President's Blog

Our AEBEQ (Québec) Region is celebrating their 50th Anniversary as a Region on Friday, February 3, 2023. I’ve heard that over 700 people are attending the celebration to remember the storied history of the Fellowship’s work in reaching French Canadians.

At FNC 2022, I challenged delegates to set their smart phones to buzz at 10:02am and stop to pray for Québec. Why 10:02am? It’s a nod to Luke 10:2 and the need to PRAY for workers for the coming harvest. Why not set your smart phone to 10:02am right now?

Next opportunity for a Québec Vision Tour (QVT)

Since 2015 we have offered QVTs to pastors and leaders of Fellowship churches to begin 7x7=1 partnerships.

• 7 partners (churches or individual donors) commit for 7 years to help support 1 French church plant in Québec

Over 70 partnerships have been established in the past seven years. I would like to offer you an opportunity to join one of my exposure tours over the next several months, as follows:

1. March 7, 2023: Virtual QVT (1:00-2:00pm EST)

A Zoom gathering in which you will learn of a few current church plants and other information. Please reply to this email if you are interested in joining this Zoom gathering.

2. April 20, 2023: QVT En Route (TBA)

A live meeting (two hours) hosted by myself and Sergei Li (Fellowship Francophone Coordinator) just prior to the Pacific IMPACT Regional Conference in Nanaimo, BC. More details to follow if you indicate your interest.

3. May 29-31, 2023: QVT Live (48 hours in Montréal)

You get to Montréal by plane, train, or automobile and Sergei and I host a tour of several current church plants on location. Meet the church planter, visit the community where the plant is being established, and get a “feel” for the area. You pay your way to Montréal and Fellowship National pays all other expenses for your 48-hour visit to the Montréal area. More details to follow if you indicate your interest.

50 Years of Blessing – 200 Years on Mission

Join me in celebrating with our Fellowship churches in Québec as we celebrate 50 years of God’s blessing. But also remember that mission advance has been going on for 200 years in the mission field we call Québec.

A History Lesson

After a revival broke out in Geneva, Switzerland (1816-17), some adherents broke from the state Protestant church. These dissidents were persecuted by a law (1824) that could send them into exile.  Henriette Feller left the official state church in 1827 and joined an Evangelical Missions Society in Lausanne after her husband’s death. This Society began sending missionaries to Lower Canada.  In August 1834, Henriette left for Canada accompanied by Pastor Louis Roussy. In September 1836 she took up residence in Grande-Ligne (10 miles south of Saint-Jean) after being forced from several other places due to persecution.

The Earlier Years were Tough

Other Society missionaries lasted only a year and returned to Switzerland.  During the 1837 rebellion in Québec, she fled with some converts to the USA, accused of being friendly with the British. But, the 1837 rebellion broke the grip that the Roman Catholic priests had on society and French Protestantism advanced. Henriette would say, “The time is come, Canada is open.”

Preaching locations opened along with schools and the French Canadian Missionary Society opened in Montréal in February 1839. Henriette endorsed their mission, but never joined them, due likely to her fierce desire to be independent of outside influence. She went on eight fundraising trips to the USA insisting Louis Roussy report on the Grand-Ligne church and school every few days. Her school students called her “mother”.

From 1855 to her death in 1868, her health was very poor, however, it never stopped her from running the affairs of the mission, even from her bedroom. Throughout her 32 years of missionary service in French Canada, Henriette Feller settled the first Francophone Protestant community in Québec, educated young people, sent gifted Francophones for higher learning and established nine Protestant French churches with seven pastors shepherding them. There were approximately 900 members attending those churches.

Dr. Michael Haykin, one of Canada’s leading church historians, said to me, “Steve, by the end of the nineteenth century there were about 50,000 French evangelical Christians in Québec.”

I wonder what happened to this impact. Immigration to the States because of persecution in Québec, fewer missionaries being sent to Lower Canada, poor leadership and evangelistic apathy a couple of generations the Grande-Ligne’s legacy had floundered. Remember, the Christian church is always one generation away from extinction.

Will we repeat history?

Then some young Bible students started leaving for Québec in the 1930-1940s. Pioneers like Wilf Wellington, Murray and Lorne Heron, Ernie Keefe, and others. French churches were started; the Fellowship’s French Mission was established in 1958 and approximately 100 churches were planted.  Today, there are 79 French-speaking Fellowship churches in Québec with more than 10,000 believers – the largest French denomination in Québec. It’s a wonderful story of God’s grace. But, only 0.8% of French Canadians identify themselves as evangelical Christians. Our work has only begun.

Missiologists tell us that nations or people groups under 2-3% evangelical will struggle to sustain themselves without any outside help. Imagine our Fellowship churches and donors stopping our commitment in Francophone Canada now. At only 0.8%, we would likely repeat the late nineteenth century history. The great gains of these past 50 years might all but disappear in one single generation.  We cannot let this happen! The time is come. French Canada is open!

Very few nations are sending missionaries to French Canada. As Canadians, the Lord has given us this divine responsibility. Join me in praying for the salvation of Canadians — French Canadians.

Please join me on one of our next Québec Vision Tours (QVT) on March 7, April 20, or May 29-31, 2023.

Thank God for the Henriette Feller’s of the church.  Have we got any more out there?