Assemblee Chretienne, Thetford Mines, QC

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History

Assemblée Chrétienne, Thetford Mines, Chaudière-Appalaches, Southeast Québec, Canada is a French open brethren assembly founded in 1951.

 In 1945, believers from an English assembly in Ontario were sending Gospel tracts to homes in Thetford Mines. Two years later, pioneer worker, John Spreeman, together with his wife, spent six weeks in this location, visiting those who had mailed in requests for New Testaments. Not surprisingly, the enemy quickly put an end to that visit. Mr. Spreeman was kidnapped and his life threatened. He never fully recovered from a nervous breakdown caused by this experience and was not able even to revisit the area for quite some time.

The work continued, however, thanks to visits made by other brethren including Arnold Reynolds of Sherbrooke and Paul Boëda from Cap-de-la-Madeleine. During the winter of 1947-1948, Noah Gratton from Montreal was responsible for the work aided by Vincent Davey

and Bert Grainger. The following year it was reported that there were now “enough believers to form the beginnings of an assembly, if some worker could stay with them to shepherd them.”

 It was early in the summer of 1951 that, for all practical reasons, the assembly was born as local believers met for the first time to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. The first baptism took place in nearby Black Lake, which would subsequently be drained and excavated for an asbestos mine. Meetings were held in homes until the following year when one of the brethren, Lucien Turcotte, who had a little sash and door factory, constructed a workshop behind his home which the assembly was then able to rent for use as a chapel. Five years later, it was reported that though the little Gospel Hall was not yet “bursting at the seams”, there were signs of new life and encouragement.

In 1957, Raymond Taylor moved to Thetford Mines where he continued to labour for two years until moving to Eastern Montreal to begin a new work there. After this, various brethren undertook to visit the assembly at frequent intervals. In the meantime, the assembly had to vacate their rented quarters and for a time met again in private homes and then rented other premises.

As the Lord continued to bless and prosper the testimony, the assembly decided to build their own chapel on a lot which they had bought some years before. The new chapel was in use by January 1975, even though it was not quite finished. By March of that year, finishing touches had been made and the inauguration service was held. Five years later the assembly boasted 40 or so believers, twenty-six having been baptized in the previous 5 years. A quarter of a century later, there were some 35 in attendance. Today there are perhaps half that number who faithfully frequent this assembly.

AKA

  • Salle Évangélique 1951-1959
  • Assemblée Chrétienne +1960-2020

Locations

  • 415 Ste. Julie +1954-1972
  • 93 rue Belleau 1973-1974
  • 725 rue Simoneau 1975-2020+

Correspondents

  • Joseph Omer Noël Bilodeau (1910-1977) 
  • Lucien Turcotte @ Ste. Marthe (b. 1907 Mégantic or Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton, QC) +1960-1971;
    • son of Simeon Turcotte (b. 1876 QC) & Victoria Labbè Turcotte (1878-1921 QC), R.C. +1911-1921+
      • Victoria dau. of Louis Labbé (1834-1908 QC) & Adele Doyon Labbé (1839-1925 QC
  • Omer Bilodeau 1971-1979
  • Onil Bolduc 1984
  • Charlemagne Jean-Pois 2003
  • Norman Bilodeau 1980-2002, 2004-2020+

Alumni

Sources

  • Walterick Publishers Assembly Address Books: 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