Within the life of every church family, there comes a point in time when it experiences a change in pastoral leadership. With this advent of change comes the opportunity for both church leadership, and the entire church family to discern together the next chapter of the church’s future.
Matt Boda, the District Superintendent of the Western Canadian District of the Canadian Alliance put it this way when he spoke at Heartland in April 2024; “Heartland Alliance, God has something for you. He wants to do a new thing in you and for you …
the best days of Heartland Alliance Church are ahead and not behind.”
God has used the last 20 years to develop and strengthen Heartland in ways that we could not have planned or imagined, and He has brought us to the place we are now with a staff and structure ideal for the tasks ahead. He has prepared us for a future that only He knows,
and it is clear that He holds us firmly protected in His loving embrace.
Here you will find our current staff and structure; please take a look at this. God has called an extremely skilled, gifted, dedicated, and passionate team here at Heartland. Every person you see on our team brings a unique and special contribution to Heartland and we greatly appreciate each one of them. It is this team that is allowing us to not just maintain but to move forward and thrive in this time of change.
It is our desire and intention to keep our church family informed and engaged throughout the coming months, and to that end we will be updating information on this page on a regular basis. While we are being intentional and deliberate in what we are doing, our highest priority is to listen for and follow what God wants for Heartland. We are in an amazing time and there are incredible times ahead.
Please pray with us, for us and for our staff team, as together we follow Jesus the Chief Shepherd of our church, into a future that will truly be the best years of Heartland, because they have been designed and led by Him.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:19
Matt Boda, the District Superintendent of the Western Canadian District of the Canadian Alliance put it this way when he spoke at Heartland in April 2024; “Heartland Alliance, God has something for you. He wants to do a new thing in you and for you …
the best days of Heartland Alliance Church are ahead and not behind.”
God has used the last 20 years to develop and strengthen Heartland in ways that we could not have planned or imagined, and He has brought us to the place we are now with a staff and structure ideal for the tasks ahead. He has prepared us for a future that only He knows,
and it is clear that He holds us firmly protected in His loving embrace.
Here you will find our current staff and structure; please take a look at this. God has called an extremely skilled, gifted, dedicated, and passionate team here at Heartland. Every person you see on our team brings a unique and special contribution to Heartland and we greatly appreciate each one of them. It is this team that is allowing us to not just maintain but to move forward and thrive in this time of change.
It is our desire and intention to keep our church family informed and engaged throughout the coming months, and to that end we will be updating information on this page on a regular basis. While we are being intentional and deliberate in what we are doing, our highest priority is to listen for and follow what God wants for Heartland. We are in an amazing time and there are incredible times ahead.
Please pray with us, for us and for our staff team, as together we follow Jesus the Chief Shepherd of our church, into a future that will truly be the best years of Heartland, because they have been designed and led by Him.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:19
The WORK OF TRANSITION AND SUCCESSION
Most church leadership transitions include eight major phases the church will experience. These are … Closure, Regaining Stability, Assessment of Church Health, The Development of a Transitional Plan, Preparation for the Pastoral Search Process, Conducting the Search, Hiring the Pastor, and a Concluding Evaluation.
The first phase is now behind us; Pastor Al Andrus concluded his role as Lead Pastor on March 31, 2024, and we were able to celebrate and appreciate he and Lee with a great weekend at the start of April. Pastor Al then went on a much-deserved sabbatical for 3 months, and as of July 2
will be serving part-time as our Founding Pastor, giving leadership to our Adult 55+ ministry and continuing to be part of our Preaching Team. We are deeply grateful for the Andrus’ 20 years of faithful leadership and their commitment to finish well, and we are so pleased that Pastor Al will remain on our team for at least another year!
The second phase – Regaining Stability – really hasn’t been much of a phase for us, to be honest. We have a very functional team leadership model. We have a wealth of experience and cooperation in our team. Succession preparation was already occurring in our preaching team. Essentially, we have very strong “bench strength,” and in almost every way, most people new to Heartland might not even realize we are in a season of leadership transition!
There is so much to praise God for.
As we move into the next phases, an important factor for us to understand is that we are under the umbrella of the Western Canadian District of the Alliance of Canada, and we have been and will be working with them in each step forward. We are in the process of finding and securing an experienced transition coach to help us evaluate our real needs as we move forward. We have been and are assessing and strengthening our staff culture, the staff and board relationships, and our vision and values for the chapter ahead. There is still a lot of work to do.
For the summer of 2024, the Elders have committed to make this a summer of focused prayer and discernment, asking Jesus to give us words, ideas, dreams and visions for His plans for Heartland. We are asking our church family to join us in this focus throughout July and August, and to share with us what you hear God saying and showing to you. You can see a list of names and pictures of our Elders on our website or App, and you can email us anytime at elders@heartlandalliance.ca … we look forward to discovering together God’s intended future for the years that lie ahead.
The first phase is now behind us; Pastor Al Andrus concluded his role as Lead Pastor on March 31, 2024, and we were able to celebrate and appreciate he and Lee with a great weekend at the start of April. Pastor Al then went on a much-deserved sabbatical for 3 months, and as of July 2
will be serving part-time as our Founding Pastor, giving leadership to our Adult 55+ ministry and continuing to be part of our Preaching Team. We are deeply grateful for the Andrus’ 20 years of faithful leadership and their commitment to finish well, and we are so pleased that Pastor Al will remain on our team for at least another year!
The second phase – Regaining Stability – really hasn’t been much of a phase for us, to be honest. We have a very functional team leadership model. We have a wealth of experience and cooperation in our team. Succession preparation was already occurring in our preaching team. Essentially, we have very strong “bench strength,” and in almost every way, most people new to Heartland might not even realize we are in a season of leadership transition!
There is so much to praise God for.
As we move into the next phases, an important factor for us to understand is that we are under the umbrella of the Western Canadian District of the Alliance of Canada, and we have been and will be working with them in each step forward. We are in the process of finding and securing an experienced transition coach to help us evaluate our real needs as we move forward. We have been and are assessing and strengthening our staff culture, the staff and board relationships, and our vision and values for the chapter ahead. There is still a lot of work to do.
For the summer of 2024, the Elders have committed to make this a summer of focused prayer and discernment, asking Jesus to give us words, ideas, dreams and visions for His plans for Heartland. We are asking our church family to join us in this focus throughout July and August, and to share with us what you hear God saying and showing to you. You can see a list of names and pictures of our Elders on our website or App, and you can email us anytime at elders@heartlandalliance.ca … we look forward to discovering together God’s intended future for the years that lie ahead.