The GBUC are above all a community. A community of Christ’s disciples. A community of students. Campus groups that are served by a team of mentors. We have the pleasure of introducing 3 members of this team to you: Jean-Marc Méango, the new leader at the Polytechnique, as well as Cécile and Joël Cornuz, who are taking up the direction of the GBUC. Interview.
Hello Jean-Marc, Cécile and Joël,
Thank you so much for taking part in this interview. Will you introduce yourselves briefly?
J-M: I am the 3rd of 7 children. I became a Christian 21 years ago. I am doing a PhD in industrial engineering at the Montreal Polytechnique. With some amazing friends, we started a GBU 5 years ago. My thesis takes up my time, but I must admit that I much prefer Bible studies and drawing.
C&J: We immigrated to Quebec from Switzerland, our birth place, 11 years ago now, to serve in the GBUC (already). One of our best decisions, after the one to follow Christ and… to get married!
What has been your journey with the GBU up until now?
J-M: I got to know the GBU in 2003 through my brother who wouldn’t let me say no to his invitation. For me, until then, the Bible was the book that ruled my life with a heavy hand. Learning to study the Bible inductively with people from different backgrounds allowed me to see Christ differently. I was a leader for the GBU in Côte-d’Ivoire which taught me a lot. At first, I saw myself following a different career. God has laid out a better path. Once in Montreal, after a semester with the GBUC at the UdeM, a student suggested starting a GBU at the Polytechnique. I said to myself: “Thank you Lord for this opportunity!”
C: I have the impression that the GBU have always been part of my Christian life: since my conversion (at the Cegep, in a GBU group), my first job (GBU staff in Geneva after my theology studies), including the francophone platform, a committee of delegates from all the francophone countries: the opportunity to work (and become friends) with some exceptional people... including Marc Debanné, a former director of the GBUC – which eventually brought us to Montreal.
J: When I married Cécile, I married the GBU. Discovering the depth of the Bible studies, their impact on my life (and the lives of the students) and getting to know our worldwide family (IFES) have been decisive factors for growing my faith: more mature, more considered, more solid.
What is your new role in the GBUC? Why did you choose to commit yourselves there?
J-M: I decided to become a GBUC staff member. The former World Secretary, Daniel Bourdanné, once explained that our reason for serving is that “God loves the students.” For me, serving those whom God loves is a privilege. If I can be an engineer and a staff member, a doctor and a servant, an industrial engineering expert and taught by the students’ experiences, perhaps that will inspire someone else to commit themselves. As Paul says in Ephesians 2: 10 “For we are his workmanship.”
C&J: Since May 1, we are the new GBUC directors. After being staff for 11 years at the UdeM / Polytechnique, we are delighted to use our experience to benefit the movement. And we marvel to see the team that God has raised up within the GBUC – together, we wish to be of service to the new generation of students so that they may continue to be even more salt and light on the campuses. We have taken time to consider all that, before saying “yes” to recommitting ourselves long term to serve the students of Quebec.
What challenges do you see in your service with the GBUC?
J-M: Evangelizing in Montreal is a balancing act. Debates about faith are a somewhat taboo in Quebec and the Church seems slow in facing the big technological challenges of the time. Oh, how the world that has made a god out of science and technology, needs to see the redemption of these things through Christians who use them to serve the true God! And how the Christian community needs leaders who are knowledgeable in their fields and are preparing the Church to face up to the scientific and technological challenges to come!
C&J: We continually get the impression that the resources are laughable faced with the size of the task. Obviously, a pandemic does not sort out the situation! But we want to see that as an opportunity: this reality requires us to depend on God. Like the little child who brought his 5 loaves and 2 fish to Jesus; with those tiny resources, Jesus fed a huge crowd. We are already experiencing this reality (on a much smaller scale!) and we want to grow more in that.
And what are the joys?
J-M: The GBUC has responded to the pandemic by becoming online groups. Long before the pandemic we had planned to study the letter to the Philippians this year. That was without knowing that Paul’s writings from prison would encourage us and challenge us in our own confinement. Over the years, I have been able to witness students whose faith took wings, engineers, bearers of living water in needy areas, worship leaders, prayer leaders, and Bible study leaders you can’t help but admire. God has surrounded me with a unique family, with a few Swiss with a big heart and so many other inspiring people who come from my country, from Montreal, and from the four corners of the world, all of them messengers of hope. For each one of these people and for those who will read about us, I am infinitely grateful.
C&J: We like to say to ourselves that we have the best job in the world: serving and belonging to a community of disciples who are ready to study the Word of God seriously and who want to follow Christ radically, in a context as challenging as that of the Quebec universities. But our biggest privilege is to start to see the impact of these transformed lives in the Church, the Quebec society and even in the outermost parts of the earth.
Thank you very much! May God bless you and go with you in this new stage!