"He who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who
lives and believes in Me will never die." - John 11:25

With deep sadness, we announce the heavenly homecoming of Pastor Prakash Masih who passed away peacefully with family by his side on March 4, 2025. Pastor Prakash was born October 12, 1948 in Santokh Majra, Haryana, India. He arrived in Canada in May 1974 and was married to Olive the next month. His accomplishments as a newcomer to Canada are a testament to his diligent and hardworking nature. He tirelessly worked towards earning credentials to begin his career here: first finishing Grade 13 English, and then continuing on at Centennial College, earning his Bachelor of Nursing and Phlebotomy and Respiratory Technician certifications. In a matter of a few short years, Prakash had established his career and family, a remarkable feat for a new immigrant in the early 1980’s.

An exceptionally caring, selfless, and devoted father and husband of 50 years, Prakash will be dearly missed by his wife, Olive, daughters Sonia (Jon), Sarah (Ricardo), and Shannon (Bobby), granddaughter Natasha, and grandsons Zachariah and Christian. He will be lovingly remembered by his brother Mubarak (Caroline), sister Mariam (Jonathan), sister-in-law Shamim, and his nephews and nieces: Sanjay (Vini), Rajiv (Irena), Anoop (Geeta), Oliver (Oksana), Ashit, Steven (Jieum), Anil (Jennifer), Philip, Joel (Asha), Tania (Sumeet), Ritu (Atul), Angelica (Samir), Ruchica (Lalith), Jane (Nick), Monica, Sharon (Stefan), Mabel (Scott), Seema, Melanie (Ryan), and over 25 grand-nieces and grand-nephews. He is joyfully reunited with his late father (Fateh), mother (Isso), brothers (Manzoor and Maqbul), and mother-in-law (Mabel David).

Prakash spent many years in the nursing and medical services sector, working at Scarborough General, North York General, Medisys, Canadian Red Cross and later as a manager at Canadian Blood Services for 25 years. When not working, you would find him singing enthusiastically in the family room while playing the harmonium, tending to his garden, cooking up interesting concoctions, having fiery carrom board matches late into the night, flying a kite with his granddaughter, or taking the family on long road trips. Despite his personal accomplishments and many accolades in the health sciences, his passion for ministry was the true driving force and calling. Prakash’s life and ministry was characterized by his deep faith in Christ, his kind-hearted spirit, and selfless dedication to the Lord and His people. He leaves behind a profound legacy of love, Christian faith, and unwavering service to the Lord, his family, and the South Asian community.

Prakash was involved in countless outreach ministries as he had a passion for serving the South Asian community, and was an integral part of many grassroot Urdu/Hindi/Punjabi churches before pursuing his Masters of Divinity from Tyndale college in 2001, becoming ordained in 2002, and then founding and becoming the lead pastor at NavJeewan Community Church in August 2002, where he served faithfully for over 20 years. Some highlights of his ministry work include being a co-host and musical guest on the Crossroads Christian Communication ethnic outreach show “Ujala”. He was also designated as an official translator for Hindi/Urdu during the Billy Graham Mission Ontario Crusade in Toronto at Skydome in 1995, and hosted conventions for speakers and worshippers such as Dr. David Manual, Pastor Ernest Mall, Austin Raj Rattan, Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim, Sheldon Bangera, Amos Tiwade, Anil Kant, and Vijay Benedict. Most recently, Pastor Prakash, Olive, and the NavJeewan Community Church family have been passionately engaged in sharing the message of Jesus Christ.

In the summer of 2019, Pastor Prakash was diagnosed with cancer, and yet he continued to lead services even through immensely difficult rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, barely ever missing a church service in 50 years. On both good and difficult days, Pastor Prakash never let anyone or anything take away from his unchanging proclamation of “Jai Masih ki!” (Praise the Lord) at the pulpit – a testament to his unwavering faith and trust in Jesus.

Pastor Prakash was truly a man after God’s own heart. His faith was unshakable as he persevered through his challenging battle with cancer. He was a husband, father, grandfather, pastor, teacher, mentor, confidante, and friend to many. He possessed the rare ability to relate to people across all age brackets and from varying cultural backgrounds. He will be deeply missed, even as we have the unwavering hope that he has gone ahead of us to a place of perfection, without pain and tears. He wrote, “Jesus is waiting,” mere hours before he was peacefully welcomed into the arms of his Heavenly Father after defying the odds and having battled cancer past the five year expected survival rate. Because of our Lord Jesus Christ, he has defeated death by victoriously passing on to heaven after a courageous, devoted, and blessed life serving the Lord, his family, and community.

"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

A livestream will also be available for those who can not attend in person by clicking on the tab below.