The Beginnings

A while back, I visited a cemetery in Quebec during a tour of our churches along the north shore of the St. Lawrence.  I had not been aware of the details of the early Gospel advance in Quebec in the mid-1800s.  It’s a fascinating story and I think you’ll find it interesting.

After revival broke out in Geneva, Switzerland (1816-17), some adherents broke from the state Protestant church.  A law was passed in 1824 that resulted in these dissidents being persecuted and often Winter 2014 - Henriette historical picexiled. 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.

During the 1837 rebellion in Quebec, she fled with some converts to the USA, after being accused of being friendly with the British.  But the rebellion broke the grip that the Roman Catholic priests had on society and French Protestantism advanced.  Henriette is quoted as saying, “The time is come, Canada is open.”

Preaching points and schools were established and the French Canadian Missionary Society opened in Montreal in February 1839.  Henriette endorsed the mission, but never joined it, due likely to her fierce desire to be independent of outside influence.  She went on eight fundraising trips to the USA and insisted that 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, that never stopped her from running the affairs of the mission, even from her bedroom.  During her 32 years of missionary service in French Canada, Henriette Feller settled the first Francophone Protestant community in Quebec, educated young people, sent gifted Francophones on for higher learning and established nine Protestant French churches with seven pastors shepherding them.  There were approximately 900 members attending those churches.

 In a conversation with Dr. Michael Haykin, one of Canada’s leading church historians, he said, “Steve, by the end of the nineteenth century there were about 50,000 French evangelical Christians in Quebec.”

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

Will we repeat history?

In the 1930/40s some young Seminary students caught the vision for Quebec: Pioneers like Wilf Wellington, Bill Phillips, Murray and Lorne Heron, Ernie Keefe and others.  French churches were started, the Fellowship’s French Mission was established and approximately 100 churches have been planted.  Today, there are 87 French-speaking Fellowship churches in Quebec with about 900 believers – the largest French denomination in Quebec.  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.  Please join me in praying for the salvation of Canadians—French Canadians.
Thank God for the Henriette Fellers of the church.  Have we got any more out there?