About Plesion Studio

Every neighbourhood is unique and special, and so is every person who lives there. Plesion Studio is a local maker community in Chestermere crafting language and experiences that invite us to love our neighbours. It seeks to live into the invitation of Jesus to love our real neighbour as ourselves - and that we were made to live in, with, and for our neighbourhood. It’s the sweet spot for good things to grow. Plesion [play-see'-on] is an ancient Greek word referring to those who are near: our neighbours. A studio is a place of creativity, learning, growth, and purpose. Plesion Studio is a project of Lake Ridge Community Church, is directed by Preston Pouteaux, and we aspire to be whimsically serious about the urgent invitation to patiently love the real people in our neighbourhoods. We hope to create uniquely Canadian publications and art that will inspire us to find goodness in the lives of our neighbours. We seek to be neighbourists who create from lived experience, offer insightful resources, work at better partnerships, and host excellent studio sessions. Together we believe that the beautiful work of living Jesus’ command will renew our own faith, our community in Chestermere, the church in Canada, and neighbourhoods everywhere. In all, we want to be the quirky neighbours who make this way of life so compelling that we wonder why we didn't live this way before.

The best way to be faithful to your neighbourhood is to be creative and nurture the space between neighbours.

About Preston

Dr. Preston Pouteaux is a beekeeper, neighbourhood pastor at Lake Ridge Community Church, and the director of Plesion Studio. He is an engaging speaker, writer, and curator of conversations about faith and neighbourhoods. He studied at Covenant Bible College, Briercrest College, Regent College, Tyndale Seminary, and Jerusalem University College in Israel. He is the author of Imago Dei to Missio Dei [VantagePoint3], the award-winning author of The Bees of Rainbow Falls: Finding Faith, Imagination, and Delight in Your Neighbourhood [Urban Loft Publishers], and of The Neighbours Are Real and Other Beautiful Things [Plesion Studio]. He is a producer and writer of the documentary film “I’ll See You Later” and is a Harvey/Mackey Award winning writer for Faith Today Magazine, Ekstasis Magazine, and Strong Towns. Since 2015 his column, Into the Neighbourhood, has been printed over two millions times in weekly newspapers. Preston lives in Chestermere, Alberta, with his wife Kelly, their daughters Scotia and Ivy, and a few thousand honeybees.