was insisting, pressing on my heart
about this, almost saying, ‘If you
don’t do it, you will be like Jonah.’ ”
As Pilon explains, most Quebec
Evangelicals came to faith in the
1970s and ’80s, after which growth
stalled until 2007 when missionary activity surged again. After the
Quiet Revolution of the ’70s, most
young people turned their backs
on the Church, especially the
Catholic Church.
“People here won’t say they’re
atheist, but most have this idea
there is no place for God in their
life,” Pilon says. “This is my genera-
tion and also the first generation
that can’t ask their parents the
meaning of life, because the parents
have no answers and no hope. As my
generation approaches their 30s
and starts having children, there is
a renewed sense of wanting to figure
out life’s meaning, but they don’t
know where to search anymore.”
In Quebec too, says Pilon, it’s just
as Jesus declared – the harvest is
great, but the workers are few.
Pilon admits the needs are “astro-
nomic,” especially for pastoral care
and for French-language books on
faith. And with Quebec being at the
bottom for rates of charitable giv-
ing, the necessary resources aren’t
going to come very fast from inside
the province.
But there has been outside help,
he adds. Southern Baptists have re-
sponded to a call from the Canadian
National Baptist Convention to help
out, and he’s also noted “greater
unity among church families” and a
sharing of precious resources.
Ironically, although most Quebecers have rejected Catholicism, they
seem to still regard any other denomination as suspicious and even
cultish. Pilon sees great opportunity
in the “love-hate relationship that
the Quebec people have with the
Catholic Church. It is so much a part
of who we are and it certainly instills
passion … and I do see the Holy
Spirit working in this province.” /FT
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Alex Newman of Toronto is a senior writer for
Faith Today. Lire une traduction française de
cet article à www.faithtoday.ca/FosterPilon.
“THIS IS M Y
GENERATION
AND ALSO
THE FIRST
GENERATION
THAT CAN’ T
ASK THEIR
PARENTS
THE MEAN-
ING OF LIFE,
BECAUSE THE
PARENTS
HAVE NO
ANSWERS
AND NO
HOPE.”
