Getting to Know Michael and Man Sandstrom

Michael and Man Sandstrom serve in Edmonton, Alberta, with CIAM Media & Radio Broadcasting. During the 2025 Global Mission Conference, our Communications team from The Peoples Church sat down with Michael and Man to listen and record their discipleship story. 

God often weaves our stories in unexpected ways—drawing us through trials, encounters, and cultures so that His love might shine more brightly. For Michael and Man Sandstrom, that journey has been marked by transformation, courage, and a deep calling to serve. Michael’s heart was stirred decades ago by the testimony of persecuted believers, while Man first encountered Christ in the care of a Christian school. Although both faced rejection and cultural barriers, they discovered the faithful presence of Jesus guiding them at every step. Today, their ministry among Canada’s Indigenous people reflects the power of the gospel to heal, to restore, and to build bridges of hope.

Personal Transformation Stories

One of the most powerful parts of Michael and Man’s journey is how each of them personally encountered Jesus in ways that forever changed their lives.

For Man Sandstrom, faith began as a child when her mother enrolled her in a nearby Christian school in Hong Kong—not because of her belief in the faith, but because it had a good reputation. Coming from a traditional Chinese family steeped in ancestor worship and temple rituals, she had never known a God who loved her simply for who she was. But at that school, she heard about Jesus’ love for children, sang songs like “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and began to sense a new kind of hope. When she wanted to be baptized at the age of twelve, however, her family refused, telling her she was too young to make such a decision. Heartbroken, she drifted away from faith during high school, yet God was still at work. Years later, she was listening to a sermon when she realized that God had been with her all along.

..The preacher was preaching on the prodigal son. How the father had been waiting. I felt right away, that He’d been waiting for me. It was at the end of the service and they asked any newcomers to introduce themselves. So I introduced my name, where I was from, and said, I want to get baptized. So from that day on, I never stopped loving Him. It has been very real and personal in every way, every day.

Man

From then on, her walk with Christ became deeply personal and unshakable—even when it caused tension with her family. She fasted and prayed for loved ones in times of crisis, experienced God’s power firsthand, and steadily shared the gospel with her relatives. Over time, her steadfast witness bore fruit: her grandmother accepted Jesus at the age of ninety-four, and eventually, her parents and cousins also came to faith. Man’s journey is a beautiful reminder that God’s timing is perfect, His love is patient, and His grace reaches even the hardest hearts.

Michael’s story is quite different but equally remarkable. Raised in Sweden (the land of the Vikings), he grew up without any understanding of God or the gospel—celebrating Christmas and Easter without ever knowing their true meaning. In fact, Michael is the first Christian in his family in over a hundred years. As a young businessman, he was ambitious and successful by the world’s standards, achieving much by the age of twenty-four. Yet even in Michael’s success, he felt a quiet emptiness and a hunger for something more. When he moved to Hong Kong, that hunger grew stronger. It was there, through conversations with business associates who shared about the faith of believers in China—many of whom endured challenges with unwavering courage—that Michael first encountered the reality of a living God. Those stories began to stir his heart, pulling him toward a faith he had never known but deeply longed for.

Together, their stories illustrate how Jesus meets us right where we are—whether as a child longing to be loved or as a successful adult searching for meaning. Both Michael and Man discovered the same truth: that Christ alone satisfies, transforms, and calls us into a life of purpose.

An Unexpected Calling

Michael and Man never imagined that their lives would shift so dramatically from successful business careers to full-time missionary work. Yet God has a way of writing stories that no one else can script. Along their journey, Michael and Man experienced a series of unmistakable confirmations—moments that at first appeared to be coincidences but soon revealed God’s unmistakable hand at work.

For Michael, the turning point came with a clear and challenging word from the Lord in a church service in Toronto:

“The preacher was speaking on Jonah going in the opposite direction of God’s calling. The presence of God was very strong. It was like an audible voice, Michael, I want you to give up your education and business, all that you held so high in your life, all that you can do and have accomplished. I want you to serve me full-time. It was a call that required courage, surrender, and trust.

Michael

Together, they made the radical decision to sell everything they had and follow God’s leading to Canada. What looked like loss became a life of deeper purpose, as Michael and Man stepped into ministry with hearts open to wherever God would send them. Michael and Man’s story is a reminder that God’s call often comes when we least expect it—but always leads to something greater than we could imagine.

Discipleship Among Indigenous Communities

For the two of them, discipleship begins with seeing and understanding the real needs of those Michael and Man serve. Their first mission trip to a First Nations reserve opened their eyes to communities shaped by the trauma of residential schools and colonization. Faithful ministry, they discovered, starts with relationships—listening, walking alongside people, and sharing the gospel in simple, meaningful ways. Whether joining small groups reading the Bible by firelight or guiding someone to understand Jesus for the first time, Michael and Man learned that discipleship is often one person at a time, built on trust, patience, and empathy.

…understanding the background of the very people that we were called to, the Indigenous people of Canada, the complexity of it is the trauma of residential schools – trauma of colonization, how all that they have gone through that you never talk about. It’s something that you don’t bring up, because it’s such a trauma. It ties in very much with what we are, dealing with peace and hope in the Peoples’ Global Mission Conference, and that is the unspoken, but it’s there. And if you don’t get to the root of that, you actually have very hard time to even introduce Christ into this… I know we are looking for a program, whether one step, or four when it comes to discipleship, but it was to actually live with the people, struggle with the people, them coming alongside us when we struggled, bringing all of that to Christ in prayer, even in our weakest point of health challenges, they would pray for us.

Michael

Over time, these relationships opened hearts to Christ, bringing about transformation not only in those Michael and Man served but also in their own lives. For them, discipleship is not about programs—it’s about walking with people in love, faith, and hope.

Generational Impact and Hopes for the Future

For Michael and Man, the deepest joy is seeing faith passed from one generation to the next. Having walked with families since 1998, they’ve watched God transform lives in communities once marked by brokenness and pain. Their hope is simple yet profound: that children and youth will come to know Jesus personally, that parents will be strengthened to raise their families in faith, and that new generations will rise up to lead.

“We have known many of our Indigenous friends since they were kids and teenagers – now they are moms & dads – some even grandmas and grandpas. I know it’s getting harder and harder raising kids nowadays, the influence of media, drugs and everything. I hope and pray that God’s work will continue in the next generation, because the kids, need to know Jesus, as well as their mom and dads, even though there are generational brokenness from previous generation.”

Man

Michael and Man know the battle is real, but they also know the power of the Gospel is greater. They long to see strong churches rise up in Indigenous communities, led by people once discipled who are now discipling others. Michael and Man envision a future where children’s and youth ministries flourish, where hope replaces despair, and where faith passes from parents to children to grandchildren. The challenges are significant, but the presence of God’s people—and the power of His Spirit—are greater still. Their prayer is simple yet profound: that the next generation will know Jesus personally, and that the story of God’s redemption will continue to ripple outward for generations to come.

We are also involved extensively in mission broadcasting and creative media through CIAM Media & Radio in 31 communities across Canada and globally. It’s an important mission tool for the church. But the tool is important today, because this is where the mission field is. In front of those phones. We have to be present there. That’s why we spend so much time and resources with that too. Reaching people, families and communities where they spend their time and being present tie in with one another. We have to be actively present, where the needs are!

Michael

Their testimony invites us to pause and ask: what might God be calling us to lay down, so that others might hear the Good News? Just as Michael and Man followed where God led, we too are invited into His mission—whether across the world or across the street. One step of obedience can ripple through generations.