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Northview, beginning as a B.C. Mennonite Brethren Conference church plant in 1980, has grown to a regular attendance of about 3,600 people at the two Saturday evening and two Sunday morning services--about 3,000 youth and adults and 600 children. In recent years, the church has experienced a steady 13% annual growth. When this growth is compared to much lower national statistics which reveal decline or at best 2%-4% growth, many Christian leaders ask, "What can we learn from Northview's experience?"
The vision for this conference dates back to 1994. Senior pastor Vern Heidebrecht had just finished participating in a similar event at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. He says, "I was sitting there in the lobby of Willow Creek thinking to myself, 'We've got to bring this concept to Canada and put it into our context. Though we have many things in common with our neighbours to the south, the Canadian context is different.' "
The Northview Church Leadership Conference runs every year on the first weekend of February, beginning on Thursday evening and finishing on Saturday at noon. Beginning with 33 participants in 1995, and 50 in 1996, attendance jumped to 180 last year. This year, with a week to go, the numbers looked much the same as last year's. Then registration surged, resulting in 330 participants. They came from a wide variety of church backgrounds and denominations, and from as far as Vancouver Island, Ontario and Kansas.
"We are simply humbled by what God is doing," says Heidebrecht. "The response has been so positive that it's very likely we could go over 600 in the next year or two."
Some pastors come by themselves; others bring their associates. Says Heidebrecht, "we encourage them to bring their whole leadership team, so they attend a session together and meet over coffee or lunch to discuss what aspects could be applied in their ministries, or what principles might work in their church. God has blessed us. We want to share what we have learned with others and hope that they will also experience many blessings."
The purpose of this year's conference was four-fold: 1. To internalize what it means to lead your church first and foremost from your heart. 2. To identify biblical leadership concepts and their application to the Canadian church context. 3. To implement key principles that will help release your congreation to improve your community outreach. 4. To interact with fellow church leaders and be mutually encouraged in doing a great work for God.
Each year, a theme is selected to give the weekend a unique focus. This year's theme was "Leading with Heart: Avoiding the ER Syndrome". (Building off the popular weekly television series ER was intentional.) Northview pastors and staff led the various sessions and workshops, which were divided into three main segments: major surgery (the main sessions), clinics (teaching sessions or workshops) and intensive care (panel discussions, with various staff couples tackling many difficult issues leaders face in ministry). The conference addressed most facets of church ministry: leadership development and youth, adult, women's, children's and music ministries.
"It's a lot of extra work for us to put this together," says Heidebrecht, "but we want to partner with the larger body of Christ to make a big impact for the Kingdom of God. When we see it grow again and read the responses participants shared in their evaluations, we are motivated to do it again and see what God will do next year."
Aldon Loeppky
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