Just over three years into pastoring Knollwood Baptist Church in London, Ontario, Nate Klahsen was ready to leave ministry altogether.
“People hired me because I was their saviour. I was young. I could preach okay. I had a young family, and they thought that would attract people to the church. And the reality is, it didn’t. We shrunk. And then COVID hit, and we were down to like 50 people.”
“There was a period of time when, almost every week, somebody emailed me or sent a letter saying we’re leaving the church. It was getting pretty discouraging.”
Klahsen reached out to other churches for help, but the only responses were silence and “no.” When he asked the same pastors if they would help save the building from being sold to developers if the church closed, they agreed, which discouraged Klahsen even more. “Why are they willing to help if we close but not help to keep us open? It just didn’t make sense to me.”
“For months, I was praying, ‘God, I can’t do this anymore. I’m alone. I need help.’”
Meanwhile, his friend, Ian Havercroft, had joined the staff of Redemption London. One day at a barbecue, Havercroft relayed a question to Klahsen from the lead pastor of Redemption, Norm Millar: “What do you need?”
“It was amazing. I almost bawled,” says Klahsen. “I’m not a crying guy. I could barely hold it in because I had just prayed those things before. And for some reason, something kind of clicked in my heart.”
Shortly after, Klahsen’s wife wrote to the elders and told them that he needed a sabbatical. The day before his final sermon before the sabbatical, Millar texted Klahsen and asked if he could stop by.
They chatted together on the porch. “He comes, he stops by, and he sits down. And he sits in this chair beside me and he’s like, Nate, are you, are you going to come back after your sabbatical?” Millar told Klahsen that Redemption wanted to give Knollwood money to hire an associate pastor. They also wanted to give Klahsen funds for personal development and raise his low salary.
That gift, along with other support from Redemption London, helped to rescue Klahsen’s ministry and prevent Knollwood from closing.
A Vision for Kingdom Advancement
Redemption London spent two years trying to gain approval to develop 8 acres of land south of London. After hitting a roadblock, they chose to sell that property, for which they’d paid $800,000, for $2 million. Since they already had a paid-off building and reserve account, the elders of Redemption decided that they wouldn’t be good stewards of that money by sitting on it. They set up a separate fund dedicated to helping other ministries.
Redemption was just about to announce plans to plant a church south of London when they were approached by a church in St. Thomas. That church had heard about Redemption’s plans and offered to hand over their building. Their pastor, Jake Klassen, offered to resign.
Instead of accepting their offer, Redemption decided to invest in that church. Klassen stayed. Redemption encouraged people who lived south of the 401 to begin attending that church, and over 100 people (including an elder) moved over. Redemption invested $250,000 in that church for renovations, equipment, and operational support. The church chose to relaunch as Redemption St. Thomas.
“That was an ‘Aha’ moment for us,” Millar says. “Why would we plant if there’s a gospel-oriented church with a faithful pastor and elders?”
Thomas Fisher, the current pastor of Redemption St. Thomas, says that Redemption London’s support was never about control. Millar communicated that they aimed to strengthen the church, and then step back. “We’ve got enough problems already,” Millar said. Redemption London exited oversight once the church in St. Thomas proved capable of self-leadership. This investment allowed the church to stabilize and grow. Today, Redemption St. Thomas has grown to over 600 people, has two Sunday services, is healthy and vibrant, and is looking to plant another church.
Millar and his elders began praying about whether there were other churches they could help in London.
When Millar heard that Klahsen was coming to London, he asked Klahsen for lunch. “How can we help?” Millar asked. “Just pray for me,” Klahsen responded. Millar kept offering help, but it was only after Havercroft arrived that the offer of help was accepted.
“We started asking our people regularly from the pulpit, every two or three months, to go to Redemption St. Thomas or to Knollwood. We explained to them that Knollwood are Fellowship Baptists, they have a gospel man in the pulpit, they have gospel-centred elders there, and they need some help. So go over, put your hand to the plow, give, serve, get engaged.”
At first, a slow trickle of people moved to Knollwood. Then Redemption London also sent money. They have invested over $300,000 in Knollwood to date. Eventually, Klahsen said to Millar, “You can’t keep sending me money like this,” and Millar replied, “Why not?”
“Our people just know that we’re about a larger kingdom because they’re regularly hearing it from us. We ask them even to give financially to Knollwood. Maybe you can’t go, but would you give some money there and help? The more they hear it from the leadership, the more it helps them catch that vision.”
In the past few years, Redemption London began a relationship with Forest City Bible Church, a church that was running 80-100 people whose pastor recently returned to Australia. Redemption London began to ask how they could help. Eventually, this led to sending Havercroft as the new pastor, even though Havercroft had been a key part of the leadership of Redemption London. As Redemption’s leaders wrote to their congregation, “The more you learn about this gospel commitment to multiplication, the more you will learn this often requires churches to give away their best.”
The work at Forest City is just getting started, but Havercroft is hopeful. “I feel like we haven’t seen the end of it. Hopefully Knollwood, Forest City, and St. Thomas will be the big brother helping other churches.”
“You have to understand this: if we’re about the Kingdom of Christ, not about our thing, then we don’t lose,” Millar says. “If we send money, we don’t lose. If we send people, we don’t lose, because the kingdom’s advancing. If we’re really about the Kingdom and not our thing, that changes everything.”
Great Joy
Klahsen encourages pastors of churches that need help to seek friendships with other pastors. “You need them. At the very least, you need other men praying for you and praying for your church.”
He also encourages pastors to cultivate a vision for what’s happening outside of their own churches. “Start praying publicly for other churches to help change your church’s mentality. Pray big prayers.”
Klahsen also has counsel for healthy churches that may be able to help struggling ones.
“Be faithful with what God has given you and think broader in what multiplication really means. Often we think of multiplication as just church planting. But I think God is just as glorified, if not more, when we start seeing him bringing what is dying alive again.”
“Revitalization is hard work. And we need planting and revitalization. Be like Norm and ask the little guy who’s struggling down the street, how can I help?”
Millar says the experience of helping other churches has been one of the greatest joys of his ministry.
“God’s knitting churches together in London. I’ve lived here my whole life, 67 years. I’ve never seen some of what’s happening now, and I think that’s because of guys like Ian and Nate and how God’s working through them.”
“Who are we that we would have this kind of opportunity to see God work and change and transform and save?”