Gerald and Marguerite Pauley
Serving in
Canada,
Far North
Our ministry has always been related to church planting and ministries that come from church planting. Through the years, we have started 14 churches -- 11 in Africa and 3 in Quebec.
Presently, our main activity is replacing temporarily other church planters who need time away from their work for medical or other reasons. We have been doing this since 2001. So far, this ministry has taken us to Labrador, Antigua in the Caribbean, Newfoundland, British Columbia and in Manitoba in English, in French, in Gatineau, Ottawa and Sherbrooke, Quebec.
In between these times in other churches, we have arranged deputation and traveled to meetings with a French Canadian couple who has joined BIMI as church planters for Quebec. They are now working with great success in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec.
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All along, as we have been working in these other ministries, I have also done some writing. I have completed courses for a video Bible School which is being used in several countries besides being used in Quebec. I hope to complete other Bible courses because the demand is there and I have only approximately half the material to do a full Bible School course on the field.
In 2006 I finished a manual for church planters. Of course, when I write, Marguerite proof-reads my work and types it in a printable format. She has also translated a lot of our work into English.
Marguerite is fully involved in the ministry when we replace someone, just as she is in the development of Bible courses and Bible study aids. Quebec has been our area of ministry since December of 1976.
About Quebec: Quebec was founded by people in the fur trade and by the Catholic church. The Catholic church dominated life in the province until the 1960s. Since then, there has been religious freedom even for the French majority in Quebec. We have had freedom to preach the Gospel even though the Catholic mind-set has kept most of the older generation from listening.
Materialism, humanism and hedonism have kept most of the younger generation from listening to the Gospel. In spite of this, the Lord has raised up three churches and four national church-planter couples through our ministry.
Most customs are not unlike those of the U.S. However, although baseball and football are well liked here, soccer and ice hockey are more wide-spread and appreciated than in the U.S.
The parliamentary government is formed after a political party wins a majority vote. It is the party which selects its leader before the elections. He becomes the federal prime minister if his party wins. During the mandate (term) of the party, it can change leaders, which gives the country a different prime minister. The new prime minister must call new elections after a certain period. Each province also has a prime minister. The same system is used on the provincial level. Each province is more independent and has more authority and responsibility than does a state of the United States. In fact, the provinces are members of the Canadian Confederation, and they can legally withdraw from it, if it is done democratically. Since we have been living here, there has been a vote three times for Quebec to separate from the Confederation.
The industry and economy here is totally intertwined with the American economy. All Canadians recognize this fact. Many of them resent the dependence, but don't mind profiting from it.
Prayer requests: In recent years we have had national couples join BIMI as church planters. In one sense, this is good and is a subject of praise. In another sense, it could lead to national works that never come to maturity if they become dependent on funds from other churches and fail to take responsibility for their own finances. This principle of independence is vital for the future of the work in Quebec.
