seemed impossible for us as we are realtors by profession, we knew nothing about festivals,” said Molly. 

“The city of Toronto approved our application but only gave us three weeks to put the whole festival together. We looked at each other and said, ‘If the Lord called us to do this, that is what we will do,’ and we took the date and ran with it,” said Jay. 

With some help in finding different Christian artists, choir singers and gospel bands to perform at the inaugural festival, the Banerjeis were able to pull in a crowd of close to 4,000 in 2016. There's been immense growth in just a few years, with last year's event drawing close to 25,000. 

“We have people coming from all over Ontario, all over Canada and even from the United States and beyond,” Molly said. “It is not just our guests, but our performers as well. We now have so many people who want to come and celebrate Christ through music with us that we do not have enough time in the day to book everyone.”

The lineup will consist of a varied selection of artists spanning all genres of Christian music. Everything from contemporary pop and jazz to rock and Christian rap music is on tap. 

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“We like to present to our city and our communities the diversity that is present in the kingdom, whether it is different cultures, food or music,” Jay said. “We have seniors who participate, teenagers who participate and everyone else in between. This truly is 10 and a half hours of nonstop gospel music with 25 unique groups and over 250 people on the stage alone who are here to perform for our community.” 

As with last year, 2024’s event will feature a choir performance from the Carr Street Gospel Church, one of the first Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking Evangelical Baptist churches in Toronto. The Banejeis' hope this serves as a symbol of peace between Russia and Ukraine during the ongoing war. 

“What we want to show everyone including politicians is that only Jesus can bring peace. He is the only one who can bring rivals together as friends and families and if you follow what He tells us to do, there will be no war,” the organizers said. 

The couple affirms the non-denominational aspect of the event, saying it is for anyone who follows Jesus. Jay said he has reached out to the Office of Catholic Youth to attend on the recommendation of Archbishop Francis Leo, who he spoke with at April’s Toronto Police Service Prayer Walk. 

Catholic representation will be stage this year as Isabella Ortiz, a 14-year-old Catholic singer, will be one of the performers. 

Baptist and Evangelical music will likely be more prevalent at the festival due to Catholicism's lack of ubiquity with popular music, something that one cantor has taken notice of. 

“I think the main reason you do not often see Catholicism lumped in with the music culture is that Catholic music has traditionally been seen as being synonymous with classical music which is not as popular in mainstream culture,” said Jonathan Michael, a cantor in Toronto parishes over four decades. 

Michael believes with the right approach and enough time, Catholic music could embed itself deeper into the popular music culture as some other denominations already have. 

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“I hope there is room for both the traditional music to continue to be present at Masses and for new arrangements/compositions to lend themself to modern music. However, I do see the value of Catholic music in popular culture as it could promote the faith's visibility and accessibility, allowing more people to connect with the Roman Catholic message,” he said.

For more, see www.eventbrite.ca/e/christian-music-festival-tickets-837074822327.