La Chapelle Biblique, Hull, QC

History

La Chapelle Biblique, Hull, QC was a French open brethren assembly started in 1965, and active through 1973. For a brief time it went under the name of Assemblée Chrétienne, Ottawa, ON. It was in no way linked with Groupe Biblique de l'Outaouais, QC which was founded in 1979 and active through the present day.

In 1962 Wilf Wight came to Ottawa to teach school with the view to preparing to move into Quebec and serve the Lord among the French speaking people. Just previous to his arrival, a French-Canadian family by the name of Cousineau had been reached for the Lord. They and the Wights - by now the Lord had given Wilf a French-Canadian wife, née Connie Landry - found themselves together in the same English-speaking assembly in Ottawa, Grace and Truth Chapel.

In January 1964 the two families, decided to meet together and pray for the Lord's direction to start activities in French. From this first meeting, a bi-monthly Bible study and prayer meeting developed, meeting in a large room at the Cousineau home in Tenaga, Québec. Meetings continued there until March 1965 when, for various reasons, they were moved to Evangel Chapel, Ottawa, site of an earlier French work. A number of former French-speaking assembly people were still living in the area and it was hoped that some of these would join the new effort. The group, under the leadership of Wilf Wight, remained here for two years.

After much prayer and searching, an empty restaurant was found to rent at 103 rue Frontenac in Hull, just across the river from Ottawa. La Chapelle Biblique finally had a foothold in Québec. It is not clear what happened after this. Records indicate that occasional French meetings were still being held at the old address on boulevard St-Laurent in Ottawa until 1973. Meanwhile, by 1972, Wilf and Connie Wight were fellowshipping with the English assembly at St. Laurent Chapel where, three years later Wilf was asked to serve as a full-time elder.

Sources

• Waltericks AAB's 1965-2020
• News of Quebec