Canada

Challenges for Prayer

The large number of Bible institutes, colleges, universities and theological seminaries – committed to a biblical view of Scripture – are fulfilling a major role in strengthening evangelical witness. These are spread across Canada. Some are experiencing renewal and growth. Some are struggling with enrolment and support. Pray for the students and their teachers, that missions may be a central aspect of their education.

Quebec is a unique region that has experienced in one or two generations the secularization and modernization that took France centuries to accomplish. While mostly French in language and culture, it is increasingly multicultural, with an Anglophone minority and growing immigrant communities. Pray for:

a) Political currents that swirl around the issue of separation from Canada. Although such sentiment has waned of late, it is never far from becoming prominent. Pray that Quebec might make a valuable contribution to the redemptive history of Canada.

b) The Catholic Church dominates Quebecois identity and culture (more than 80% self-identify as Catholic), but not attendance. Quebec’s church attendance rate is Canada’s lowest. There is a demonstrably low commitment to community activities; in particular, church and faith are highly personal and privatized.

c) Evangelicals in Quebec. Protestants are decidedly low in number and evangelical churches regarded as nearly cults. While Protestants are very mixed among French, English and immigrant cultures, there are also a significant number of practicing Catholics with evangelical beliefs. Pray for unity, fellowship and even collaboration.

d) Church planting needs to occur in much greater measure. To bring Quebec up to par with the rest of Canada in the numbers of evangelical congregations, 3,000 more churches must be planted.

e) Ministry vision to Quebec and beyond. Christian Direction/Urbanus partners with all denominations in the vision to have a spiritual impact on the whole Francophone world, starting in Quebec. French-Canadian evangelicals usually feel more affinity with other Francophone evangelicals globally than with Anglophone Canadian evangelicals.

     For an additional 8 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.