Huguenots: An outreach story

by Jim Chimirri-Russell

In the days of the Reformation, Protestant preaching—because it was such an important message—spilled past the borders of Germany, the Netherlands, and even England (nations we generally think of as “Protestant”) and into Catholic nations which remained resistant to Protestantism. So what happened to those souls who were touched by Reformation truths, yet whose nations never reformed the Catholic faith?

One such grouping was the Huguenots, those touched by the Reformation in France. France at the time was an intensely Catholic nation, and the Huguenots found themselves on the wrong side of prevailing opinion. Many of them were killed and the rest were driven out to seek a safe haven in more Reformation-friendly nations.

So, where are the Huguenots now? Like any other Protestant group, they’re probably a few here and there wherever you look. We here in Canada are face to face with a large French population. Have you ever read both sides of the cereal box? Have you ever noticed that when you call the federal government, you have to press one to speak English? Have you ever noticed that there’s a massive great brick of land in Eastern Canada called Quebec, a largely French-speaking centre, with 23% of Canada’s population living there?

That’s where I step in: a Lutheran pastor with an Italian last name running a French service in the middle of the prairies.

A word of introduction

For those of you who don’t know me, I was born in Calgary to incredibly British parents, both straight from England, who decided to send all their children to French immersion in school. That meant, of course, that I went to Catholic school, because they were the only local school that had a French program. And in the course of going to Catholic school, I got to feel like I was my own little reformer, as one of a very small number of active Protestants in a wide Catholic sea.

After completing school (and after having been on several vacations to France), I joined my wife for a year in Montreal while she finished her schooling. While I was there, I got a job working at a sandwich shop, making sandwiches for French speakers. In that year, I really got a feeling for the vernacular of the place, and for what makes Quebec French different from school French. Pro-tip: they use a lot more English words, but just sort of pronounce them in a French way. At the end of my time in Montreal, I was asked by Rev. Dr. David Somers to accompany two of his French parishioners to a conference in St. Louis for blind Lutherans. I was to translate everything that was going on, everything that was being said on the fly for these nice blind Lutherans. And I managed okay.

So that’s my story. Lutheran. French speaking. In the prairies. Running a bilingual service.

So that’s my story. Lutheran. French speaking. In the prairies. Running a bilingual service.

I know, it seems wildly inconsistent. We feel as though Lutheranism is by Germans for Germans, but in reality, part of the reformation was to get the Bible and the worship service into the vernacular of the people who were around. For me, I don’t speak German. (Well, I can say half of the Lord’s Prayer in German, or claim that I’m a female lawyer, but nothing else really). Moreover, there are remarkably few German immigrants coming to this part of the world—Regina—anymore, certainly nothing compared to the other official language that makes up our country. But here in the province of Saskatchewan, we have something called “Fransaskois.” And get ready, because I’m about to blow your mind: two percent of this province’s population identify themselves as Fransaskois. That is, two percent of our population here identify themselves as part of French culture. There are even towns in this province that are essentially little Frances. You head south from Regina and get to Gravelbourg, and you’ll find yourself in a town in which everyone speaks French, and it’s not just for the tourists. When we talk about a mission field, this is quite reasonable.

Naturally, the Catholic Church has fairly regular French services. Naturally. But are there any Protestant churches in Regina that run a service for this mission field? Just Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Now, although I’m reasonably fluent in French, I’d look silly holding the Lutheran Service Book at the front of the church desperately trying to translate on the fly. It’s for this reason that I’m perpetually thankful to God for the work done through the committee that brought the most useful of all tools to us in Saskatchewan: Liturgies et Cantiques Lutheriens.

In other words, for you Germans who may be reading, it’s a French hymnal. A French Lutheran hymnal. Everything you know and love from your normal hymnal, whether it be blue or green or burgundy, brought into the French language, for French speakers. We became alerted to this wonderful tool through the work of Revs. David Somers and David Saar, who both worked on the hymnal and subsequently ran a workshop on it over a few days in Montreal. At this workshop, we learned the ins and outs of the French hymnal, and were graced with the presence of both Davids as they guided us through it. Upon leaving, we were given a box of hymnals to take back with us, and we did so, expecting to get them to work as quickly as possible.

Which we did. We held our first French service at Good Shepherd. Very few people showed up. And those who did show up were English speakers. In fact, I was probably the most competent French speaker there, and that’s a pretty sad indictment. What went wrong? We were sure that if we showed up with a French hymnal, and a French Bible bought from the seminary bookstore for a dollar, that the church would be full of Huguenots! What went wrong?

We were sure that if we showed up with a French hymnal, and a French Bible bought from the seminary bookstore for a dollar, that the church would be full of Huguenots! What went wrong?

The missing element

Well, you keep on going, and you keep the hymnal around for those who may be interested, and you do your best to keep all this French enthusiasm up, while all the while asking yourself if it’s worth it, or if this is just a road going nowhere. And we kept wondering that until someone came to our church, someone who was a student at the University of Regina and was fluent in French. Someone who came to our church and asked, “So, are you guys still doing that French service?”

Radio-Canada story on French services at Good Shepherd Lutheran in Regina.

Instant elation! Never has a French speaking Lutheran pastor been so excited. And we said “Gosh, absolutely!” This is what services always have to have, the one piece of the puzzle that we were missing—someone who would be directly served by it. Someone who actually really wanted a service in French. And we were here to offer it.

Since that time, French services at Good Shepherd have gone from six to nine to 12 to 15 people. At one point, the service included a reporting team from Radio-Canada who came to do a story on the service. And while they were there, I was happy to preach (bilingually, of course) on the Reformation truth of getting God’s word into the hands of all his children—no matter where they are, no matter what language they speak—so each and every one of them can hear for themselves: Dans le nom du Jesus Christ, Dieu vous pardonne tous vos peches.

Or, for your English speakers out there: “In the name of Jesus Christ, God forgives you all your sins.”

Just as there were Huguenots at the time of the Reformation, there are “Huguenots” now. Part of our job as Lutherans is to imitate Christ in bringing the Gospel to everyone wherever and whoever they are; using whatever gifts God has given us in that service. Thanks be to God that He gives us all diverse and exciting gifts, gives us passions and desires, and then places us in a hurt and broken world, saying “use them.”

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Rev. Jim Chimirri-Russell is pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Regina.

Cover photo by Jason Schultz.

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