Administrative History

The Saint-Donat Mennonite Brethren Church in Quebec was formally founded in 1980. Work in the area started in 1976 when Simone Giguere and her daughter Suzanne became Christians as prayed for the people in the area and for a leader. They called pastor David Franco who agreed to come and serve the growing group.

In 1978, Denis Tremblay began to give leadership to the group in addition to his school commitments. About a dozen people began to meet regularly at Denis’s home. In April 1979, Jean-Victor Brosseau replaced Denis as leader. Along with this new leadership came a new door-to-door evangelism outreach program reaching everyone in the community.

In autumn 1980, the church became autonomous with its own constitution. The church began to reach out to a neighboring village and Native reserve 90 miles from Saint-Donat. Later on the church was criticized by the Catholic Church and others in the area who were not happy with the new Mennonite Brethren Church.

With the lease up on their old building, it seemed as though the church was going to dissolve, but a new building was found, well situated near the entrance to town.

The congregation has been affiliated with the Association québécoise des Frères mennonites du Québec, the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (1981– ) and the General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

The leaders of the congregation were Jean Victor-Brusseau (1982–1985), Ben Klassen (1986–1987), Roger Lauzaunel (1988–1990), André Bourque (1991–1996), and Michael H. Gagnon (1997– ).