Assemblee Chretienne de Granby, QC
Contents
History
Assemblée chrétienne de Granby is a French open brethren assembly that was started in 1952, located in Granby, Haute-Yamaska, Monteregie, Greater Montreal, Southcentral Quebec, Canada. It is still active, as of 2020.
In the early days of assembly work in French Canada, almost all francophone assemblies in Québec were established through contacts made by the work of the Tract Bands. By the 1950s, new works were coming into existence as a result of extension from existing assemblies. Such is the case for the Assemblée chrétienne de Granby, located in a city that, for its size, can boast more French-language evangelical groups than perhaps any other in Québec.
This being said, it was in 1946 that the Lord saved Wilda Lloyd through an English-language radio broadcast. Within three years her husband, Archie, followed. In those days there were no French-speaking evangelical services in Granby. Desiring to have such, Wilda contacted her brother-in-law, Jacques Smith, pastor of l’Église Saint-Luc in Montréal, who began holding services in the basement of Granby’s United Church. Ernest Anex, Baptist pastor in Roxton Pond, gave a helping hand. Though this did not carry on for long, it served as a forerunner of today’s assembly.
In 1952, three Christian families from the assembly at Trois-Rivières (Cap-de-la-Madeleine) moved to Granby. Meetings began almost immediately in the home of one of these, Gérard Lacombe. Visits were being made by Raymond Taylor who grew up in Granby and had just graduated from Bethel Bible School in Sherbrooke. The work took shape and soon outgrew the space that homes could provide.
Given the fact that in those days no one would rent facilities to evangelicals, the assembly eventually purchased a piece of property from Archie Lloyd. The following spring construction work was begun and by mid-January 1954 the assembly had moved into its modest new quarters, seating about one-hundred persons. The building was financed in part by a loan from Stewards Foundation with official opening taking place on May 27 of that year. Speaker for the occasion was Gabriel Cotnoir, whose family had been introduced to the Gospel through a French-language radio programs hosted by Arnold Reynolds, one of the first ever to be broadcast in Québec. Gabriel went on to become one of the leading pastors among the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists.
Without a resident worker, for a few years the young assembly was encouraged by visits from brethren such as Paul Boëda and Roland Lacombe from Cap-de-la-Madeleine and believers from Sherbrooke, including Arnold Reynolds as well as Walter Angst, director of the Bible school there. By 1957, commended worker Roger Dupont was labouring here; however, within three years doctrinal errors of Armstrongism and Adventism occasioned his departure. John Spreeman, Howard Forbes and Jack Harvie, whose company, Bell Canada, had recently brought to the area, all gave a helping hand in the interim. In 1960, a difference of opinion as to the role of women in the assembly caused the departure of some who had been long-time members.
Sam Coppieters and his wife Ida, following studies at Bethel Bible School, arrived in the summer of 1963. They remained for eighteen years, during which time the work prospered, the mortgage was retired and the upheavals that had earlier shaken the assembly seemed only a memory. Unfortunately, due to conflicts caused by differences of opinion, Sam stepped down as principal teaching elder in the spring of 1981. Upon his departure, some sixty persons were in fellowship.
Claude Vachon with his wife Louise have laboured here since then, being commended to the work in 1984. The building was enlarged and in 1990 adjacent property was purchased, providing for anticipated future growth. A Christian ACE school, using church facilities, has been in operation here for many years. Early differences of opinion as to the legality of the school together with conflicts over leadership style issued in a hive-off and launching of another assembly in the city in the late eighties. The resulting assembly, Assemblée biblique de Granby, carried on for a half-dozen years.
AKA
- Chapelle Evangélique 1956-1965
Location
- Home of Gerard Lacombe @ 4 Ottawa St. +1954-1955
- 345 Dennison Ave. 1956-1959 aka 324 W. Denison Ave. 1960-2020+
Correspondents
- Gerard Lacombe +1954-1955
- Archibald Leon "Archie" Lloyd (b. 1912 South Stukely, QC - d. 1983 Sherbrooke, QC) @ Roxton Pond 1956-1966;
- Samuel Coppieters (1937-2000 Granby, QC) 1966-1981
- Richard Houle 1986-1987+
- Claude Vachon +1985, +1989-2020+
Alumni
Sources
- Walterick Publishers Assembly Address Books: 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
- Coppieters, Joël. Réunis au nom du Seigneur Jésus. Unpublished manuscript 2003