La Communauté Chrétienne Siloé was born in Montreal’s Chinese Presbyterian Church just six years ago with five families attending its first service. Today, Siloé is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Canada with 234 members.
Siloé, the gospel of John tells us, was where Jesus sent the blind man after rubbing mud on his eyes “saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.'” These were waters the historian Josephus called “sweet and abundant.”
The vision that framed the birth and growth of this new congregation belongs to Rev. Eloi Agbanou. Born in Benin, he found his calling as a teenager leading children’s worship activities and studied theology in Cameroon, graduating in 1986. After a two-year apprenticeship, he was asked about his goals.
“I wanted to work with people who were suffering,” he recalls. “I worked in hospitals and prisons and with refugees from a civil war in Chad.”
After that, he approached an association of French, Swiss and Italian Protestant churches and others that arose from their missionary activities in Africa. That led to a chaplaincy at Les Editions Clé, a leading religious publisher, and to a college chaplaincy where he met Laurentine whom he married in 1991. Another college called, followed by another parish as youth pastor, teaching lay studies, and making prison visits.
“Let’s say I was very busy,” he says.
Finally ordained in 1997, he was recruited to launch a new parish in Douala, Cameroon’s largest and richest city. It grew from a classroom with 25 faithful to 310 members in a new building by 2002 where, he chuckles, they still award the Agbanou Trophy to deserving members. More studies in Geneva were followed by another parish and a return to Benin to complete a master’s degree in sociology.
He tentatively planned to teach in the university in Cameroon but Laurentine proposed moving to Canada. Encouraged by church officials, they arrived with their four children in July, 2009. Welcomed by a family that attended Kensington Presbyterian Church, Agbanou felt right at home.
“The Cameroon Evangelical Church resembles the Canadian Presbyterian Church quite closely in both organization and theology,” he says.
After approval by the Presbyterian Church in Canada’s Committee on Education and Reception in 2011, church officials wondered where he’d find a francophone congregation to serve.
“I replied that I’d take on the mission to gather Protestant francophones from Africa. I started contacting churches in Cameroon and immigrant associations in Canada.”
Siloé was accepted as a congregation by Montreal presbytery effective January, 2015; its first elders were elected the following May. The call to Rev. Agbanou was, unsurprisingly, approved in April this year. Rev. Joel Coppieters is interim moderator.
“It’s pretty encouraging,” he says. “It’s always tricky bringing a zealous congregation together with the Book of Forms, doing things, as we say, decently and in good order without losing enthusiasm. Their depth of involvement is really refreshing.”
Among those first five families was Médard Kouatchou who had also arrived from Cameroon in 2009.
“I knew Rev. Agbanou in Douala,” he recalls, “and the Cameroon church told us how to contact him here.”
He recalls, too, a 2010 meeting with Rev. Doug Robinson of the Montreal presbytery that granted mission status to the new community and the several churches that hosted Siloé until they landed in the chapel at Presbyterian College.
“We’re comfortable in the Presbyterian Church,” he says. “It’s very nostalgic to worship in the language of our homeland. I’m proud of our progress and for the support from Toronto and the presbytery.”
He lists Siloé’s goals: to gather francophone Christians to worship Jesus Christ in the great diversity of African culture, to ensure the Christian education of their children, to welcome other Presbyterians and sister churches, to shelter families in love, charity, sharing and Christian morality, and provide all the sacraments and worship of the Christian church.
Sunday services, overflowing into the lobby, are joyous occasions, children very much welcome, beginning with a member-led Bible study, a celebration of newcomers, an excellent youth choir whose hymns echo with African rhythms, and lots of post-service food. A visitor is struck by the congregation itself: well dressed, often in colourful African clothing, well-educated with many professionals, and young—not many grey hairs here.
Nadia Toghoua is clerk of session.
“Maybe I underestimated how important the role is but I try to take it lightly, make sure the work is well done, letters answered promptly, information channelled to committees.”
Nadia heard about Siloé through a friend and found the warmth and conviviality she knew at home.
“We stay in touch during the week. In our culture, women hold family and community together. There are about 90 women in the congregation and a smaller group of about 30 mums do diaconal work, celebrate newborns, visit the sick and families in grief, organize evenings, prepare the worship service, and often are the ones who invite others to join us.”
Concern has been expressed about other congregations of newcomers to Canada that have run into difficulties with Presbyterian governance.
“I can understand that, but in our culture, in our history, we don’t like failure. If I personally fail, I’d feel I’ve not lived up to my commitment. It’s a point of honour that we do things well. I think it’s up to us to show that you can have confidence in us.”
A major project is to find a larger site to call home with more visibility, more room, and more flexibility during the week. Another is to raise the profile through their website and distribution of pamphlets to schools and universities. Although Nadia is fluently bilingual, most are not.
“The lack of French documentation in the PCC frustrates a lot of people. There are many Africans and Europeans looking for a francophone church and I believe the church should invest in material in French, whether it’s Bibles, hymn books, even the Book of Forms and their website. I think it’s worthwhile if we want the church to grow.”
The last word goes to the pastor. Despite his frustration with the arduous process of negotiating for a new, larger home, Agbanou is optimistic.
“We’ve developed an evangelism that will assure growth. I think if we can find a building with room for 500, in five years we’ll be close to filling it.”
