Faithful to the Call

The question burned in their hearts—“How do we help reach the world’s French-speaking nations with the message of faith in Jesus Christ?” Ken and Tonja Taylor didn’t know, but they did know how to start. They took one step at a time and just obeyed God.

Long before Rhema Quebec was established in 2007, God gave the Taylors a vision to help reach the nations of the world—particularly the 52 French-speaking nations—with the faith message. After graduating from RHEMA USA in 1987, the Taylors returned to their home state of Missouri and began traveling in ministry throughout the United States and overseas on short-term missions trips. After they completed a month-long trip to France in 1989, more direction came. “I was back home in Missouri,” Ken recalled. “I was praying in other tongues—just worshipping the Lord—and God spoke strongly to me. He said, ‘I want you to start praying for the people of Quebec.’”

At the time, neither Ken nor Tonja knew why God was leading them to pray for this French-speaking Canadian province. They had never been to Quebec and didn’t know anyone there. They certainly didn’t know that only six-tenths of one percent of Quebecers were evangelical Christians and that the province was truly a mission field.

Though they couldn’t see the full picture, Ken and Tonja began to pray as God had directed. “As we prayed,” Ken observed, “the Lord put a vision in our hearts for the people of Quebec.” Several months later, during Winter Bible Seminar 1990, God gave Ken a glimpse of the bigger plan. “During a time of praise and worship,” he said, “it just came into my heart that we need to have a RHEMA in Quebec one day.”

At that time, the Taylors had yet to step foot in Quebec. So they continued to pray, letting the vision grow while they traveled and ministered. In 1990, Ken and Tonja visited the province for the first time and received an undeniable witness in their hearts confirming God’s destiny for them to establish their ministry base in Quebec.

Though God’s will for them to move to Quebec was clear, it was also evident that the timing was not yet right. In preparation for their ultimate relocation, the Taylors felt led of the Spirit to first spend a season of ministry in France.

In August of 1992, they moved to Nice, France, where they worked alongside another RHEMA couple, pastors John and Laura Madan, for two years. This vital time of preparation gave them an opportunity to become more fluent in the language and to cultivate relationships which laid the foundation for what was to come.

In 1994, after Ken and Tonja had lived in France for two years, God finally moved them to Quebec. They had three things on their hearts: establishing a strong local church, starting a French-language publishing ministry, and training French-speaking ministers.

Today the Taylors are seeing all three facets of their vision coming to pass. Nine months after moving to Quebec they assumed the pastorate of Église La Vie Comblée de Drummondville (Abundant Life Church Drummondville). They’ve seen tremendous growth in their congregation over the years. They are also the official distributors of Faith Library books translated into French for all of North America.

In 2007, Ken and Tonja saw the fulfillment of what the Lord had shown Ken 17 years earlier. RHEMA Bible Training Center came to Quebec. Located in Drummondville, the campus is only an hour to an hour and a half away from the province’s major cities. This works well with the intense, weekend-class format used at RHEMA Quebec and at many other RHEMA international campuses. Students are able to commute in on Fridays and leave Saturday evenings.

In a unique relationship, RHEMA Quebec works closely with RHEMA France to reach as many French-speaking people as possible. The schools share much of the same teaching staff, with European and Quebec based instructors teaching courses on both sides of the Atlantic at different times throughout the school year. Ken explained, “We can accomplish so much more together than we can apart. If each of us on the French team were just doing our own thing, we wouldn’t have nearly the same impact.”

It’s no surprise then that RHEMA Quebec and RHEMA France both launched new campuses in September 2010—bringing the number of French-speaking RHEMA campuses to four. RHEMA France opened a campus in Nice, and RHEMA Quebec established a new campus in Montreal, the second-largest French-speaking city in the world after Paris.

Because the need is so great, both Ken and Tonja are excited about the influence RHEMA is beginning to have in Quebec. Ken explained, “Quebec is 99 percent Roman Catholic, but only about 15 percent are actually practicing. In the generation we’re trying to reach, most have never been in church. They have never heard the simple message of salvation and have no clue which end is up as far as morality is concerned. Children are growing up in a very liberal and godless environment.”

For the Taylors, the one great thing about such an environment is that the people are hungry. “They don’t know what they are hungry for,” Ken noted, “and they are looking in the wrong places, but they’re hungry. We have the opportunity to offer them the only thing that will satisfy them.”

Throughout the years, cultural differences, religious and racial prejudices, spiritual opposition, and the difficulties of educating their five children within the French school system have presented the Taylors with many opportunities to persevere. In spite of these challenges, Ken and Tonja, along with their family, are seeing the rewards of their faithfulness and dedication to God’s call. Nearly all RHEMA Quebec graduates are in some form of ministry today. And in addition to their native Quebec graduates, they have alumni from French-speaking Africa, and even Haiti, who have grabbed hold of the Word of faith and are taking it back to their nations.

Ken and Tonja have also seen amazing fruit in their church. Twelve years ago one of their members, Celine, underwent a routine operation. Before the operation, Tonja felt led to pray against infection—and it soon became clear why. After the surgery, doctors noticed an abnormal black spot on Celine’s stomach. Within a matter of hours, the spot began to grow.

Celine had contracted the flesh-eating disease. And it wasn’t in her arm or leg—which could be amputated to save her life. The disease was in her abdomen. Doctors said they didn’t know of anyone who had lived after contracting the disease in that part of the body.

The disease began eating Celine’s abdominal muscles and ovaries. When doctors opened her up in surgery, however, they saw something amazing. Inexplicably, the bacteria stopped when it reached her vital organs.

Though the disease had halted its deadly course, Celine remained in a coma. Ken went to see her in the hospital, where her husband stood faithfully by her side praying in the Spirit. “There was no sign of life,” he recalled, “but I had it in my heart to speak Romans 8:11 to her: ‘If the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He will quicken your mortal body.’” As soon as Ken spoke those words, Celine shook her head yes. After a week in a coma, she woke up.

Though the immediate danger had passed, Celine’s battle of faith was far from over. She had no muscles in her abdomen and was in great pain. However, because she was in a church that believed in the Word and divine healing, over time she recovered completely. She went on to attend RHEMA Quebec as a member of the charter class. Today she is one of the main praise and worship leaders in the church—a miracle in itself for someone who had no abdominal muscles. God is also using her to minister healing to others.

Though Ken gives all the glory to Jesus for this miraculous healing, he is also very grateful to the Hagins. “If the Hagins had not been faithful to their call, then we wouldn’t have been trained to do what we are doing. God called us—a young couple from Missouri—to go to Quebec, minister in French, and reach these people,” he said. “We have just tried to obey God—to do what He has called us to do—and stay faithful, and persevere.”

The Taylors are determined to reach the finish line. Each year along with their diplomas, RHEMA USA graduates receive track-and-field relay race runner’s batons,symbolizing that it is their turn to run their race for God. “We have taken hold of that baton and we are running with it,” Ken said.“We are not going to give up, because when we see our graduates preaching the Gospel with passion and the fire of the anointing, it makes all those years of effort worth it.”

If you are a French-speaker or you know someone who is, more details about what RHEMA is doing in Quebec are available at www.RhemaQuebec.org.