Biblical counseling: A growing movement in a surprising place

There is currently a growing evangelical movement in Québec that has a special emphasis on biblical counseling. Québec is an unlikely place for this—less than 1% of its population is evangelical. This makes Québec a mission field with one of the largest unreached people groups in North America.

Matthieu Caron is a leader in this growing movement. He is the pastor at Shawinigan-Sud Baptist Church in Québec. He is also a professor at Séminaire Baptiste Évangélique du Québec Seminary (SEMBEQ).

We first met Matthieu as a student when he began taking online courses through CCEF. It has been our delight to see how he has grown from a biblical counseling student to a biblical counseling professor. Read and see how his journey began and what God is doing in his region of the world.

I was first introduced to CCEF fifteen years ago by John Piper at a conference. At the time there were no biblical counselors in Québec. In fact biblical counseling was unheard of in this area of the world. No seminary taught it. As a result, the approach pastors took to help people was either simplistic or integrationist.

Today there is a growing and enthusiastic interest for biblical counseling. This rising interest has found a home at SEMBEQ Seminary, where biblical counseling is now offered to pastoral students. I am responsible for this small—but growing— program. Every student at the bachelor level is currently required to take Dynamics of Biblical Change in order to complete his or her degree. This class was the first course to be translated into French, thanks to an important partnership between CCEF and SEMBEQ that was underwritten by a generous donor.

Biblical counseling has also begun to move beyond the seminary and into churches. Believers here are hungry for gospel-rich resources. They want the power of the gospel to transform their hearts in the midst of their trials and suffering. To meet these needs, more and more resources are being translated into French. SEMBEQ has partnered with Éditions Cruciforme to translate and publish books.

In the beginning of this journey, I didn’t know what to expect or how I would get help. I am grateful to CCEF. They have been with me—and all of us at SEMBEQ—since the beginning. We are truly indebted to them.