MONCTON, NB—Congregations in Atlantic Canada face some tough challenges when it comes to church growth. What is needed, say two local senior pastors, are leaders with a vision for capitalizing on existing potential.

Laurel Buckingham has served as the senior pastor of Moncton Wesleyan Church for the past 36 years. The congregation was small at its start with only 65 attendees, but in time grew to just under 1,700 as the church updated its worship style and reached out to the community via events like children’s crusades, productions of The Living Christmas Tree, small groups and one-on-one spiritual mentoring.

Now Moncton Wesleyan has four Sunday services—contemporary, blended, young adult and traditional—as well as a Saturday night French service. The goal, says Buckingham, is to have something in “everybody’s language” in order to be culturally relevant to as many people as possible.

“If someone tells me it can’t be done, I dig in my heels,” says Buckingham. “Why have I stayed [at Moncton Wesleyan] all these years? I believe the same things can happen here as elsewhere. You have to stick with it and not give up. And it is happening.

“Everything rises and falls on leadership,” he adds, drawing on the philosophy of Willow Creek founder and senior pastor Bill Hybels. “When the spiritual gift of leadership comes alive in churches everywhere, the church will become the hope of the world and a most influential force for good.”

Buckingham and fellow Moncton pastor Jerry Reddy shared their philosophies on church leadership in Atlantic Canada during Willow Creek’s Prevailing Church conference held June 3-4 in Moncton. The conference was Willow Creek’s first in Atlantic Canada and attracted close to 1,500 attendees.

Reddy has served as pastor of Hillside Baptist Church for the past 12 years. The church formed about 20 years ago when three small country churches realized that their area was developing into a suburb of Moncton and joined to form one congregation.

Hillside has various programs and activities, but one of its main emphases is “Celebrate and Serve” which encourages adult members to worship during one of the two Sunday services, and serve in a volunteer capacity such as teaching or providing hospitality, during the other.

Many churches in Atlantic Canada are hindered from growing to their “full redemptive potential,” says Reddy. They are often plagued by feelings of isolation, defeatism, contentment with tradition and the undervaluing of the role of long-term leadership.

Many church members are not aware of trends in churches in the rest of North America, he says, and there is a prevaling belief that even if good things happen in other places, “it’ll never happen here.” Furthermore, many churches look at ministers as short-term hirelings, rather than encouraging them to develop their leadership skills through further training.

“Only 12 per cent of senior pastors believe they have the spiritual gift of leadership,” says Reddy, quoting statistics from The Barna Group. Leadership can be learned, he says, and advocates reading widely and attending leadership conferences as key ways for church leaders to develop their skills.

If churches in Atlantic Canadian want to grow, change is necessary, say both pastors. Leaders must “cast the vision,” attract the people to the vision and constructively lead their people through the growth process.

Willow Creek is planning to hold a Leadership Summit in Moncton in August (www.growingleadership.com).