Our Mission: [what we do]

empower people to live love well.

Our Vision: [what we aim for]

a world rooted and grounded in the art, science, and spirit of love.

Why We Do What We Do

When asked his benchmark of success,  Warren Buffet responded with, "Basically, when you get to my age, you'll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you, actually do love you. I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. That's the ultimate test of how you have lived your life. The trouble with love is that you can't buy it. You can buy sex. You can buy testimonial dinners. But the only way to get love is to be lovable. It's irritating if you have a lot of money. You'd like to think you could write a check: I'll buy a million dollars' worth of love. But it doesn't work that way. The more you give love away, the more you get.”

In 1938 Harvard researchers launched what would become one of the longest studies of adult life. For over 80 years, this team of researchers has focused on what makes us happy and healthy, collecting multiple generations of data on the mental, social, physical, and spiritual health and wellness of participants. The conclusion after almost a century of study and $20,000,000? Nothing effects the quality of our lives more than the quality of our relationships.

We know our vision for a world rooted and grounded in love, is audacious and will never be fully realized. But we also know that to the degree that we move that vision forward, our world will become a better place for all. Growing an understanding of what love is and how to live it well is not just a nice idea. It is the foundational critical success factor behind all of life. It is the dividing line between war and peace. It is the underlying factor in our fight against climate change. It is the foundation upon which mental wellness is built. In fact absolutely nothing impacts the sustainable well-being of our lives and our planet more deeply than our alignment toward the universal principles of love—physically, emotionally, socially, intellectually, environmentally, financially, occupationally, or spiritually.

Civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best when he said “love is the supreme unifying principle of life… the most potent instrument available in mankind’s quest for peace and security… the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality.”

We would agree, and that’s why we do what we do.

Organizing For-Profit or For-Impact

Decades before launching LifeApp, many on our core team and board attended and even facilitated a wide variety of programs, seminars, and personal growth workshops; helping participants stretch and grow. But while many experienced transformational change, the financial “pay to play” model often stood as a barrier for those who couldn’t afford the cost.

From day one, it was a high value to our LifeApp team that we work to remove as many barriers to participants as possible, including the financial. Therefore we chose to apply for charity status both in Canada and the US. While this doesn’t change our staffing costs or expenses, it does provide a way for those who are able and willing to pay it forward, to cover the cost for others who might not otherwise have access. It also allows us to provide many programs at no cost to the public.

In March 2015 LifeApp Inc. was incorporated as a Canadian for-impact corporation. March 2016 LifeApp Inc. was granted charitable status by Canada Revenue Agency to devote all resources and profits to the charitable purpose and activities of empowering people to live love well.  

Today, LifeApp continues to serve as a relational health and wellness learning centre; providing monthly Live Events, Masterclasses, Retreats, Circles and Community Projects where all people have equal opportunity to grow in their ability and capacity to live love well — to think different, learn how, and do something toward becoming rooted and grounded in the art, science, and spirit of love.

In September 2020, LifeApp USA Inc. was launched as a a tax exempt for-impact corporation (a 501(c)3 organization under US tax code), providing U.S. donors a tax deductible receipt recognized by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States. 

What does LifeApp do in the USA? While our feet-on-the-ground events, initiatives, and programs currently take place in Greater Vancouver, Canada. There are many south of the border who have gained value online as well as by travelling to Canada to take in retreats, workshops, and Live events. Incorporating as a 501(c)3 in the USA provides our American donors the opportunity to support and participate in the work we do.

Just Wait Til You’ve Been Together 25 Years

It was 1989 and Jonathan and Teresa were just a couple of young idealistic kids with the whole world ahead of them. Both came from healthy loving homes, so getting married seemed like a great idea. Following an impromptu proposal, a short engagement, and a baby 3 years later; it wasn't long before the challenges of married life hit them and the realization that getting along with one another was hard. “Looking back, it was shortly after our engagement in 89’ that a recently divorced guy challenged us to consider the struggles that often accompany marriage and relationships. 'Just wait til you’ve been together 25 years’ he said. The implication was, ‘you think your marriage will last, it won’t.’ Those words stung and stuck with us. They challenged us to continually pursue growth in our relationship no matter how irritating we found one another,” Teresa says with a giggle, "and I can be pretty irritating. However, Jonathan is much worse," jokes Teresa.  

Marriage is hard, family is complicated, babies are unpredictable, friendships and relationships wain and all of it can be pretty overwhelming and disappointing at times.  

"I think one of my greatest struggles was in my late 20’s” Teresa recalls “I felt incredibly alone. I was disappointed by my interior world and I constantly compared it to everyone else’s fine shiny exterior world. I compared what I knew about myself with all that I did not really know about others. It was a pretty exhausting and discouraging game. Everyone, it seemed, was handling life, struggles, parenting, friendships and challenges better than me. And I felt this way long before our cultures’ fascination and focus on social media and presenting a squeaky clean idealistic image to the world."

Meanwhile Jonathan’s attention was wrapped up in building their business, learning to navigate being a new Dad, and nurturing a young marriage. 

“It was both a crazy and exciting season as we were in the start up phase of our lives.” says Jonathan “But while our business grew and our clients loved us, I always had this nagging sense that what I was doing wasn’t aligned with my life purpose.”

Over the next couple of decades this purpose-driven discontent lead both Jonathan and Teresa to grow and educate themselves in the direction of their purpose and passion—together learning how to build healthy communities, mentor couples and families, and empower more individuals to live love well—mentally, socially, physically, and spiritually. Over the years they immersed themselves in learning everything they could, while also leading workshops, mentoring couples, and even being hired by a number of organizations wanting to provide relational learning in their community. 

But it wasn’t until the Fall of 2013, after watching so many friends and family navigate broken relationships, that together they looked around their community and said, “Enough is enough!!! There’s got to be a better way of exploring what love is and how all of us could live it well.” They looked around and asked themselves, “Who is providing relational learning in the home, school, and marketplace? Where do people go to taste and see what healthy connection really looks like? Where do couples turn to when they honestly want to learn how to be a rockstar at relationships? Where do people learn how to take what they were handed in their family of origin, and either improve on the good, or undo the damage? Where can anyone, whether at home or in the marketplace, go to learn how to take a relationship from lousy to good, or from good to great?”

“We knew counsellors were doing an amazing work, helping clients navigate personal problems and struggles. However, counselling is primarily focused on recovery and healing, not proactive relational learning, and the financial burden of ongoing individual counselling can also be a limiting factor. We also observed the positive impact that some faith communities—churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples; have in leading their community members to explore what love is and how to live it. But the challenge with faith communities, is that they tend to feel exclusive and often come with a mix of religious dogma, rules, and rituals that can be off-putting to many. Finally, we have also experienced and watched a wide variety of independent organizations offering evening, weekend, and even week-long seminars on relationships and self-improvement. Some of these seminar provide outstanding personal growth value to participants. But at the same time, they can also be prohibitively expensive and often do not provide an ongoing and inclusive community of support and connection.”

This realization motivated the Penners to share the dream with some like-minded people and brainstorm a new kind of space, an ongoing community that would provide inspiration, learning, and support to anyone in pursuit of relational wellbeing. A space for all people, regardless of economic means, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, or cultural background. “Our end goal,” Jonathan emphasizes with passion, “has always been to create a community of relational learning and support; a school of love where no one is left behind as a result of financial or religious barriers; an opportunity for all who want to develop the awareness, tools, and practice in learning to live love well.”

Exploring all that love is and does, has been a lifelong passion for Jonathan. Whether it’s learning from the work of highly respected social scientists, enlightened philosophers and poets, or those who have devoted their lives to the betterment of humanity, “One thing I know for sure,” says Jonathan, “love not only exists, it is the foundation upon which everything else that exists is built. It is the ultimate sustainability factor at home and in the universe.” As Martin Luther King Jr. observed, love is “the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality…Love is the most durable power in the world…Love is the most potent instrument available in mankind’s quest for peace and security.”

But what does it really mean to love? What is love, in every dimension? Do we honestly recognize it when we see it? In fact, what would happen if we were to run all of our decisions and interactions through the filter of love? What would it look like in the marketplace, if a higher percentage of business decisions were rooted in love? How would our physical health change if we were to treat our bodies as though we actually loved them? What would our financial decisions look like if they were aligned with love? Would we spend our time, talent, or money differently, if those choices were more fully aligned with the principles of love? What about climate change and our environment? How would the trajectory of our planet change if leaders and influencers in government and industry made decisions rooted and grounded in love? What about the potential for love to heal mental illness, drug addiction, trauma, abuse, and the breakdown of marriages, families, and relationships? 

“As young and struggling parents,” Teresa recalls, “Jonathan’s Mom would frequently say, ‘Bind your children to you with cords of love.’ Today, as we’ve now become grandparents, these words mean even more to us than when we first heard them 30 years ago.” But it’s not only our kids that need to be connected to us with cords of love. It is the way we love ourselves, others, and our planet, that will lead humanity to both a better and more sustainable future.

This is why LifeApp was born.

《 Start With Why┃How: Our Paradigm 》