🙌 Newsletter - Summer 2022

Quebec remains a land of mission, the Quebecers, an unreached people group. Upon my arrival in Quebec in 2016 I discovered that churches here often look like the first community of believers in Israel – small communities facing major cultural and spiritual challenges and yet communities called by Christ to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the world (Acts 1:8)

When you partner and support ETEQ you support biblical and theological training in Montreal, Quebec, the most challenging places, and potentially, to the end of the world.

Christ calls us and His Church to be witnesses in Jerusalem, where the disciples are, where the people of God are. For us, at ETEQ, “our Jerusalem” is Montreal. We are called to be witnesses of service, peace and reconciliation to the million immigrants living in Montreal, to the 90% of Muslims of Quebec who live in Montreal, to the more than 76,000 Jews, 34,000 Buddhists, 26,000 Hindus in the city of the 1976 Olympic games. This is the reason why we offer at ETEQ many courses on interculturality. We intend to equip the communities of believers, the Church, to be trained in cross-cultural relations. When ETEQ offers a course on world religions, ETEQ affirms that Montreal is its Jerusalem and trains its students, sent by local churches, to better understand the worldview of our neighbors.

Christ calls us and his Church to be witnesses in and for the entire province of Quebec. This actually represents an immediate missional challenge. Some say 99.3% of the population in the province of Quebec is not evangelical.

Since COVID, thanks to hybrid classes, everyone throughout Quebec can take courses at ETEQ and become witnesses in Estrie, Gaspésie, Saguenay and throughout Quebec without leaving their local church.

Christ calls us to be witnesses in Samaria, perhaps places that are not necessarily distant but different and challenging contexts. I am very proud that ETEQ participated in the training of two prison chaplains, two graduate students with a master’s degree from ETEQ who were able to deepen their ministry. The studies of one allowed him to explore the biblical bases of his ministry while the other was able to reflect and write a research on the proclamation of the Word in prison.

Christ calls us to be witnesses to the end of the world. Would you dream with me? Think of what appears currently impossible: What if Quebec reached the French-speaking world? Who will be the next Quebec missionaries in France or Belgium? Who will be missionaries in Africa? Could ETEQ train missionaries for the Francophonie before they leave for the mission field? When you partner and support ETEQ you support biblical and theological training of future missionaries to the end of the world.

After serving seven years as a pastor in a multi-generational cross-cultural church, one that had for years painfully struggled between a pentecostal and conservative theology, I felt desperate to find biblical answers to the spiritual, hermeneutical, ecclesiastical challenges that divided my church, Montreal Chinese Alliance Grace Church, and my denomination.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the shocking divisions it revealed confirmed to me a need for doctrinal and spiritual clarity and unity. It was critical that we unite around the essentials of our faith! But what are the essentials of Christianity? It turns out this is a painfully difficult question to answer, doubly painful in a post-post-modern world. And so I enrolled in the doctoral program at ETEQ-Laval to try to answer these questions. Much to my surprise, I would find the beginning of answers in the most unexpected ways! Above and beyond the academic rigour or pastoral atmosphere at ETEQ is a culture and willingness to listen. From the very start, students are taught to listen. Really listen. This is not a new lesson. It is an old lesson I needed to be re-taught and relearn. "Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."

(James 1:19)

Perhaps this listening humility is the kind of posture that

will bear righteousness and breathe life into my church.

Rev. Joseph Cherng

and his wife, Alice

A history of the French-speaking mission of four Anabaptist groups 1956-2021.

"Our history can teach us that the church did not start yesterday and that we can already see a future. For example, I have included in my book more recent elements such as the contribution of immigrants and the experience of the coronavirus pandemic. Certainly, as always, the church will have to adjust while remaining rooted in its core beliefs, and that starts with a good knowledge of the past!" Richard Lougheed

Dr. Lougheed's newest book is available for purchase on Amazon.ca

In Matthew 24:4-8 Jesus' answer is not an endorsement of war, but a description of the violence that characterizes relationships between peoples and political states. The biblical message roots this violence in a broken relationship with God – the One who gives us life and invites us to live in peace with him, with one another and in harmony with the Creation. We propose that it is not simply a particular story or set of circumstances that lead inevitably to war; war is the result of a decision by a state or by a group to introduce violence into this story, into these circumstances.

Everywhere in the world violence is present in many forms. This violence, again from a biblical perspective, reflects our need of reconciliation with God and with one another and touches every aspect of human life. It affects the affairs of political states, the way that we live in society, in personal relationships and even in the Church. In this world so deeply marked by violence and sin, God, the Peacemaker, acts. In his love, God brings peace to us and covers our sin and our violence.

The way of life of the church, especially with respect to its local impact – in its city and community – becomes a demonstration of the reality of the peace of Christ transforming our lives.

Prayer – We pray for people who are caught up in war and conflict throughout the world. We pray in a special way for the Church – for God’s people – so that God’s people may be actively involved in making peace

in the midst of conflict.

Generous sharing – We can grow in generosity, giving our money to support efforts to help those in different parts of the world who are affected by war.

Watch the conference in full by clicking the video below.

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