The mission field next door
Understanding the need for Gospel workers in Quebec
Sometimes when we think about missions, what comes to mind is someone going overseas and sharing the Gospel in places we have never been. We often imagine locations with major cultural differences and a variety of needs; however, we tend to forget that the need for the Gospel exists closer than we think. Right here in Canada, there is a mission field next door: Quebec.
You might be wondering why this specific location. According to Mission Québec, the Quebecois are the largest unreached people group in all of the Americas, with only one church for every 106,000 people. In Montreal alone, to reach a ratio of one church for every 30,000 people, there would still need to be 50 new church plants.
Surely, reading these statistics can help us recognize the need in this province, but the reality is that people don’t often understand that this need represents a mission field, one that is so close to us! There is a significant need for church-planting, disciple-making, and sharing who Jesus is. There is also a lack of French resources adapted to the culture and context of Quebec.
According to an article written by Daniel Henderson on the blog Revenir à l’Évangile, “[T]oday’s Quebecers associate any form of Christianity with the oppression experienced under the Catholic Church.” He continues, “But by rejecting faith and the Church, they also rejected God and, in doing so, created a meaningless sphere of existence.”¹
This highlights a deep need to share the Gospel while also recognizing the challenge of doing so in a culture where God has often been associated with the religion people have rejected. According to testimonies shared by our missionaries, some even use the names of elements of the Catholic Church as profanities in their everyday language.
There is a mission field next door. There is a need for churches, resources, mentorship, and people who are committed to sharing the Gospel. If this is touching your heart in some way, pray and ask the Lord how He is leading you to respond. Through prayer, giving, or going, we can fulfill Jesus’ mission to go to the ends of the earth, even when the ends of the earth are right next door.
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