Wes & Rebecca Burns
Serving in
the Far North
God has called the Burns family to take the Gospel to the people of Quebec, Canada. In land mass, Quebec is the largest province in Canada. In population, it is the second largest: close to 9 million people call Quebec their home. According to a recent study, there are less than 40,000 professing Christians in the province of Quebec: in other words, less than ½% of the people of Quebec profess Jesus Christ as Saviour. Quebec boasts a humanistic society rejecting biblical truth. The people of Quebec are in desperate need of the life-changing truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Wes grew up in a Christian home, was saved at age 6 and baptized at age 11. After completing Bible school, he assisted church-planting missionaries in northern Japan through music ministry, door-to-door tract distribution, leading some Bible studies, and teaching English as a second language. He also served in Bolivia, South America, helping at a farm associated with a school for missionary children. While in Bolivia, he saw first-hand what a helpful tool an airplane can be in reaching people with the Gospel. After returning from Bolivia, he started flight training and finished with a single-engine, commercial pilot’s license and instrument rating. He is also a certified Aircraft Maintenance Engineer.
Rebecca also grew up in a Christian home and was saved at age 7 and baptized at age 10. She began taking piano lessons when she was young, and faithfully used her musical talent to serve the Lord. Upon her graduation from a Christian college with a master’s degree in music, she taught music at the college level. During the school year, she was involved in a weekly neighbourhood Bible club. During summer break, she held Bible clubs for neighbourhood children at her home church.
Wes and Rebecca were married on July 3, 2004. God blessed them with two beautiful children, Kelsey (born in 2007) and Kenan (born in 2011). Since their marriage, they have served the Lord together leading youth group, teaching Sunday School, leading children’s church, assisting in vacation Bible schools, and doing music ministry. God began placing in their hearts a desire to reach their fellow Canadians with the Gospel, and specifically, the neighbouring province of Quebec.
In June of 2010, they were approved to serve under BIMI. They moved to Quebec City from New Brunswick in September 2012 and completed their French studies in December 2013. In 2014, Wes and Rebecca moved 12 hours north-east of Quebec City to begin their church planting ministry in Havre-Saint-Pierre, on the North Shore of Quebec. Community after community along the North Shore and beyond are without a witness for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During their time spent in Havre-Saint-Pierre, they distributed the Gospel of John and Romans and other Gospel literature throughout the region, including the communities of Sheldrake, Rivière au Tonnerre, Rivière St. Jean, Magpie, Longue Pointe de Mingan, Mingan, Havre-Saint-Pierre, Port-Menier (on Anticosti Island), Baie-Johan-Beetz, Aguanish, L’Ile Michon, Natashquan, the Nutashquan native reserve, Pointe-Parent and the English community of Kegaska. Beyond the end of the road system at Kegaska are many remote communities (English, French, and Inuit) that represent close to 5,000 unreached souls. Through the generosity of God’s people, the Lord provided a small airplane that Wes and Rebecca used to facilitate reaching these remote communities with the Gospel.
Near the end of their time on the North Shore, the Lord placed a burden on their hearts for other remote villages in Quebec, specifically in the region near the James Bay. In 2022, the Burns family followed the Lord’s leading to relocate to Trois-Rivières, Quebec, to serve the Lord in a church plant that had been started by fellow missionaries. They also use the airplane in this region to spread the Gospel in other remote or semi-remote villages to the north and north west, including the James Bay region. They are thrilled to see the Gospel go forth in the province of Quebec, and their prayer is that the Lord will use His Word toward the salvation of souls and establishment of churches throughout Quebec.
