Canada Region Sprawling between the Bering Sea and Greenland, stretching from Arctic climates to temperate rainforest, the land of Canada is both an ideal place to live and uninhabitable at the same time. It's a place of great religious roots but also a tree that has branched into all directions of belief and unbelief. Once established in religious fervor, many of its more than 33 million inhabitants fervently oppose religious institutions.
For church planters this is a land of opportunity if you have patience, persistence and faith that the Lord has called you into a field white for harvest.
Today, you can drive 2,000 miles in parts of Canada without seeing one evangelical church. In Quebec organized religion is scoffed at, and Jesus is barely remembered as an historical figure.
That's why the Canadian National Baptist Convention's goal of starting 1,000 churches by 2020 seems particularly daunting. To Canadian Baptists the goal represents a God-sized vision for what only He can do in their nation.
Because much of Canada is so undeveloped spiritually, calling on churches within the country would not put a dent in the monumental task of reaching the lost there. That's why Southern Baptists in the United States will play a key role—by praying, giving and going to this vast and fertile nation.
Meet Canada
Population: 33,476,688
CNBC Congregations: 291
Population Per Congregation: 115,040
Number of Non-evangelicals: 30 million
Percentage of the Non-evangelical Population: 90 percent
Based on 2011 statistics.
"Quebec is a part of North America that is uniquely French. The population of the evangelical community here is only .7 percent. People say Quebec is such a hard place, but God is working in individual lives. Once you win them over, it's an amazing thing. I live for that every day." —Jacques Avakian, church planter catalyst, Montreal, Quebec
Toronto is the 5th most populous city in North America and one of the most diverse in the world, with more than half of its 6 million residents immigrating to Canada from another nation.
Learn more about Canada at OnMission.com >>