Catherine’s battle with Epilepsy over the last four years has made viable employment a difficult thing for her. One way she has sought to fill the gap was by offering beginner piano lessons to young people. When our 97-year-old upright became more and more impossible to tune, she approached me about shopping for a good used one. My prompt response was “we just can’t afford it” and I must admit that I sort of put the whole idea out of my mind. But Catherine started praying. Then, about a month later on a Saturday morning as she and Melanie were headed out the door, she said “I’ve saved a small amount and we have a couple of possibilities, pray for us as we go.” As it turned out, one of the leads was an older couple who happened to be believers, a rare thing in Québec. They had been touched by Catherine’s use of Philippians 4:13 in email correspondence. They offered the piano to her for much less than the small amount that she had saved saying “we know you will use it for the Lord”. Catherine has a new piano! God can meet our every need! Yes, He can!
Tag Archives: News
Thanks for praying for the conference!
Things went really well with the conference, though we had fewer visitors than we’d hoped. We had managed to distribute invitations in all the apartments around the church but no one came from that. Still, the Lord was clearly with us and it was a blessing for all!
Evangelistic Conference
A reminder to pray for our conference which begins this evening at 7:00 p.m. and goes through tomorrow afternoon! Thanks!
Summer Intern 2012
It is hard to believe that Brandon’s internship has come and gone. What a blessing and a joy it was to have him here! Thank you for praying. We encourage you to read his last prayer letter: Brandon’s July Prayer Letter
French translation of “Changed Into His Image” a reality!
Thank you to those who have prayed over the last several years! The book is finally done!
The Quebec Government’s Religion Class now Mandatory
(Editorial from Spring, 2012 edition of “News of Quebec”, the trimestrial missionary news publication of the Assemblies of Christians in French Canada, used with permission by the author, Richard E. Strout)
The Supreme Court Decides
On February 17, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada in a 9-0 ruling upheld the right of Quebec’s Ministry of Education to require that all elementary and secondary school children be obligated to follow the controversial Ethics and Religion course introduced into the Quebec school system as of 2008. According to Christianity Today, the court ruled that since the program was educational and was not forcing children to join any religion, it did not infringe on religious freedom.
The course teaches religion from a secular point of view, putting all faith systems on an equal footing. Bible stories are treated as legends and Christianity is presented as just one among many of the legitimate cultural expressions of our time. In the words of the court,
“… early exposure of children to realities that differ from those in their immediate family environment is a fact of life in society. The suggestion that exposing children to a variety of religious facts in itself infringes their religious freedom or that of their parents amounts to a rejection of the multicultural reality of Canadian society and ignores the Quebec government’s obligations with regard to public education.”
Since its inception, the introduction of this course has been opposed by parents and leaders of various Christian expressions, both Catholic and Protestant. Already over 2000 parents are said to have raised objections, among them parents of two children in Drummondville, Quebec, who requested of the local school board that their children be exempted. Following the school board’s refusal, the loss of their case before the Quebec Superior Court and a refusal by the Quebec Court of Appeals to hear the case, it was taken to the Supreme Court.
Some organizations within the province of Quebec have opposed the introduction of this curriculum by legal action, public manifestations and the like. On the other hand, The Protestant Partnership in Education has endeavored to work closely with the Quebec Ministry of Education to introduce changes into the program in order to make it more compatible with evangelical convictions. Thankfully, there has been a good spirit of give and take and some progress has been made over the years. This said, however, in the minds of many if not most Quebec evangelicals, the Ethics and Religion course is still very far from being acceptable.
The Canadian Council of Christian Charities (CCCC), one of the numerous interveners in the case before the Supreme Court, expressed its concern with the court’s decision lest it “set a precedent allowing provinces to implement a particular mandatory religion course of their choosing at the expense of violating the religious sensibilities of Christian schools and their supporters.” The CCCC goes on to say that, in their view, “the religious curriculum in question favours one particular vision of religion that of the Quebec government at the expense of the vision of the parents who objected.”
This is by no means the first time that the education of evangelical protestant children has been a matter of concern for parents and leaders here in Quebec – see my editorial in the Spring 20 I 0 issue of this magazine. One has only to return to the 1950s and 1960s and right back into the nineteenth century when education was in the hands of the predominant church. Ways were ultimately found for circumventing the problem but they were costly, both in terms of money and the persecution of the French evangelical minority. Today it has become a Church-State issue rather than a confessional one; however, the stakes are much the same.
Happily, materials have been and continue to be prepared to be placed in the hands of Christian parents which will enable them to counteract the negative influences of this required curriculum. We can only hope that parents will avail themselves of such materials and step up to the plate as concerns their God-given responsibility to see to the proper religious education of their children. …
Brethren, pray for us.
Our Summer Intern has Arrived!
Brandon Miller arrived on Sunday evening. He has already begun cataloging Mike’s library with really cool software and a bar code reader. On Sunday morning, he will share his testimony in French, then give a challenge through translation. What a blessing to have him here!
Catherine is doing much better!
Thank you so much for your continued prayer for our daughter!
Jonathan and Heather
It is a joy to announce that, our son Jonathan Aaron Webster is officially engaged to marry Heather Lynn Shafer. They are both in their senior year at Bob Jones University and have set a date for June 18th, 2011. Heather is from Markleton, Pennsylvania and is the daughter of Stewart and Gail Shaffer.
Jonathan proposed while on Thanksgiving break and did so on the beautiful property which was once the farm that belonged to his great grandparents in Caswell County, North Carolina.
Christmas Carols in French
This CD which was produced by our church choir in 2001, is now available for order online. You can even listen to samples. All of our children were still at home and involved in the ministry when this CD was done so you will hear all of our voices on this CD (except Mike). Valerie even did a solo. Here is the link: Voici Noël.