Where we serve 
Missionary Team
Gabriel and Nita Cotnoir
Resource team, French Mission
Current ministry:
Gabriel and Nita Cotnoir are pleased to serve anew with the Fellowship French Mission. They are now ambassadors on behalf of the Mission to churches in Ontario and Quebec.
The Cotnoirs' history with the Mission goes back to 1958, the year the Mission started. Over the years, Gabriel has played a number of roles with the Mission; he has in turn been a missionary, a board member and a leader.
Spiritual Background:
All the members of Gabriel's family were saved in the winter of 1950 in Coaticook, Quebec. The family first came into contact with a Brethren pastor through a Christian radio program and subsequently invited him to give Bible studies in their home, which he did for three years. On July 1, 1950, all nine members of the family (parents, five brothers and two sisters) were baptized. Gabriel was 15 years old at the time.
While attending a Christian summer camp the following year, Gabriel was challenged to give his life to the Lord's service. Even though he had no clear knowledge of what a missionary, a pastor, or even a church was, he answered the Lord's call affirmatively. That same year he enrolled at Institut Biblique Béthel in Lennoxville for a three-year program.
After graduation in 1954, Gabriel went to Granby where he ministered in a Brethren church, while also working as a carpenter to support himself. In April 1955, Gabriel and Nita met for the first time at a Billy Graham film showing in Montreal. Nita accepted the Lord that evening and started a new life in Christ. They were married on September 15, 1956.
Ministry Experience:
At a time when there were very few churches in the province and even fewer French Canadian pastors, Gabriel and Nita went to start a church in Victoriaville in 1957. Then in 1960, they moved to Maniwaki. In 1964, they were instrumental in starting Camp des Bouleaux in that area. Through members of the Maniwaki church, five families from the Lac St-Jean region came to the Lord. Every five or six weeks, Gabriel would travel there to visit these families. The Cotnoirs prayed that the Lord would send someone to start a church and minister to these new converts. They soon found that God was calling them. They moved to Roberval in 1970 and stayed nine years.
During the 1970s, they saw 125 people saved throughout the region. This led to the establishment of three daughter churches: Chibougamau in 1975, Alma in 1978 and Chicoutimi in 1979. The Cotnoirs also started Camp Patmos in this region in 1972.
The 1980s were also a busy decade of ministry. Gabriel served with the French Mission from 1979 to 1982, pastored in Victoriaville from 1982 to 1985 and went back to the French Mission from 1985 to 1989. Then from 1990 to 1999, the Cotnoirs ministered to the church in St-Hyacinthe.