We firmly believe that the message of the gospel must be heard, we also believe that the community formed by the gospel must be seen. For these reasons, our families are pursuing ministry together; to spur each other on in the Great Commission of our Lord and to tangibly showcase the unity we share in the family of God. The Murray family — Aaron, Melissa and their two boys, Sawyer and Weston — moved to Sioux Lookout, Ontario (don’t worry, we hadn’t heard of it either) in 2015 from Southern Ontario. Aaron pastored the children and youth in our local church and Melissa worked as a Speech Language Pathologist for the Northwestern Health Unit. The Laustsen family — Zach, Olive and their daughter, Sage — moved to Sioux Lookout one year later from Nova Scotia. Zach works as an Air Traffic Specialist for Nav Canada and Olive operated a private ceramics studio from home. In God’s providence our families crossed paths in Sioux Lookout. A friendship began and a shared desire to see the name of Christ worshipped across Canada bound our families together.

We don’t often consider the possibility that there are Canadians living next-door who have yet to be reached with the Gospel, yet this is a striking reality for us. Quebec, in particular, is in dire need. The Quebecois are considered to be the most unreached people group in both North and South America with less than 1% claiming Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. The Scriptures are clear that Jesus is worthy of the utmost worship from all created things, and that all glory is His alone. He deserves the praise of every soul in Quebec. The Scriptures are also clear that Jesus is the only way of salvation; the only true satisfaction for those that thirst; the only life for dead hearts, and those that have not trusted in Him will enter judgement with the full weight of their sins placed on their own account. The fame of Jesus and the reality of hell: these realities form the “why” of our ministry in Quebec. This spurs us to pray, and in doing so, we are convinced that God has lead our families into this difficult mission field.

We arrived in Montreal as a team in October of 2020 and have begun the integration phase of our ministry. It is our duty and desire to integrate ourselves into the province of Quebec both in language and culture. This integration phase will be an intense time of language acquisition and cultural acclimatization. Along with integration into life in Quebec it is essential that we are integrated into the life of our local church (église de verdun). It is our desire to learn and serve alongside our new church family in Verdun. At home we have begun forming new habits that we hope will establish sustainable life giving routines that we can in turn invite others into. You can be part of our journey by praying for us during these months and years of integration and formation. If you would like to partner with us financially, to use the resources God has given you for the building up of his church here in Quebec, click on the “Give Now” link on this page or email us at aaron.murray@hotmail.ca