Why should there be Mennonites in Quebec?

I have good news and bad news about the church in Quebec. The bad news is that if we don't take serious steps, within 20 to 30 years we will be speaking about Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada work here in the past tense. We in Quebec are like the church in biblical Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7). We are weak--morally, numerically and financially.

However, when we look at history, Mennonites have almost always been weak. The good news is that God seems to be obstinate in using us anyway. God wants to use us as people of the "third way," those who are willing to be "in between:" in between Roman Catholic and Protestant, evangelical and non-evangelical, victim and offender, liberal and fundamentalist.

The reason I invest part of my time in the Roc-Aide-aux-jeunes (street ministry for youth) is because this ministry seeks to be "in between" street people and other forces in society: the church, the police, sickness (including AIDS), prostitution and poverty. God seems to approve the place of people "in between" since the first Anabaptists some 450 years ago.

Statistics show that a denomination or congregation which does not experience a revival or major upheaval every 35-40 years dies. Quebec work has survived the 40-year mark. In the 1950s, Ontario Mennonites sent two missionary couples, Tilman and Janet Martin and Harold and Pauline Reesor, to Quebec. They had a vision to work from a Mennonite theology appropriate to us. Other mission workers followed, living their faith in our midst.

The Conseil Mennonite Quebecois (Quebec Council) developed from that vision. We have now reached a watershed and must move on to another stage, requiring clear vision. Vision describes why we exist and what we are to do. Vision gets to the root of meaning.

The church which forgets ultimate goals becomes the slave of the moment. A clear goal allows us to live fully in the present and to plan for the future, taking account of the past. A clear goal encourages doubts to vanish.

Why should there be Mennonites in Quebec? In II Corinthians 5:18-19, Paul invites believers to become instruments of reconciliation. The requirements are faith, hope and love. Faith calls for clear vision; hope produces expectations so that we can organize and develop strategy; love fleshes out and lives these values. Love also unites.

We in Quebec may be weak but we are present. Can we afford not to be united? Every leader at every level can work to unify those around him/her.

Three points come from the apostle Paul, my model for urban ministry: 1) Obedience ahead of activity. Doing things because they fit the goal. 2) Quality before quantity. Quality involves faith, hope and love. The spiritual journey begins inside and moves outside. Our goal as leaders is to take away the obstacles to growth--we can't produce growth.

3) Power for transformation before security. Acts 3.1-8 shows Peter replying to the beggar, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." Does God still have the power to transform human lives, situations, contexts and even destructive structures, using us as instruments?

My prayer is this: "Lord, make us into Christians full of your Holy Spirit, united in your love, guided by one goal, and permit us to accomplish great things."

I began this message by saying that we are weak. We have blurry vision and we are often not instruments of reconciliation or the unity Jesus called for in John 17:21: "I pray that they all may be one as we are one."

The good news is that we are in relation with the supreme being, God incarnate in Jesus Christ, shown by the Holy Spirit. We have the high calling of being instruments of reconciliation, of being "in between," and we are part of the most wonderful team, the church, which is full of good will, good attitudes and many abilities.--Daniel Genest

The writer is the Coordinator of the Quebec Council. The article is from a sermon he presented in September to representatives of Quebec Mennonites and the executive board of the Mennonite Conference of Eastern Canada.