Elias Dummer

While Elias Dummer first entered the scene as the frontman of the acclaimed worship band The City Harmonic, this indie songwriter from Hamilton, a gritty Canadian steel city dubbed “The Canadian Brooklyn,” has since amassed over 100 million streams and a Juno Award. From then until now, Dummer’s music bleeds faithful and grounded authenticity. His songs are as raw and delightfully paradoxical as the smokestacks and street art lining his hometown.

Dummer is a worship songwriter with poetic instincts, drawing comparisons to Rich Mullins, Jon Foreman, and even the spirited Brandon Flowers more often than one might expect. At the heart of his work is a believer grappling with sincere and grounded faith in the real world, perhaps most visible in his co-founding of Worship Leader Research. This public academic project highlights the tangled relationship between the music industry and the local church, catching the eyes of Christianity Today and The Washington Post.

His latest single, “Manifesto,” is an acoustic throwback to the song that first shoved him into the spotlight. Inspired by the missional movement of small churches that shaped him, it’s a manifesto in its truest sense: a bold declaration to place our common faith in the middle of modern urban life. While its message is simple, it is no less thought-provoking, wrapping the ancient cornerstones of our faith in a soul-stirring melody as we sing, “Amen—it is true.”