CBV cross cultural ministry, Acadians reaching out to Paris

We began our ministry and family in West Africa as missionaries with SIM. Our two sons did their early schooling in Niger, and had certain memories of living on the edge of the Sahara Desert. We have been back in Canada for 10 years now, active in our home church, Église Baptist Française de Moncton. After a wonderful experience of working together during Bold and Alive / Fort et Fier with our sons Joël (17) and Daniel (15), we began looking to the Lord for an opportunity to minister in another culture, preferable overseas. We wanted to do this before our boys started into university and then moved on to their own lives as adults. Our hope was to impart to them, in a practical way, a vision and a burden for the whole world. The project that seemed ideal for us was a CBV project renovating a Bible School in France. We had the skills plus the language.

We invited three couples to go with us, and the Lambert family from Quebec City felt called of the Lord to join us. This was a giant leap of faith for them, as their only other missionary experience was coming to Moncton for Bold and Alive / Fort et Fier. And their home church stood with them, raising their FULL support through garage sales, bake sales, church breakfasts, car washes, etc.

And we, the experienced missionaries, saw little support coming in. Springforth Atlantic Baptist youth rally opened the door for our ministry to happen. These teenagers opened their hearts and wallets and provided $1,017 towards our support. Other funds came from faithful friends from SIM days and our church's garage sales and sale of hot dogs. Also, the last two weeks before our departure, we were invited to speak at several Moncton churches to share our ministry. God was faithful, and we left on July 2 for six weeks work in France with CBM missionaries, Terry and Heather Smith.

European Bible Institute offers a bilingual Bible training program, making it unique in Europe. Located just north of Paris, the campus is a magnificent 120 year old castle set on grounds with a winding stream, islands, tame ducks and woodland trails. But castles do crumble and need repairs. New doors and fire exits had been roughed in before we got there, and we did some finishing work on them. There were lots of other projects to do, including cleaning out garages, workshops and attics that contained fifty years of accumulated junk, varnishing a new staircase, unplugging the stream from a build up of algae, plumbing repairs, broken showers, plugged up sinks, cutting brush, mowing lawns, repairing lawn mowers and preparing crumbling cement walls for painting. There were computer networks to set up, meals to prepare, dishes and bathrooms to clean.

However, in spite of the long list of projects we did, we really felt our main ministry was one of encouragement and teamwork with the Bible School staff. The school had been through three years of financial pressure and uncertainty and the staff was weary. We prayed together, sang together, laughed, sweated and cried together.

We saw God's protection and provision in many small details. When Daniel needed stitches in a wound, a doctor was visiting the school. When Joël had a bleeding head injury, a nurse was present. Joël's shocking experience with electricity did not harm him. We each found musical instruments that we could use to lead the worship times. We even won the war against the infestation of fleas in the home we lived in !

Our summer together was a fantastic learning experience, a spiritual encouragement and a working vacation like we've never had before. Plus we saw castles, Roman ruins and Canadian war memorials. So, rather than send your teens on a summer mission trip, why not go with them and make it a family affair!