Claude Mathieu

Claude was born in Montreal West to a Catholic French-Canadian father and Trinidadian mother. He moved to Toronto in 1977 and grew up in Agincourt. He attended Catholic schools and church for many years until he was introduced by a cousin to a brethren church in 1987. A year later after becoming a member of Markham Bible Chapel, he was saved and on October 2, 1988, was baptized along with his future wife, Lisa. 

Several years later, Lisa and Claude started dating and were married on July 18, 1997. In 2003, they were blessed with a baby girl named Ali and their family was complete. 

Over the years while attending Unionville Alliance Church, Claude has enjoyed helping with Hampers of Hope each Christmas and assisting with the Toronto Alliance Church outreach. In 2017, Claude and Lisa were asked to join the leadership team of the Toronto Alliance Church outreach ministry. Claude is currently a Project Manager for a small construction company in Markham and often uses his skills and knowledge in construction to assist behind the scenes with building maintenance and construction work at UAC. Over the past several years, Claude and Lisa have enjoyed opening up their home to host church events such as the Men’s group and the Seniors group BBQs. Claude has already served on the Board of Elders at UAC for one term and is looking forward to seeing how he can continue to serve the Lord.

Andrew Wallace

Andrew Wallace and his family began attending Unionville Alliance Church in 2016. He is married to Melissa, and together they have two children: Caleb (11) and Chloe (11). They live in Richmond Hill. Andrew was born and raised in the Ottawa area, then the Niagara region. He came to Toronto in 2004 for work and has been employed as an Electronics Engineer in industries including Life Sciences, Aerospace, and Drinking Water technologies. He attended the Peoples Church for 12 years and served with the Peoples choir for 9 years. 

Growing up, Andrew's spiritual identity was wrapped up in being the son of former missionaries and the son of a pastor. But despite growing up around the church, his understanding of the Bible boiled down to two basic principles: 1. Be a good person and 2. Do good things. Accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour was not really part of the equation early on.

When Andrew left home for university, he was challenged to come to a faith of his own. A friend presented the gospel to him through Evangelism Explosion. All the pieces of the puzzle that had been in place since childhood, but had never made much sense, began to be assembled into a clearer picture of Jesus. During this time, Andrew came to a saving faith. Andrew would go on to study Evangelism Explosion through a practical training course. He also found the study, Experiencing God, to be helpful in discerning the ways in which God may be speaking to us. It is difficult for one to see the narrow road (Matt 7:14) when there is a plank in one's eye (Matt 7:3). Andrew believes that it is a continual process of removing planks and asking for discernment (Matt 7:7) in order to properly hear God and experience Him.