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By Jim Coggins
 AS Vern Heidebrecht, now pastor emeritus of Northview Community Church in Abbotsford, B.C., one of Canada's prominent church leaders moves into retirement, he has penned a devotional book reflecting his own spiritual journey.
About the time he stepped down as senior pastor of Northview in 2003, Heidebrecht began pulling together his thoughts on hearing God. The result was a book called 'Hearing God's Voice,' published this year by David C. Cook.
Heidebrecht has had a far broader national influence than many Canadian Christians realize.
He spent over 25 years in the US earning three degrees and was pastor to three churches before returning to his hometown of Abbotsford in 1988 to become senior pastor of Northview. The church, a Mennonite Brethren congregation, then had three or four hundred people, but grew to be the largest church in Canada at one point, with attendance of almost 4,000. Attendance is now about 3,000.
For several years, Northview ran an annual leadership conference, teaching several hundred leaders from other congregations better ways of "doing church."
Heidebrecht was also involved in national organizations, including serving on the board of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC).
He was also chair of the "Pastors' Council", a group of senior pastors of "megachurches" across Canada who would meet from time to time with Canadian political leaders. Veteran Ottawa political writer Lloyd Mackey said that, unlike other Christian groups that come to Ottawa, hold news conferences, and "embarrass politicians publicly," the Pastors' Council would come quietly into town and meet privately with prime ministers and other political leaders. Heidebrecht said, "We didn't want to come as a lobby group. We came as an encouragment. We met with MPs who were interested. We had a Bible study and prayer time."
Brian Stiller, former president of EFC and now president of Tyndale University College and Seminary, has interacted extensively with Heidebrecht over the years. He told CC.com that historically the best and brightest Canadians often go to the US for schooling, get married, find opportunities, and stay. "It is hard for Canada to compete." However, in going to the US to gain education and pastoral experience and then bringing that back to Canada, "Vern convinced us that the reverse could be true."
Stiller said that Heidebrecht came back to Canada at a time when much of the Canadian church was torn "between a staid orthodoxy and an emerging generation not enamoured with the old forms."
This was the era when Bill Hybels's Willow Creek Church from Chicago was starting to influence the Canadian church in a big way. Stiller said, "While some Willow Creek replicas floundered and others blew up, Vern was very wise. He was not taken up with the techniques of the new approach, but he understood the impulse. He indigenized the idea of seeker sensitivity.ÉFor Vern, it was not a matter of orthodoxy-that was not up for grabs-but it was centred in a pastoral heart that sought to speak into the hearts of people, many of whom had fallen on hard times or had become cynical about fundamentalism or evangelical extravagance."
Stiller observed that the church generally works hard at teaching missionaries to be culturally sensitive but that it often doesn't train pastors to deal with cultures in Canada that can sometimes be as different as those of Singapore and Botswana. "What is done on one side of the street won't work on the other. What worked with one generation sounds redundant and boring to the next."
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Heidebrecht also served as co-chair of the hosting committee for the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly held in Abbotsford in May 1997. The committee was able to draw volunteers and other support from 50 local churches. Aileen Van Ginkel, director of the EFC's Centre for Ministry Empowerment, commented, "Vern had a wonderful sense of the importance of the local church in mobilizing and equipping people for ministry, and also promoted inter-church cooperation in important ways."
Heidebrecht was offered leadership positions in a number of denominational and parachurch agencies over the years but never accepted any of them. "The reason I said no is because I'm a pastor," he said. "I love encouraging people. I love teaching the Word. I genuinely enjoy being a pastor. That's my gift."
Although he has pastored large churches, Heidebrecht has never seen himself as an administrator. "I enjoyed the front end, creating vision, but I always needed to have someone for the back end to make sure that what we planned was actually carried out. I have had excellent executive pastors, administrative pastors who would make it happen."
Although all of the ministries he has been involved in seem to have been very successful, Heidebrecht says, "I've had my share of crises. If there aren't crises, you're not working with the issues."
Asked what he has learned about ministry, he said, "You've got to have a call. If it's just a job, the demands are too much-dealing with the spiritual issues, dealing with people."
Second, Heidebrecht said, "You have to have joy. Even though the pastorate has its difficulties, I believe a pastor has to celebrate. When I was a senior pastor, I could hardly wait until the next week, to prepare the next sermon." He added, "I always loved it when a church knew how to laugh and have fun together. It's much easier to pray together, to share the invitation with people around you."
Third, Heidebrecht said, "You have to be vulnerable about your weaknesses. When individuals see that a pastor is vulnerable and open, it helps to create a connection between the pastor and the church. People realize their shortcomings and when that is reflected in the life of the pastor, it makes it easier. When I think of the greatest difficulties we have had as a church, coming through them with vulnerability actually caused a greater harmony in the final analysis."
Stiller said Heidebrecht "exhibited the best forms of leadership" because he could admit his mistakes. "What impressed me was his capacity to carry on, learn from his foibles and fumbles."
Asked to reflect on the state of the church in Canada, Heidebrecht said there are always positives and negatives. While Canada is becoming quite anti-Christian in some of its ethical practices and he has encountered children who know nothing about Jesus, "I am very encouraged by the young ministers that are coming up. I hear them speaking to issues directly and having a lot of spiritual courage. I have a lot of hope for the church in Canada."
Ike Bergen was conference minister for both the Canadian and B.C. Conferences of Mennonite Brethren Churches and also a member of Heidebrecht's congregation. He said Heidebrecht "is a man of the Word and a man of prayer." Bergen also described Heidebrecht as "a team player, an equipper, and a cheerleader. When he's with you, you're his world. He takes an interest in you. Anybody who walks into his office gets prayed for."
Bergen said Heidebrecht was loyal to the Mennonite Brethren denomination and its theology, "but his family was much bigger than that. More of us should be like that. He was as inclusive as God is."
Bergen concluded, "Great leaders are also great followers. Vern listens to God."
August 30/2007
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