Difference between revisions of "Christian Community La Promesse, Sherbrooke, QC"

Revision as of 21:42, 11 August 2021

History

Communauté Chrétienne La Promesse, Sherbrooke, Estrie, Southeast Québec, Canada is a French open brethren assembly founded in 1946.

This assembly, formerly Assemblée chrétienne de Sherbrooke. was the fifth French assembly to be established in the province. It began in 1946, meeting in the basement of Grace Chapel in Sherbrooke’s north ward. The first official meeting was held on Sunday, January 6th of that year.

That fall a gospel radio program, with Arnold Reynolds at the microphone, was launched, the first of its kind anywhere in the province in the French language. It was carried over the local station CHLT in Sherbrooke and continued for three and a half years until the program was ejected from the air in the spring of 1950 under pressure from the religious authorities.

In February 1951, the assembly moved into rented quarters at 23 King West, a busy Sherbrooke thoroughfare with high hopes that their greater visibility would draw more visitors to their doors. This proved not to be the case and, when two years later the landlord requested them to move to another and smaller room in the same building, they declined. For the next several months, until October, the assembly met at Bethel Bible School. This arrangement proved to be impractical due to its being located too far from the centre of town.

When another store front facility became available, the assembly moved again, in November 1952, to a new downtown location. This had a good window which could be used for gospel displays, and its size was also quite suitable. It proved to be in one of the very best locations in town, a place where hundreds of people passed daily on foot on their way to work.

In January 1956, the assembly made a final and permanent move to its newly-constructed chapel on Désormeaux Street in the eastern part of the city. Most of the work had been done by members of the assembly with financial help being secured through a loan from Stewards Foundation.

Over the years, the assembly has experienced its proverbial “ups and downs”, one high point coming in the late 70s and early 80s following on the heels of Quebec’s Quiet Revolution. Attendance at the chapel increased dramatically, thanks in part to a Coffee House program carried on in downtown Sherbrooke. Not a few came to know the Lord through this effort, some eventually going on to become leaders in the French work throughout the province. The facilities were eventually expanded to meet the needs of a growing assembly.

With the passing of Arnold Reynolds, Norman Buchanan and others who were part of the foundation and early years of the work, new leadership came on the scene. In 2006, a sixtieth anniversary celebration brought together many who had, at one time or another, been part of the assembly. Today, the assembly finds itself to be a place of refuge and/or temporary passage for hurting Christians from other congregations. 

AKA

• Assemblée Chrétienne de Sherbrooke 1946-2021+

Locations

• 23 King Ouest +1951-1952
• Institut biblique Béthel
• 715 rue Désormeaux 1956-2021+

Correspondents

• Arnold John Myers Reynolds @ Lennoxville 1946-1958, 1965-1986
  • b. 1917 Montreal, QC - d. 2004 Sherbrooke, QC
• M.A. Thiffault 1959-1963
  • "Arthur" Millrite Thiffault? (b. Tite, Papua, Indonesia - d. 1966 Sherbrooke, QC)
• Claude Queval +1987-1995
• Pierre Pellerin @ Canton d'Ascot 1998-2000+, 2004+
• Michel Corcoran +2003
• Denis Grenier +2006-2021+

Alumni

• Who’s Who at Communauté Chrétienne La Promesse, Sherbrooke, QC 1946-2021+

Sources

• Walterick Publishers Assembly Address Books: 1943, 1948, 1950, 1954-1956, 1958-1980, 1982-1983, 1985-1987, 1989-2000, 2003-2004, 2006-2008
• ECS Ministries (Emmaus International) Assembly Address Books: 2009-2010, 2013-2014, 2016, 2018, 2020
• News of Quebec
• Ancestry.com