God Is Faithful - Our 2020 Year-End Report
No one expected 2020 to turn out like this. On our side, we had planned important events which we had to cancel. We also had to adjust our budget to the new economic reality. Here, however, is what has not changed: Jesus Christ continues to build his Church, God is still sovereign and nothing we go through surprises him. These are, in fact, pieces that he adds to the puzzle of the “work of redemption” that will resonate the praises of his glorious grace.
Despite all the changes that we have known, we are enormously grateful to God for the way in which he has helped Publications Chrétiennes in its mission to equip the French-speaking Church.
Here is a small glimpse of what the Lord has accomplished through Publications Christians in 2020.
Edition
Although we had to slow down, we managed to publish 34 books this year. We are grateful to our partners who helped make this work possible. I would like to share with you some highlights of 2020.
3 new staff members
Over the next two years, we will continue to translate books into French and this year we have signed agreements that will allow us to translate very important and interesting books into French. To help us carry out these projects, we have hired three new staff members. Catherine Fortier will assist David Cadotte in the management of special projects, Tiffany Sagnol and Élizabeth Aubut will assist the editorial team in proofreading and editing. We are pleased to see the team grow and thus be able to better respond to the pressing need to make biblical resources available in French.
The holiness of God - R. C. Sproul
I was surprised when I learned that this book, which is one of my favorites, had never been translated into French. In partnership with Ligonier Ministries, we published this book in March, at the very start of containment. Due to the very special moment we were living when it was released, we have decided to give it away for free as an eBook so that the message of God's holiness reaches as many people as possible among French speakers.
Our team believed that a righteous vision from God was required to navigate this pandemic. In total, we donated 2,000 paper books to pastors and leaders in Quebec, France and Haiti, and 2,500 people downloaded the book digitally.
When the churches began to meet again, many decided to offer this book to their members to encourage them in their spiritual life after all the upheavals brought by the coronavirus. A few churches even wrote a personal note and prayer in each copy they donated.
Buy the book
The coronavirus and Christ - John Piper
This book was translated in a record two weeks. When Desiring God reached out to us, we knew John Piper was going to help the Church turn to Christ and trust that he is the solid rock we can hold on to during difficult times like those related to the coronavirus. In addition to translating the book quickly, we ran a massive publicity campaign to distribute the book through various distribution channels. We were able to quickly mobilize our partners for the distribution of 25,000 digital copies, 9,000 audio copies and 5,000 paper copies Several people subsequently told us how this book had greatly encouraged them. br>
In Niger, for example, a group of pastors living in a dangerous region received copies of the book. They were so amazed by the clear presentation of the sovereignty of God that they trusted that the Lord had a much greater purpose than they could imagine for the call to shepherd His flock in this region. . Therefore, these men chose to stay where they were and continue to minister to those God entrusted to them despite the danger that loomed over them and even when other pastors fled the scene.
In Shawinigan, our strategic director Daniel Henderson and his wife Judith distributed copies to Church members who were in lockdown. They were very encouraged to be able to pray with these Church members who had to stay home due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
If you haven't read The Coronavirus and Christ by John Piper, we encourage you to do so. Click on this link to read or listen to the book for free.
Biblical Theology (9Marks) - Nick Roark & Robert Kline
The "Building Healthy Churches" series is a great blessing to the Church. We have received many testimonies from churches that have taken biblical guidelines for the church seriously. This year, we published two books from the “Building Healthy Churches” series: Prayer and Biblical Theology.
Next year we plan to publish four books in the 9Marks series and, God willing, we will be hosting a first 9Marks training in Quebec.
- An irresistible community - Mark Dever & Jamie Dunlop
- Evangelism - Mack Stiles
- The Mission - Andy Johnson
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Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church - Michael Lawrence
The war of spectacles - Tony Reinke
The year 2020 will remain etched in our collective memory. So many things happened that caught our attention: the US elections, the coronavirus, the issue of vaccines, etc. Since many of us were unable to meet in church, we got distracted by social media presenting us with all kinds of stuff. Because of this challenge, we decided to offer this new book by Tony Reinke for $ 3 in Canada and € 2 in Europe. We wanted to ensure that all young people in France could afford the book. We've teamed up with The Rebellution to make this the book of the month for November. Pray for the 2,000 people who have received this book so that they can focus their attention on Jesus Christ who was crucified.
A call to reform the Church - John MacArthur
John MacArthur and Grace to You have been trusted partners of Publications Chrétiennes for a very long time. We are convinced that John MacArthur's books are useful to French-speaking believers everywhere in the world to better know and understand the Bible. We are currently translating 10 books written by John MacArthur that we will be happy to present to the Church in 2021.
In addition, this year we published a particularly important book by John MacArthur called A Call to Reform the Church . Church reform did not end with Luther's death; it still continues today. Referring to the book of Revelation, MacArthur exposes the text of Christ's letters to the Seven Churches to help Christians today not to become lukewarm and devoid of love and to work for the formation of a body of believers who honor God and are guided by grace.
Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, several churches have changed their functioning without biblically reflecting on this subject. We are therefore grateful that, by the grace of God, this book by John MacArthur was published in September and made available to pastors who study the scriptures in order, in particular, to better understand Christ's call to the Church.
Return to the Gospel
We continue to post content on our blog Returning to the Gospel every day and we are very encouraged to see a significant number of people reading it and being uplifted. This year, we've even seen a huge increase in traffic to our blog.
Returning to the Gospel published two books this year:
- How to define the mission of the Church - David Platt;
- The Essentials of the Gospel - David Platt.
Through our partnership with Radical Ministries, the digital format of these two books has been donated and therefore downloaded by believers from all corners of the globe. Feedback has been very positive about this project.
9 convictions concerning a spiritual awakening in the Francophonie
We are in great need of preaching the gospel right now. The Word of God and the cross of Jesus Christ are the only hope of salvation for fallen humanity. Publications Chrétiennes recently implemented a 5-year strategic plan that aims to equip French-speaking churches. With God's help and blessing, we are committed, as a team, to following these nine convictions which will allow us to see a spiritual awakening in the Francophonie. You can read these nine convictions here .
Under the leadership of our new director, Serge Côté, in November 2019 we presented a vision to raise $ 100,000 in 2020. It was an ambitious goal before the coronavirus struck. We need $ 100,000 to complete the publication of the Bible dictionary, knowing that such an affordable tool would make a big difference for the Francophone Church in Africa. It is probably one of the most requested books by our brothers living on this continent.
We will distribute this product in Africa in hard copy and digital versions by Logos and our Digital Pastors Library.
The time has come for the Church to help equip the Francophone Church of Africa in the battle against the prosperity gospel.Would you like to support this project? If you are Canadian, your donation is eligible for the tax credit. All amounts collected will be used to pay expenses related to the publication of the dictionary.
There is a lot of work to be done. We are committed to doing it with the strength that Christ will provide us, and all for his glory.
Please pray for the Christian Publications ministry. And if you see God's will in it, your gift will help us serve the Church. Thank you!
In Christ,
Daniel Henderson
Strategic director