Download the May 2008 LEAD ON Newsletter (PDF)

L.E.A.D. On! Educating the Canadian Foursquare Church
By Rob Buzza, PLBC President and National L.E.A.D. Coordinator

I’m a “lifer” in the Canadian Foursquare Church!  I grew up actively involved with my whole family (dad, mom, and six kids) in the Friendly Foursquare Church (that’s what it was called) at Pender and Nanaimo in Vancouver.  The church was founded and pastored in my early years by Dr. Walter Mussen, who started it as a Sunday School outreach right after graduating from the first class of LIFE Bible College of Canada (now PLBC), the Pioneers, in 1930.  Dr. Mussen, and the successive pastors of that church - Art and Joanne Wolf, Jack and Carole Hamilton, and Wes and Gladys Wray - all became significant mentors in my life, guiding me successfully through my teen years, through Bible College, and on into ministry.

Joanne just wrote me a heart-warming letter, reminding me that I’ve now served the college longer than our beloved “Doc” Wolf.  She ended with this P.S.: “When we arrived at The Friendly Foursquare Church in 1965 none of us could have imagined that a young twelve-year-old boy would later lead the College and his older brother would be President of Canada Foursquare”!  This is my family, my heritage, and I love it!

There are young people in our churches today with that same potential (in fact, greater), just waiting to be identified, trained, and released into church leadership.  What John Maxwell says is true:  “Everything rises and falls on leadership”.  If we plan on penetrating every region of Canada, especially the urban centers, leadership development must become priority number one.  We need a new generation of leaders who have that same pioneer spirit that gripped LIFE’s first graduating class, combined with 21st century training in church planting, intercultural evangelism, and inner-city  ministry.

Our world has changed since Foursquare arrived in Canada eight decades ago.  People are more educated, more sophisticated, with higher expectations of those who would lead them.  Those who have real influence lead with passion, integrity, and proven ministerial skills (Psalms 78:72), combined with a commitment to ongoing educational and professional development.  Their voices are relevant and articulate in presenting the hope of the gospel to this generation.  Their strategies are culturally aware and able to penetrate the influential urban hubs to ultimately reach the nation.  How can we together prepare such leaders within the Canadian Foursquare Church?

In my role as president of Pacific Life Bible College, I’ve been involved for 21 years now in training emerging leaders for Foursquare Canada.  But the need for leaders is far greater than one campus on the west coast can deliver.  We should also have a decentralized, yet coordinated partnership between our college and local churches to train the number and variety of leaders needed today.  That is why the L.E.A.D. (Leadership Enrichment And Development) department was established.  In its first year, an informal group of pastors and educators from across Canada (the L.E.A.D. Round Table) provided a forum to help the college better position itself to partner with the churches.  Now, with an official L.E.A.D. Council in place, the emphasis will be on the churches: offering educational and professional development through distance learning for current leaders, stimulating various training options within churches for emerging leaders, and developing effective internship programs to help new leaders hone their skills and find a place within the Foursquare family.

PLBC’s Partnership with Local Churches
At the suggestion of the L.E.A.D. Round Table, PLBC has already implemented a number of significant initiatives to stimulate the connection between our churches and the college:

• Set up a 50% tuition bursary for Foursquare licensed pastors, their dependent children, and church institute instructors.
• Revitalized LifeLine (our network of church institutes) by reducing the tuition rate from 50% of PLBC’s current rate to 25%, with no charge for audit students.
• Designed a one-year (32 credit) Foursquare Ministerial Diploma (FMD) to become a core curriculum option for LifeLine institutes.
• Added a second-year (an additional 32 credits) program for FMD grads to complete a BTh. Degree, on or off-campus.
• Created tuition incentives and generous transfers for Master’s Commission students to continue their studies at PLBC toward a degree and a CFC ministerial license.
• Linked PLBC with the satellite network (Church Communication Network - CCN), used by the U.S. Foursquare church, and made their training telecasts available free-of-charge to all of our Canadian churches.
  

Educational and Professional Development for Current Leaders
Pastors, like most professionals in our increasingly educated world, need ongoing development.  Unfortunately, they seldom have the time or finances to make it happen.  The new L.E.A.D. Council will be considering ways to overcome that obstacle:

• Provide time in the pastor’s busy schedule for training each year, perhaps by offering a short sabbatical with educational opportunities to every Canadian Foursquare pastor (a current initiative of the C.A.R.E Committee).
• Develop an endowment fund within the National Office to provide matching funds for pastors who take the initiative to complete their baccalaureate or masters degrees.  Local churches could also be encouraged, where possible, to contribute toward their pastor’s ongoing education.
• Link pastors with proven training events, like CCN, the U.S. Foursquare training telecasts, and Willowcreek’s annual Leadership Summits.
• Offer our own made-in-Canada short-track training options for leaders during conventions, regional intensives, summer modules at PLBC, and through webcasts and DVDs.
• Create opportunities for pastors to write about and share their ideas and ministry passions with colleagues (ie. Symposiums).
  

Training Options for Emerging Leaders
Together we will need to carry this renewed emphasis on education into mentoring a new generation of leaders.  Because we expect them to do more than we did against challenges greater than what we experienced, they will require extreme discipleship, higher standards of education, and more effective practical skills development:

• Help resource strong churches in developing discipleship programs for young people, eg. Master’s Commission, Emerging Leader Network (new U.S. Foursquare version of MC), or our own Canadian Foursquare approach.
• Network church institutes with a standardized leadership curriculum designed to fast-track mature students.
• Encourage students serious about church leadership, especially young people, to complete a college degree (ie. Regional Scholarships).
• Explore seminary options (or possibly an institutional partnership) so that PLBC, LifeLine, and other grads with undergraduate degrees have a direct and transferable relationship with an accredited graduate program.
  

Internship Opportunities
Education alone is not enough.  Without providing practical ministry opportunities we will lose this next generation of leaders.  Mentoring young ministerial candidates requires a sacrifice of time and money, but it’s an essential investment in our future:

• Implement a comprehensive internship program for emerging leaders.  PLBC has now created a thorough manual for a one year internship program designed to connect our graduates with Foursquare churches.
• Identify and network specific churches in key regions as interning centers.
• Create a funding partnership between qualifying students, their interning church, and the national church to help support them through the internship process.
  

If the Canadian Foursquare Church is to become a leading denomination in Canada and if our pastors are to become credible leaders in their communities, we must embrace ministerial education personally and promote it within our churches.  We need a college and a seminary option that we are proud of and ready to recommend to emerging and mature leaders alike.  And we need strong reproducing churches ready to invest in the future of our family.  Perhaps we should return to our roots, and once again become the “Friendly” Foursquare Church, willing to take new leaders under our care and nurture them (just as you and I were).  I think we’re ready to do whatever it takes to turn this beloved family into a force that reaches into every region of Canada.  Lead on!