{"id":27742,"date":"2018-04-06T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T14:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbcpathway.local\/?p=27742"},"modified":"2018-04-05T10:40:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T15:40:00","slug":"the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The most unreached place in North America\u2019: Springfield family plants churches in Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">MONTREAL, Canada \u2013 Soon after James Copeland, the former missions pastor at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Springfield, moved his family to Montreal, he met a self-described atheist named Michael. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Over time, Copeland\u2019s friendship with Michael grew. And nearly five months later Michael admitted that he\u2019d been watching the worship services at Renaissance Church online \u2013 an English-language congregation near the heart of Montreal where Copeland serves as the lead pastor. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Today, Michael attends the church, and God continues to work in his heart, Copeland said. But he\u2019s only one among nearly 4 million people in a city where 99.3 percent of the population is lost and unchurched.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cIt is the most unreached place in North America,\u201d Copeland told<i> The Pathway<\/i>. \u201cIt is a very secular city. Historically, they were Catholic here, but in the 1960s, pretty much everyone walked away from the Catholic church.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cThere are some exciting things that are happening,\u201d he added. \u201cThere are a few church plants in the city that are growing and thriving, and God is doing some amazing things. But, at the same time, it is a very dark city.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">But, alongside their ministry team at Renaissance Church, the Copelands \u2013 James and his wife, Abi, as well as their four children \u2013 are shining the light of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">Renaissance Church is nestled in a neighborhood just outside of downtown Montreal, and \u201cjust about everything\u201d is represented in the neighborhood: French speakers, English speakers, Montreal\u2019s historic black community, and immigrants from the Caribbean. Also, nearly 30 percent of their neighbors are Muslim.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">\u201cWe\u2019re excited to see that even now our church is very diverse,\u201d Copeland said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got people from all different kinds of places and backgrounds as part of our church. And that is what we want. We want to reflect our neighborhood as much as possible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">Additionally, the Renaissance Church leadership team includes Church Planting intern Ben Fleet, who is preparing to launch another church elsewhere in Montreal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">\u201cThat is really important to us,\u201d Copeland said. \u201cIt is our heart to multiply, to plant churches that plant churches.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">When they got married, Copeland and his wife Abi already sensed that God was calling them \u201cto be on mission somewhere.\u201d But they only learned about the spiritual darkness in Montreal when, as the missions pastor at Ridgecrest Baptist, Springfield, Copeland began to investigate possible partnerships between the church and a North American Mission Board (NAMB) Send city. He soon read about Montreal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">\u201cWe began to have a heart for this city and began to see the need for churches to be planted here and also the need, really, for missionaries,\u201d he said. So a year-and-a-half ago, Ridgecrest sent them to Montreal as NAMB missionaries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">Copeland said that he and his family greatly appreciate the prayers and support they\u2019ve received from Ridgecrest, but they also thank God for the support of Southern Baptists in Missouri and around the United States through the Cooperative Program. He asked that Missouri Baptists pray for the growth of Renaissance Church \u2013 in other words, that the lost would come to know the truth and love of Jesus through their ministry. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s3\">James also asked that Missourians pray for God to send more missionaries to Montreal. Already, they expect another family from Ridgecrest to join the Montreal missionary team, as well as another family from Tennessee. But in this city \u2013 \u201cthe most unreached place of North America\u201d \u2013 the harvest is ripe and plentiful, but the workers are few.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soon after James Copeland, the former missions pastor at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Springfield, moved his family to Montreal, he met a self-described atheist named Michael.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":27791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[177,41,45,8,10,15,16,17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018The most unreached place in North America\u2019: Springfield family plants churches in Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Soon after James Copeland, the former missions pastor at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Springfield, moved his family to Montreal, he met a self-described atheist named Michael.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018The most unreached place in North America\u2019: Springfield family plants churches in Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Soon after James Copeland, the former missions pastor at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Springfield, moved his family to Montreal, he met a self-described atheist named Michael.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pathway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/mbcpathway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-06T14:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-05T15:40:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/copelandfamily.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Benjamin Hawkins\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mbcpathway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mbcpathway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Benjamin Hawkins\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018The most unreached place in North America\u2019: Springfield family plants churches in Montreal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/copelandfamily.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-06T14:00:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-05T15:40:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6ab6fdc0c1a067bbccb9f4e5d3bc0b4d\"},\"description\":\"Soon after James Copeland, the former missions pastor at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Springfield, moved his family to Montreal, he met a self-described atheist named Michael.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/copelandfamily.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/copelandfamily.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":960,\"caption\":\"James and Abi Copeland family.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018The most unreached place in North America\u2019: Springfield family plants churches in Montreal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/\",\"name\":\"Pathway\",\"description\":\"Baptist &amp; Christian News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6ab6fdc0c1a067bbccb9f4e5d3bc0b4d\",\"name\":\"Benjamin Hawkins\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/177270e223a386ae94fe0e2affbdb233?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/177270e223a386ae94fe0e2affbdb233?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Benjamin Hawkins\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/author\/benjamin-hawkins\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018The most unreached place in North America\u2019: Springfield family plants churches in Montreal","description":"Soon after James Copeland, the former missions pastor at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Springfield, moved his family to Montreal, he met a self-described atheist named Michael.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018The most unreached place in North America\u2019: Springfield family plants churches in Montreal","og_description":"Soon after James Copeland, the former missions pastor at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Springfield, moved his family to Montreal, he met a self-described atheist named Michael.","og_url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/","og_site_name":"Pathway","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/mbcpathway","article_published_time":"2018-04-06T14:00:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-04-05T15:40:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":960,"url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/copelandfamily.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Benjamin Hawkins","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mbcpathway","twitter_site":"@mbcpathway","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Benjamin Hawkins","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/","url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/","name":"\u2018The most unreached place in North America\u2019: Springfield family plants churches in Montreal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/copelandfamily.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-06T14:00:07+00:00","dateModified":"2018-04-05T15:40:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6ab6fdc0c1a067bbccb9f4e5d3bc0b4d"},"description":"Soon after James Copeland, the former missions pastor at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Springfield, moved his family to Montreal, he met a self-described atheist named Michael.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/copelandfamily.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/copelandfamily.jpg","width":960,"height":960,"caption":"James and Abi Copeland family."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2018\/04\/06\/the-most-unreached-place-in-north-america-springfield-family-plants-churches-in-montreal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018The most unreached place in North America\u2019: Springfield family plants churches in Montreal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/","name":"Pathway","description":"Baptist &amp; Christian News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6ab6fdc0c1a067bbccb9f4e5d3bc0b4d","name":"Benjamin Hawkins","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/177270e223a386ae94fe0e2affbdb233?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/177270e223a386ae94fe0e2affbdb233?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Benjamin Hawkins"},"url":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/author\/benjamin-hawkins\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}