Assemblee Chretienne de Farnham, QC
From BrethrenPedia
History
Assemblée chrétienne de Farnham, QC, Farnham, Brome-Missisquoi, Monteregie, Greater Montreal, Southcentral Quebec, Canada, is a French open brethren assembly founded in the mid-1950s.
Little is apparently certain about the initial beginnings of this assembly. The earliest record of evangelistic activity in the area goes back to 1950 when it was stated that “a meeting was held in Farnham with 57 present”. Prospects were reportedly good. Two years later it was reported that “we continue to hold cottage meetings near Farnham, and a number of saved and unsaved are usually in attendance from St. Jean”. In the summer of 1953, such meetings were purportedly being conducted on a fairly regular basis in the area. The names of both Noah Gratton and Albert Grainger are associated with these early years, the work up to this time having been a result of their labours in the area.
In 1956 Mr. Grainger purchased an abandoned school house in Rainville which was subsequently moved to its present location at 1901 Principale Est and renovated for use as a Gospel Hall with living quarters in the basement. Edgard Doucet, author of La Délivrance, together with his wife seem to have been the first to occupy this lodging. This was in the late fifties, perhaps 1959. Noah Gratton is listed as correspondent for the assembly in 1960 and, in the same year or the following, Albert Grainger apparently left the province. When the very first meeting for the Breaking of Bread was held is still shrouded in darkness and thus the actual date of the official beginning of the assembly remains unknown.
What is known is that by now meetings were being held regularly each Lord’s Day with an attendance of some twenty-five persons. A midweek Bible study was also being conducted. Throughout the early sixties, the assembly profited from the ministry of visiting brethren from elsewhere in the province, including John Spreeman, Vincent Davey and Howard Forbes. As late as 1966, the assembly still “had no resident full-time worker and depended almost entirely on travelling ministry.”
Following the death of his wife, Nellie, in 1967, John Spreeman settled at Farnham where he remarried. His second wife, Eileen Granger, sister to Albert (Bert), was already active in the work. Together the Spreemans served the Lord at Farnham until removing to Toronto in 1982, where John passed away seven years later. In the meantime, beginning in the mid-1980s and until his homecall in 2000, Sam Coppieters and his wife Ida made this assembly their home. The assembly has remained without a resident worker since then.
AKA
- Salle Evangélique 1956-1985
- Assemblée Chrétienne 1986-2020+
Locations
- E. Harvey's home
- 1901 E. Principale St. +1971-2020+;
Correspondents
- Edgard Rodolphat Doucet (b. 1902 Magog, QC) @ Brigham 1965-1970; +1985-1987+
- m. Marie Althimina Pouliot in 1930 in Sherbrooke, QC
- E. Harvey @ Brigide d'Iberville 1971-1983+;
- Alain Levesque +1989-1998, +2006-2010+
- Robert Straet 1999-2004+
- Julien Gosselin +2013-2020+;
Alumni
Sources
- Walterick Publishers Assembly Address Books: 1965-1980, 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
