MISSION NEWS www.canadianlutheran.ca
French Ministries
Mission congregation hosts installation of LCC’s newest Missionary-at-Large for the francophone community
Rev. Marco-Antonio Jacobsen (Photo: Roni Martins).
by David Somers QUEBEC CITY, Que. - On October 3, 2021, the congregation of Sainte-Trinité in Quebec City, hosted the installation of Rev. Marco-Antonio Jacobsen as assistant Missionary-at-Large for Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC)’s French Ministries. Sainte-Trinité was formed through the cooperation of half a dozen or so LCC members who happened to move to the city within months of each other, in partnership with LCC Missionary, Rev. Dr. David Somers. An application for seed funds for exploratory outreach was approved by the
former LCC East District in mid-2008. A sum of $3,640 was provided for publicity and transportation. A formal church building was not available, so the group held monthly services at a 19th century prisonbecome-private library. The local community covered rental costs and, subsequently, transportation costs for the pastors, including Rev. Razafy Razfindrakoto. In the summer of 2010, this confessional Lutheran community in Quebec decided to assume more responsibilities at the local level since, up until this point, they had been operating under the directives of the Missionary-atlarge. This step forward was encouraged following the recent arrival of some relocated members from the Sherbrooke Lutheran Mission (Rev. Razafy Razfindrakoto) to Quebec City (a young family of three and a single woman) as well as by the arrival of a member from our sister church in France (with whom we had been in contact two years before when he was studying in Trois-Rivières, Quebec). A solidifying sign of this progression was the choosing of a name for the congregation: Église Évangélique Luthérienne de la Sainte-Trinité (Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity)—which became a Recognized District Mission. Another part of this formative process was the decision not to request further District Mission Funds. By September of that same year, the mission had developed further as they moved to the Université Laval chapel, affording a visible Lutheran presence for the student population. The free-of-charge and regular availability of the new venue permitted the addition of another worship service per month (second and fourth Sundays). Those services plus the monthly Lutheran service led by the military chaplain Rev. Dr. Harold Ristau (and subsequently others) at nearby Valcartier army base chapel allow for three services per month for the Lutherans of Quebec City. When the university chapel was no longer available, an Anglican church was rented for Sunday services. In spite of challenges, this mission was growing steadily, and at a rapidity not seen in the early years of Lutheran francophone missions. In June 2011, just when a five-member family was being transferred away, news was received of the pending arrival of a retired LCC pastor moving to Quebec City, in large part, to support the mission. By November, he had arrived. A contact who had periodically attended services in Montreal but was making the transition to Quebec City, also joined the mission and invited a family she had met in a grocery store line to come as well—they later became members! Then, in January 2012, a Malagasy couple (formerly Reformed) who had become faithful communicants at l’Église Luthérienne de l’Ascension (Montreal) announced their forthcoming move to Quebec City. Sainte-Trinité is a congregation that could have given up many times over the past decade, and yet continues THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN September/October 2021
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