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Quebec MB Conference Convention
Proclaiming a year of the Lord’s grace


The annual Quebec MB Conference convention was held Saturday, September 11 in l’Église chrétienne de Saint-Jérôme. (Saint Jerome Christian Church). It began as usual with the 30 or so delegates enjoying a fellowship breakfast.

Moderator Jean-Raymond Théorêt encouraged delegates that they were not only ambassadors for Christ (II Corinthians 5:17-20), but also called to be workers in God’s great project of reconciling the world to Himself. Noting that the evangelical churches in Quebec suffer from a lack of loyalty, he said that the call to be responsible is not a call intended to increase feelings of guilt but to encourage Christians to acquire maturity through a process that can take years.

General Council

The work of the Conference is overseen by a General Council, which meets monthly. In the coming year, it was decided to add two at-large Council members to the executive committee, which will take care of routine work and allow the General Council to focus on the larger issues of strategic planning.

The major agenda for the General Council in the past year was dealing with a leadership crisis in the Saint-Jérôme church over the issue of deliverance ministry. An extensive document on exorcism is being prepared for the future guidance of the Conference.

The small Saint-Donat church is being transferred to the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination, because that denomination has a congregation in nearby Sainte-Agathe which can offer better support than the nearest MB church in Saint-Jérôme can.

Moderator Jean-Raymond Théorêt presented a shepherd’s crook to Christian and Missionary Alliance moderator Alain Fournier and to Sainte-Agathe Alliance pastor Michel Gagnon as a symbol that responsibility for the Saint-Donat congregation was being passed to that denomination.

Those elected to Conference leadership:

Moderator: Jean-Raymond Théorêt Assistant Moderator: Philippe Bonicel General Council Members: Stéphane Rhéaume, Claude Queval Secretary: Marie-France Bonicel Management: vacant Treasurer: France Joly Faith and Life: Éric Wingender Evangelism: Patrice Nagant Christian Education: Marc Paré Communications: Sylvie Giroux AFPEQ: Annie Brosseau

The Quebec Conference does not have boards other than the General Council but rather appoints individuals to be responsible for certain areas of Conference work; these individuals convene ad hoc committees when they need assistance, and they also usually serve as the Quebec representatives on Canadian MB Conference boards. (AFPEQ is the Alliance francophone des Protestants évangéliques du Québec, which serves as an umbrella organization for French-speaking evangelicals in Quebec and is affiliated with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.)

Evangelism

Patrice Nagant reported enthusiastically about the Canadian Conference Board of Evangelism’s Key Cities Initiative, particularly its first project of planting 10 churches through Mission Calgary.

The Canadian Conference is making funds available to hire a church planter and “restart” the small Charlesbourg congregation. The search for a suitable church planter is now underway. Charlesbourg is near Quebec City, whereas most of the other MB churches in Quebec are near Montreal.

A team from the Sainte-Rose congregation (near Montreal) travelled in the summer to help the small New-Richmond congregation (at the east edge of the province) with evangelism.

Camp Péniel

After four seasons of hard work, at a cost of $120,000, the Conference’s camp is almost fully restored and back in operation, without incurring any debt. The camp’s revenues have quadrupled in three years. Half of the revenues come from campers. The other half come from government assistance, given because the camp offers four free weeks at camp to organizations working with troubled youth.

Faith and Life

Éric Wingender reported enthusiastically on the process of revising the Mennonite Brethren Confession of Faith, particularly the grace with which different points of view were handled at the Calgary consultation in fall 1998.

Two new pastors have begun serving in Quebec in the past year. Jean Calvin Kitata began serving the Saint-Jérôme church this fall (see Personalia, MBH, Sept. 10). Seong-Whan Kim has been serving as associate pastor in the Saint-Rose church since January. A South Korean, he studied at Emmaus Institute and worked for several years in a church in Switzerland. He and his wife Sun-Hee have one daughter.

Wingender also reported on the work of Institut biblique Laval, where he is now in his second year as president. (Information on IBL was published in the Oct. 22 Herald.)

Finances

The Conference brought in $16,783 and spent $17,211 for the 1998-99 year, which ended June 30. The resulting deficit of $428 reduced the Conference’s accumulated surplus to $1743. That budget includes grants from the Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism of $4457 to the Khmer congregation in Saint-Laurent and $4000 to the Saint-Rose congregation. However, the Saint-Rose congregation, as a result of increasing financial health and as an expression of its desire to be responsible, has since returned its subsidy to the Canadian Conference.

A Conference norm of $12.10 per member was accepted for the 1999-2000 year.

Celebration

The annual rally was held the next day, on Sunday morning. Usually this event is hosted by one of the congregations, but this year each congregation had responsibility for one part of the program, and the event had high attendance. Among the highlights:

A musical group from the Saint-Laurent church highlighted the convention theme of grace. A Congolese group led in joyful worship during the collection of the offering, which amounted to $2183. Moderator Jean-Raymond Théorêt presented a shepherd’s crook to Christian and Missionary Alliance moderator Alain Fournier and to Sainte-Agathe Alliance pastor Michel Gagnon as a symbol that responsibility for the Saint-Donat congregation was being passed to that denomination. A team of volunteers from Quebec reported on the hurricane relief work it had done on a trip to Honduras in July. Rhéaume Stéphane Rhéaume, pastor of the Sainte-Eustache congregation, preached a powerful sermon on the convention theme from Luke 4:19. Promoting a global theology, he urged his listeners to restore the much-neglected social dimension to the gospel.

 – Translated and adapted by Jim Coggins from reports by Annie Brosseau in Le Lien

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Last modified December 10, 1999.

© 1999 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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