Dom Ruso on Church Planting in Quebec and Making the Bible Make Sense in a Secular World

In this conversation, Jason sits down with Dom Ruso, pastor of The 180 Church in Greater Montreal, to talk about the joys and challenges of church planting in one of the most secularized contexts in North America.

Dom shares openly about his discernment journey, how God drew him and his wife back to Quebec despite initial resistance, and what it has looked like to build a church community from scratch in a region where many are spiritually open but institutionally skeptical.

Jason and Dom explore themes that matter deeply to pastors today:

Dom’s honest wrestle with returning to Quebec, and the slow ways God confirmed the call to plant a church there.
The unique dynamics of Quebec culture and what it means to preach the Bible in ways that connect with people who carry wounds from religion or who feel indifferent toward Christianity.
How congregations can embody health and unity in a divided cultural landscape, and what Canada’s regional differences can teach us about God’s work across the country.
Why it’s not enough to “tell” people what the Bible says, but to invite them into its story, and how plot points of Scripture resonate with modern longings for justice, meaning, and identity.
Why it matters to recover a distinct vision of pastoral calling, and how the overlap with modern leadership and coaching culture can blur what shepherding the people of God really means.

Dom also talks about his new book, The Bible for a Shifting Secular Age, which brings together his pastoral experience and academic work to offer handles for understanding secularism and fresh ways of presenting Scripture today.

Timestamps
01:20 – Meet Dom Ruso: family, context, and calling in Quebec
03:35 – The long discernment: resisting, then embracing the call to plant
07:30 – Starting The 180 Church & surviving COVID as a new plant
11:20 – Lessons from church planting and the temptation to “do it better”
12:45 – The church’s prophetic witness in a divided Canada
16:30 – Unity across Canada’s diverse regions & learning from one another
17:55 – Dom’s academic journey and how study shaped his pastoral voice
20:05 – The Bible for a Shifting Secular Age: why he wrote it
24:05 – Preaching the Bible in a secular context: story, justice, and relevance
33:05 – Pastors vs. life coaches: reclaiming the unique pastoral calling

Show Notes

The 180 Church - https://theoneeighty.ca/
The Bible for a Shifting Secular Age - https://www.amazon.ca/Bible-Shifting-...
Give to our $30,000 August Match Campaign - https://www.thepastorate.ca/give
⁠⁠Fall 2025 Pastors Retreat at Barnabas Landing⁠⁠ - https://www.thepastorate.ca/events/pa...
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Thank You to Our Episode Sponsor

Special thanks to the Canadian Bible Society for making this episode possible. We invite you to explore their ⁠Bible Course⁠ to help your church grow in Scripture engagement. - https://biblesociety.ca/thebiblecourse/

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