Day Two of the mission trip was a wonderful experience, starting with an early morning breakfast at the church offices of Le Contact in Repentigny, a suburb here in Montreal that's about thirty minutes from the Mission House where we are staying. There are mission teams from four different churches that have all responded to the call from Pastor Joel to help with the moving day ministry on the 1st of July (a church from Texas, two churches from Mississippi as well as us), and we all were treated to an amazing breakfast prepared by the Le Contact members featuring everything from bagels, muffins and sausages, to fruits, cheeses and pates (which was actually pretty good!).
As breakfast ended we were blessed to take part in an amazing time of worship led by their praise team, before Pastor Joel shared the history of Le Contact. His message clearly showed that God's Hand is at work in this city where less than one half of one percent of the three million residents of Montreal are Christian. This 4 year old church in particular has already outgrown their current space, growing from 40 members in 2010 to over 250 now, requiring them to move Sunday services to a school gymnasium located nearby.
The rest of the day was spent traveling around town with Pastor Joel, praying in public in various places that he chose. In this province of Canada, the mistrust of organized religion remains very high and our praying aloud in public was done with eyes open, looking around, in a "conversational" style to avoid creating a scene. We prayed for God's guidance with regard to future homes for this growing church, unity among the churches trying to reach the Quebecois (the people of the province of Quebec), softening of the government officials' hearts towards the church as an organization, praise for reaching so many people through the gift of music and for boldness for Pastor Joel in particular as he prepares some difficult messages to deliver to his congregation.
A late lunch/supper ended our time with Pastor Joel, and we headed back to the Montreal Mission House to fellowship with the other team from Texas staying there. As we did last night, a quick walk to the river ended in a beautiful park where we listened to a devotion, shared prayers and praises from the day and asked the Good Lord to turn us all into NFL linebackers so we can be ready to move lots of furniture tomorrow! We'll let you know how that prayer turns out...
Blessings,
Sam Tanner
For the Montreal Team
