Quebec Alive moments

The Association of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Quebec, of which SEMBEQ is a ministry, held its annual meeting June 3rd-4th at the Evangelical Baptist Church of Trois-Rivieres.  During the meeting Gilles Lapierre, General Director of AEBEQ (the Association), gave a message laying out the vision for the member churches.  Below are some excerpts from that message.

“Let’s launch ourselves into the future to visualize what God has in store for us within the next ten years.  Despite the fact that we have 84 established Churches and that there are, including all denominations, about 50,000 [8,000 within the Asscociation] believers in Quebec, there is only 0.6% of evangelical Christians in Quebec.  Here are different ways your Association wants to help your Church accomplish its mission in your own community.”

Gilles went on to outline six areas the Association wants to help the local Churches in during the next ten years.  The areas are (1) church planting, (2) the training of new leaders, (3) helping churches be healthy,(4) collaboration between pastors, (5) missionary vision and, (6) developing a structure facilitating growth towards 2020.  We will highlight some of Gilles’ thoughts in each of these areas.

Church Planting- “We plan on establishing a Church in every county regional municipality and we need to double the present number in the Quebec and Montreal regions.  Since 2003 we have started thirteen Churches.  We are currently working on five projects with four mother Churches…We pray for eighteen other places where we would like to start new French Churches in the next ten years.”  See Quebec Alive Moments #66, #62, #60 and the spring and summer 2010 issues of Quebec Alive for more details.

Training New Leaders- “Training leaders is not optional for pastors.  SEMBEQ’s mandate is not to train pastors/elders, but to serve Churches in helping them with the development of the knowledge, competency and character of future leaders.  SEMBEQ provides theological expertise and technical and administrative support for the training.  [See Quebec Alive Moment #23 and the 2008/09 winter and the 2009 spring and summer issues of Quebec Alive for further explanation.] The local Church has to take charge of the training plan, the practical follow-up and the development of the future leader’s character.  Between 1990 and 2000, we were greatly concerned with the loss of 45 pastors, for various reasons.  Eleven others have left in the last 18 months.  Our hope is that cohort members will replace these pastors.  Eleven Churches are presently looking for a pastor and we gained only six new pastors last year…Among the 58 cohort members, including the 12 who graduated in June 2009, 75% are younger than 45 years old and the majority are between 25 and 35 years old.  An interesting replacement is ahead.”

Next week we will finish highlighting some of the thoughts Gilles had concerning the vision for the Association over the next ten years.  Pray for the Lord to use His people in Quebec for His glory.

Gilles Farley is the fourth cohortist from Gatineau to be highlighted and he offers a unique perspective from which to view the Cohort program.  You will notice that he has the same last name as our last cohortist, Alex Farley.  This is because Gilles is Alex’s father.  It is not often you find a father and son in the exact same program of study at the same time, but such is the case here.  What a testimony to the work of our Lord to see a father and son side-by-side growing in spiritual knowledge and wisdom, godly character and ministerial work.  Praise the Lord!

Prior to 2004, Gilles was an elder in the Evangelical Baptist Church of Gatineau.  When he heard of the new Cohort Program he was convinced that God was leading this concept and that it would provide for the training of the next generation of pastors.  Gilles decided to become part of the Gatineau Cohort for two basic reasons.  He stated, ”Firstly, I wanted to prepare for full time ministry as I approached a time when I could leave my secular work and, secondly, I wanted to be an example for other young men of our church.”  Gilles shared that “the commitment for the cohort was quite high.  It involved taking several courses per year…It also required that I be followed by a ‘coach’, someone to whom I would be accountable to for the study time and who would accompany me as I settle issues of character (obstacles to my work in ministry) and help in practical areas of ministry.”

Over the past six years, Gilles has learned “that only God can accomplish things in [his] life and in people’s lives” and that he “must depend on [God] and not on [his] own strength and capabilities.”  He also learned that “the Lord has his schedule for the work to be accomplished.” As a coach (Gilles was not only coached, but he also coached others) he learned that “one needs courage to act as a coach and a shepherd for God’s people.  We must have the courage to confront in love and depend on God to work in our brothers’ or sisters’ hearts.”

Currently, Gilles is a full time pastor with the Gatineau church and is “heading a team to examine what changes are needed to make disciples more intentionally.”  He also heads “up the small group ministry and meets [with] some men who want to be trained for part time ministry”.  As he reflected over his past six years in the Cohort Program he shared that it “allowed me to be involved in church ministry, be trained under the church members’ eyes and yet continue my secular work.  It gave me concrete goals, a number of credits, [and] specific abilities to develop.  Without the cohort program I would not have achieved what I did during the six years.”

Pray for Gilles and his wife, Suzanne, as he continues to lead the Gatineau church by example and participation, discipling and growth.

William L. Phillips (1930-2007) wrote a short historical book called Modern Day Missionary Miracles.  It gives an overview of the evangelical Baptist movement in Quebec from the 1930s to the end of the 20^th century.  Bill, as most people called him, was a early evangelistic pioneer himself (see Quebec Alive Moments #4, #5 & #47), and ministered in Quebec from 1951 until he went to be with his Lord in 2007.  He was a church planter, founding member and first coordinator of SEMBEQ, former Secretary of the Association of the Evangelical Baptist Churches of Quebec and former Secretary of the Fellowship French Mission.  Therefore, he was part of much of what he wrote about in this book.  Bill wrote that the “ministry in Quebec has been like riding the surf.  At times the waves seemed out of control.  I came to realize that neither a political decree, a technological invention, a strike by surfers, nor the creation of a parliamentary committee could change anything.  God and God alone controls the surf.  Either you accept the waves and the wind or you stop surfing.  The wise surfer wastes no energy trying to change the weather.  He takes comfort from the fact that God is in control and asks for wisdom.  He remains flexible with his plans and strategies.  He learns to view the changing waves not as an enemy but as an opportunity.” (page 9)   

Thus was the climate and view of the early evangelical missionary outreach to French-speaking Quebec.  There were many struggles and challenges.  The Heron brothers persevered (see Quebec Alive Moments #2 & #3) amid fierce opposition from the Roman Catholic Church in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  Cars were burned and church windows smashed.  Fire hoses, tomatoes, fire crackers and tractor horns were used to disrupt open-air meetings.  Mail was confiscated; New Testaments and Gospels were gathered up by an angry priest and burned.  There were physical violence and constant arrests.  However, the Word of God prevailed and souls were won.  A beachhead into French Canada had been made.” (page 18)

Bill used another 80-plus pages to give an overview of the work of the Lord through the evangelists, church planters and pastors who devoted their lives to reaching the lost souls in Quebec.  This book, Modern Day Missionary Miracles, is presently out of print, but hopefully there will be another printing.  For more information about its availability contact the SEMBEQ office.

Last week we mentioned that Alex had shared some in-depth thoughts about his spiritual, personal and ministry growth.  His response gives us some good insight into the development the Cohort Program of SEMBEQ provides for its students and we will look at some of the thoughts Alex has given us.

“One of the ways I have grown spiritually is in learning to apply the gospel to my heart and life more.  Evangelism is the focus of my ministry.  By that, I mean that what we usually understand evangelism to be: sharing the gospel with unbelievers.  But, I have learned (through the means of [Dr. D. A.] Carson’s class on putting the gospel at the center of ministry and other means) that evangelism should actually not be restricted to sharing the gospel with unbelievers, but believers should continually evangelize themselves and each other.  For me, this was not just knowledge, but it provoked a spiritual questioning.  I spend my time evangelizing others, especially unbelievers that I’m convinced need to hear [the gospel], but should I also not preach the gospel to myself more?  Am I not also in need of applying the gospel to myself again and again?  There was a time during those six years [with the Cohort] that I felt guilty for not ‘performing’ enough in my spiritual life or ministry, because I was struggling with my Bible reading or prayer life or apparent effectiveness in my ministry.  It was almost as if I needed to perform to be accepted by God.  I realized that evangelizing myself was required if I was not to fall in the trap of trying to obtain God’s favor by my efforts…everyone needs to come back to the gospel again and again, to apply it over again to one’s life and struggles.”

“There was a part of me that just wanted to be out of the ordinary, to be original, and God showed me that the only original is Him.  I am only an image of Him, an image of the original, so why bother trying to get recognized as special, or original.  It’s just pride trying to get its way.  It is still a struggle because it’s my tendency, but I have to grow in that [area of my character].”

“A phase in my training with SEMBEQ is coming to an end.  I have finished the cohort, but I am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in theology, which, the Lord willing, will be done in December 2010, or by June 2011.  But, the Lord has led me in a wonderful way so that I could start a relationship with William Edgar, Chair of Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.  I have done a year of preparatory work with [him}...in order to be ready to start a master's degree in apologetics [in the 2010-2011 school year] with Edgar as my supervisor…The master’s degree is with SEMBEQ and the plan is to work about 1 day/week on this project so that at the end of 7 years, I can complete the degree…we have seen God at work to put all this together.  I hadn’t planned any of this when I first started in the cohort.  In a way, we are just following God’s leading and…trusting him every step of the way.”

“Coaching is crucial and I am glad SEMBEQ puts such an emphasis on it.  It’s crucial and it’s not easy to practice, even moreso for people who have never been coached or have never been coaches.  The coaching I received during the cohort was priceless and God used it to guide, direct, correct and shape me.  I have been coaching as a young adult in my small group for the past 3 years trying to put in practice the principles of coaching that I benefited myself.”

As a conclusion, Alex shared his overall thought of the Cohort Program.  “My thoughts when I think of the cohort program are the following: It is a very demanding program.  It is also very rewarding.  It is worth the price and sacrifice.  I think about the fact that God doesn’t call the ones who are qualified (he would call no one if that was the case), but he qualifies the ones whom he has called.  So the cohort program is a powerful tool that God can use in order to qualify the one he has called.”

Praise the Lord for His work in and through Alex and all the other cohortists.  Pray for them as they continue to grow in spiritual knowledge, godly character and ministry ability.

The formal learning from books has been part of the life of Alex Farley, our third Gatineau cohortist we will feature.  After high school he went to the New Brunswick Bible Institute for one year where the Lord pressed upon his heart the need for workers in the mission field.  However, even though his attitude was one of availability to whatever, whenever and wherever the Lord directed, Alex was not convinced that “at age 18, with no other training” that it was the right time.  So he began study in applied mathematics and computer science and after receiving his degree was a math professor at the college level and then tested software for a software company.  He was very active in his church in Gatineau where he was a worship leader and led the youth (ages 12-17) ministry.  In 2005, the Lord directed him, with the full support of my wife Marie, to join the Gatineau Cohort.  At this time he was still working full-time with a secular job, but began to also be trained part-time by the church.

After his first semester, Alex decided to take a semester off because of the need to care for his first child who was having some difficulties.  It was during this time that the Lord led him to quit his secular job and begin full-time with the church.  Alex shared that the ”need was pressing for evangelism and discipleship to the nearly 30,000 French college and university students in the Outaouais [Ottawa] region.  The Gatineau church saw the need and was directed by God to invest resources to meet that need…I was given a salary by the church in order to work full-time on two things: 1) evangelism and discipleship on the campus and 2) more intense training with SEMBEQ’s Cohort.”  Therefore, in 2006 Alex rejoined the Cohort with more intentional direction to be trained, not only with the normal Cohort program, but with addition courses that were offered.  Alex exclaims, “Can you believe this?  I am getting paid to study God’s Word in order that I might serve Him better.  I consider this an immense privilege and I am so gracious and thankful to the Lord for this, and to the Gatineau Church for letting themselves be used by God in this way.  For the church, this is really a demonstration of faith in God…This is truly amazing.  Praise be to God for this and let Him receive all the Glory!”

Alex praises the church for her faith in God and her support of God’s work in him.  He knows he has been blessed.  He trains with SEMBEQ through the Cohort and other courses SEMBEQ provides, allowing him to accelerate his training.  He says, “I can do this because the church freed me from my secular job in order to do this.  But, if I had a full-time secular job, this would not be possible.”  In fact, Alex has completed his six-year commitment to the Cohort study, but will continue to take courses that SEMBEQ provides.  Pray for Alex, Marie and their three young children, along with the Gatineau Church, as Alex continues in his training and ministry of evangelism and discipleship of college students.

Alex shared some in-depth thoughts on his spiritual, personal and ministry growth during his six years with the Gatineau Cohort.  Next week we will look at some of these thoughts.

D. A. Carson (pictured) was born and raised in Quebec during the ministry of his father, Tom Carson, to the French Canadians there.  Dr. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL.  He often teaches an intensive course (see Quebec Alive Moment #68) for SEMBEQ during late spring.  He has written a book about his father’s ministry in Quebec entitled, The Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor.  Dr. Carson’s statement at the beginning of the preface gives us a good overview of the purpose of the book.  He states, “Most pastors will not regularly preach to thousands, let alone tens of thousands.  They will not write influential books, they will not supervise large staffs, and they will never see more than modest growth.  They will plug away at their care for the aged, at their visitations, at their counseling, at their Bible studies and preaching.  Some will work with so little support that they will prepare their own bulletins.  They cannot possibly discern whether the constraints of their own sphere of service owe more to the specific challenges of the local situation or to their own shortcomings.  Once in a while they will cast a wistful eye on “successful” ministries.   Many of them will attend the conferences sponsored by the revered masters and come away with a slightly discordant combination of, on the one hand, gratitude and encouragement, on the other, feelings of inadequacy, and guilt.”

Dr. Carson goes on to say that, “Most of us-let it be frank-are ordinary pastors.  Dad was one of them.  This little book is a modest attempt to let the voice and ministry of one ordinary pastor be heard, for such servants have much to teach.”

Further in the preface, Dr. Carson says, “But my aim is…to convey enough of his ministry and his own thought that ordinary ministers are encouraged, not least by the thought that the God of Augustine, Calvin, Spurgeon, and Piper is no less the God of Tom Carson, and of you and me.”  He ends the preface with a statement by his administrative assistant who had been reading parts of the documents.  He said, “I used to aspire to be the next Henry Martyn [heroic British Bible translator and missionary to the Muslim peoples of India and Persia].  However, after reading your dad’s diaries, the Lord has given my heart a far loftier goal: simply to be faithful.  I know we as men are but dust, but what dust the man I read about in these diaries was.”  This book is valuable for all, for God simply wants us to be faithful.  You can contact SEMBEQ for the French version of The Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor and many Christian bookstores carry it in English.

Gordon Weber is our second Gatineau cohortist to be featured.  He is a full-time forester for the Quebec government and an elder at his church in Mont-Laurier.  He remembers Francois Picard, President of SEMBEQ, presenting the Cohort Program in his church.  He remembers a very intense desire to be involved with the program and was excited about having one begin in Gatineau.  He had been taking courses at SEMBEQ since 1989, but had not been taking any in the years just prior to the Cohort.  Gordon stated, “it seemed to me that the Cohort offered a format tailor-made for me with regard to my work and family.  I knew that I needed to be involved in a structured program in order to increase and develop my involvement in the church, particularly with regard to teaching.  It was clear to me that I should be involved.  I expected that the Cohort would allow me to develop my knowledge of the Bible and my ability to serve in my church.”

Over the past six years, Gordon has seen his spiritual life grow in being more regular, disciplined and interested in his personal daily Bible study and prayer.  He has become more aware of his weaknesses and dependent on the Lord for strength.  He was already highly involved in his church, but he feels his teaching and preaching have improved.

Gordon shared that “it is not always easy to find the time and energy to study while continuing work full-time, raise my family and be involved in my church, but I thank the Lord for what I [have been] able to accomplish [thus far].”  He would eventually like to complete a B.A. in Pastoral Studies.  Pray for Gordon, his wife Elaine, and their two daughters in college as he balances study, work, ministry and family.

In the Preface of the Servant for Jesus’ Sake, a book about the life and ministry of Bill Phillips (see Quebec Alive Moment #4, #5, #47), SEMBEQ President Francois Picard writes the following.  “God has chosen for Himself men into whom He has poured His grace, entrusting them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He placed a People upon their hearts, in the days when Roman Catholicism was at its height in Quebec.”

“Trailblazing visionary, tireless worker, creative and skilled strategist with a passion for the Good News, Bill, as his peers called him, knew how to seize every God-given opportunity and, as a tender shepherd, how to love people and bring them together.”

He was able to gather together other trailblazers from various backgrounds and to rally them in order to reach out to Quebec.  Bill also developed a team of valued collaborators.  Since he easily identified people with potential, it was not long before he would put them to work, especially young leaders with strong personalities.  He would trust both God and others to accomplish work.”

“…Bill played a crucial part in the establishment of our Seminary, along with Elisee Beau and Jacques Alexanian…I also wish to emphasize his major involvement in establishing the Fellowship French Mission Board, through which English-speaking Canadians have shown their love and support for our French workers in a practical and effective way…With many hardships experienced through ministry, through illness, and through the arduous process of learning French, he embodied power through weakness.  He was not a speaker sought after for his eloquence, but rather for his faith, wisdom and advice…May the story of Bill Phillips awaken us and prompt us to follow in his footsteps, investing our whole lives for the sake of the Gospel.  Let us stand and walk in the path that is opening before us.”

If you would like more information on this book other material on the history of evangelism in Quebec, contact SEMBEQ.

The first member of the graduating Gatineau Cohort (see Quebec Alive Moment # 73) to be featured is Andre Carpentier, who is completing his six-year commitment.   Before beginning the Cohort, Andre was a retired English teacher in Quebec and was serving the Lord in a church in Buckingham as an elder.  His coach and pastor, Jacques Alexanian (see last week’s Quebec Alive Moment #74), convinced him to pursue formal study of God’s Word, so Andre consequently took some SEMBEQ courses even before the opportunity of a Cohort in Gatineau opened up.  Upon retiring from teaching, Andre stated, “I knew the Lord had prepared something for me to serve Him in a greater way than I was doing at that time, and studying His Word was part of the commitment.”  He said he “was not the kind of guy who loved to study and read and do homework, but [the Lord] worked in my heart and I realized that it was His power in me and not mine.”

During these past six years he feels that spiritually he became closer to the Lord by the study of His Word and trusting Him in every situation.  The Lord helped him develop a more godly character by the relationships provided within the Cohort and especially by his coach.  The application of what he learned in the courses to actual ministry experiences was very valuable.  He learned to serve in different ministries, such as preaching, weddings, funerals, baptisms and group studies, all of which were being monitored by his coach.

Andre states that “coaching is the ‘key’ to improvement because it is the place where good and not so good things are discussed and brought to get better.  I have been coached by Mr. Alexanian for 8 years and appreciated it very much.  I also have coached other guys, but not as deeply as I was being coached because I was still in the process of learning how to do it.”

Andre shared “[I would] like to serve as an elder in a church that would require my service, but I am ready to do any kind of service He wants me to do in any place He wants me to go.”  Pray for Andre and his wife, Francine, as the Lord teaches, directs and empowers.

“Jacques (see Quebec Alive Moment #11) grew up in a Christian home near Lyon, France.  Both of his parents were orphans, victims of the Turkish massacre of the Armenian people during the First World War.  His main goal upon arriving in the United States was to become a man of importance, wealth, and success.  But God had other plans.  While listening to a Christian radio program, Jacques submitted his life to the Lord Jesus and a year later, at a Baptist missions conference, felt the call to serve God as a missionary.  Believing the Lord wanted him to  return to France, he attended Philadelphia Bible Institute (now Philidelphia Bible University), where he met Loretta.  The doors to France closed while they were at Bible school, but God soon led them to consider the needs in the Canadian Province of Quebec.  After Jacques received his bachelor and master’s degrees at Wheaton College, the Alexanians were appointed as missionaries by Mission to the Americas in 1961.  Though French Canadians have often been hostile to the gospel, the Alexanians have labored faithfully in Quebec, planting churches in Sherbrooke and the Ottawa Valley, and training church leaders.  In 1973, Jacques Alexanian was instrumental in founding SEMBEQ…to train new leaders for the French churches of Quebec.  Jacques was named president of SEMBEQ in 1984 and held that position until 2001.  Today he continues to serve in a church ministry in Gatineau, Quebec.” 

Such is the overview given on the back of the book, The Son of a Wandering Armenian Orphan.  For more informagtion about this book or other books about evangelism in Quebec, contact SEMBEQ.