For some of you the Koinonia Youth Conference is synonymous with Heather Bible Chapel, which is where we have held the conference for the last 4 years. That statement is true, but Koinonia actually began over 20 years ago!
In the early 80s my good friend John Broadhead (who later became my brother in law) and I had a vision for hosting a youth conference at the Deep Cove Gospel Hall, the assembly we both attended at that time. John had been involved in a similar event in Calgary which I attended. As John made Vancouver his home we put together “Koinonia” which in biblical Greek means “fellowship”. The name was chosen from a Christian jazz/instrumental group of the same name which were popular in that time.
The first conference we held at Deep Cove was in the spring of 1985, our speaker was Don Wellborn from Texas. Subsequently we held the second event in 1986 with David Adams from Ontario and the final year we hosted it was 1987 with Gaius Goff and John Procopio as our speakers. The format was innovative for the time and very successful. In the following year John and my sister were moving on to Westminster Bible Chapel and I was involved in missionary work with my parents down in Chile, South America. Unfortunately, it did not continue and it was the end of an era.
As Koinonia has evolved into what it is today, we are grateful for God’s direction. Initially we began with North Surrey Gospel Chapel and their youth committee cooperating to put the first two conferences together. With the growth we have added members from Westminster Chapel as well as Parkcrest Chapel. The enthusiasm and continued vision has shown a unity and a common goal to encourage youth and young adults in their passionate pursuit of God. Our desire is that Koinonia would continue to be an event that annually builds into all of our lives and make us effective in God’s kingdom. Don’t miss it!
David R. Jones
