June 30th

No Longer Alone - MDM Joliette

“There is a new church in Joliette that is joining MCEC,” says Pastor Victor Mubikalo. “We don’t want to be independent. We want to be part of a family.”

Meet Pastor Victor. In his own words…

“When I arrived here in Joliette, QC many years ago, I worshipped with Église évangélique Mennonite de Joliette, an MCEC congregation. When that congregation made changes and stopped worshipping at their building every week, many of the disciples left. Some moved to Ottawa. Some went to Laval or Montreal, QC. I felt alone. Here I was, a pastor from Africa, without a congregation.

“African families who had worshipped with Église évangélique Mennonite de Joliette started to dream of starting a new church together. We began to work with some African families to do just that. Soon some French African families accepted our invitation to come and worship. Bishop Garant, from Mennonite Disciple Mission (MDM), encouraged us to continue the work that we were doing. We met Pastor Steven who was pastoring another Swahili congregation.

“Pastor Steven said to me, ‘Wouldn’t it be better for us instead of having two churches, to join our two groups and do one church together?’ We began to create one church together and started meeting in the building where Église évangélique Mennonite de Joliette once met! God is good.”

Every Sunday a “normal African Sunday Service” occurs in Joliette where approximately 60 people gather. Thursday is for prayer meeting and Sunday is for worship. Services are held in Swahili or French and are translated between the two languages. “I studied in Swahili,” says Pastor Victor, “so it is easier for me to preach in Swahili and have the sermon translated into French. For others it is easier to preach in French and have it translated into Swahili.”

You can reach them to welcome them at Mennonite Disciples Mission Joliette, Pastor Sylvestre Ban Goun, Pastor Victor Mubikalo and Pastor Steven Muruho, victor-sadi@hotmail.com.