Ben Johnson on Stewarding a 97-Year Old Church, Fathering Young Leaders, and Vision for the Church in Calgary
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In today's episode, Ben Johnson joins Jason for a conversation on pastoral stewardship, generational legacy, and what it looks like to lead a nearly century-old church into its next chapter. Ben is the Lead Pastor of First Assembly Calgary, a Pentecostal church planted 97 years ago that has helped birth many other Pentecostal congregations across both Calgary and western Canada. Together they trace the story of First Assembly, the 35-year-old Tehillah Mondays gathering, and the heart that First Assembly has for worship, prayer, and the next generation.
Jason and Ben also explore the joy and weight of fathering young leaders, the family legacy that traces Ben's grandfather's salvation back to First Assembly's downtown building decades ago, and the formative season of revival at Christian Life Assembly in 1998. The conversation closes with Ben sharing First Assembly’s Vision 100, a stewardship-shaped initiative to double the impact of First Assembly in the next 100 years.
Ben and Jason explore:
The history and identity of First Assembly Calgary as a "mothering” and “fathering" church that has planted or helped plant many other Pentecostal churches in the city,
The 35-year story of Tehillah Mondays and how a single worship gathering has continued to serve generation after generation in Calgary,
What Ben learned by sitting with the saints of the church to discern God's specific purpose for a local congregation, and the role an eldership's fasting and prayer played in his transition,
Why First Assembly is next-generation focused, and how that shapes worship, budgets, staffing, and Sunday gatherings without losing the honor due to senior saints,
The cradle-to-college discipleship pathway, the Tehillah Schools for teenagers and adults, and how this has become the "farm team" for nearly all of First Assembly's staff,
What young staff and leaders actually need from a lead pastor,
First Assembly’s Vision 100 and stewarding the church toward its 100-year anniversary with a strategy to reach, revitalize, and reproduce in Calgary.
Ben Johnson
Ben Johnson is the Lead Pastor at First Assembly (FA Church) in Calgary, Alberta. He and his wife Heather have served together in ministry for over 30 years, and together with their four daughters they count it an incredible honour to serve Jesus and the city of Calgary through the life of the local church. Before stepping into senior leadership at First Assembly in 2014, Ben served with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada British Columbia District, on staff at Christian Life Assembly in Langley, and earlier alongside his late father Bob Johnson in pastoral ministry in Vancouver.
Ben carries a deep spiritual burden for Canada, especially for the unchurched and the next generation. He longs to see a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our time and believes that some of the most exciting days for the Canadian Church are still ahead.
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