SEMBEQ helps local Churches raise and train local workers for the mission field in Québec.
MISSION
The Evangelical Baptist Seminary of Quebec is a servant to the members of the Evangelical Baptist Churches Association of Quebec (AEBEQ, in French). SEMBEQ exists to help local Churches and their leaders train their current and future leaders by a practical and active application of the teaching throughout different Church ministries.
VISION
Our dream is to work together in building a Gospel movement in our province that will result in personal conversions, missional communities, social justice and a renewing of culture throughout Québec and the French-speaking world.
ABOUT SEMBEQ
As commissioned by its association of churches, SEMBEQ exists to assist in raising up the next generation of Christians in Quebec. Specifically, SEMBEQ acts as a tool of the local churches in the training of their members and leaders.
As a context-based and church-based seminary, most of SEMBEQ’s courses are taught within local churches. In some cases, a regional center will host courses that bring several churches together for the training.
According to this biblical perspective, the church will benefit from the presence of each member and the student will in turn have an enriched experience through the participation of the congregation in his or her growth before God and men. There are also specialized courses that are occasionally given by experts on the subject, either pastors or guest professors. These are usually given on SEMBEQ’s premises or in a particular region.
IN CANADA
SEMBEQ’s ministry is expanding into the rest of Canada by our new Master’s in Biblical Leadership program, which is targeted towards training Church planters and offered from one side of the country to the other.
INTERNATIONAL
Our ministry extends into French-speaking Europe, and in recent years, into Russia through our support of leadership development there, in collaboration with SGA Canada.
THE SEMINARY’S BEGINNINGS
While the people of Quebec were abandoning the Catholic Church by the thousands in the 1970’s, the evangelical movement was reaping a harvest. Groups of new converts met together across the province, even though pastors were few. On December 7, 1972, a group of pastors and leaders from the Association of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Quebec met in Montreal to address the pressing need for the training of new workers. A training program was needed that would help the fledgling local Churches to equip their own members. Equally important, this program would establish a partnership with those local Churches to train pastors of all ages and walks of life.
At that meeting, Mr. Ivor Greenslade, a missionary in Latin America, shared his experience in the field of decentralized theological teaching courses. The pastors present at the meeting nominated a committee composed of J. Alexanian, E. Beau and W. Phillips that would further study the issue. In the spring of 1973, the committee presented their recommendations to the pastors of the Association, who accepted them enthusiastically. On January 12, 1974, the Séminaire Baptiste Évangélique du Québec was inaugurated at Bethel Baptist Church in St-Laurent.