Pentecostal giants
In this edition, BCCN pays tribute to two mainstays of
Canadian Pentecostalism, both of whom passed away last month. Below, we
offer an overview of the work of evangelist Bernice Gerard. Here, we
present a reminiscence from pastor Don Cantelon.
By Lloyd Mackey
BERNICE GERARD, who left her mark on B.C. in both
Christian ministry and civic politics, passed away November 1, at age 84.
Gerard was a well-recognized Vancouver public figure,
as a Pentecostal minister, university chaplain, city council member and
radio/ television host.
Adopted as a baby by an aboriginal family, she heard
two women preaching the gospel in a country school house in rural
Abbotsford (see page 3).
In a 2000 BC Christian News interview,
she noted that the women “told me there was one whose name was Jesus,
who took little children up in his arms and blessed them. He was totally
loving and kind.”
She gave her life to that Jesus. As she grew to
adulthood, her commitment stuck.
Teacher & evangelist
Gerard became a teacher in the public school system,
ending up in the interior mining town of Rossland. There, she met two
Pentecostal evangelist sisters, Velma (later Chapman) and Jean McCall. They
took the young woman under their wings. Velma was the pianist; Jean,
the preacher; and Bernice played a big fiddle, nicknamed
‘Junior.’
Eventually, when Jean McCall married and moved to the
United States, Gerard took over the preaching duties. Chapman was the
behind-the-scenes organizer.
They toured in both eastern and western Canada, using a
big white tent dubbed the Cloud Cathedral. In the process, Gerard was
ordained to the Pentecostal ministry.
Many of the visits of the Gerard-Chapman Team to
Canadian and American cities resulted in the planting – directly or
indirectly – of some 200 new churches.
Broadcaster & councillor
The tent work continued into the 70s, after which
Gerard and Chapman settled in Vancouver, founding Fraserview Assembly (now
Harvest City Church). They became involved in radio and television
ministry.
For many years, the Fraserview church doubled as a TV
studio for their nationally broadcast Sunday
Line program.
Her decision to run for city council, in 1977, was
rooted in her pastoral activities and her chaplaincies at the University of
British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. She is probably best
remembered for her protests against nudity on Wreck Beach, something she
believed would have a detrimental moral effect on students at nearby UBC.
Gerard was a many-faceted person, practical as well as
devout. After returning to Vancouver to pastor, she earned a master of arts
in literature at University of British Columbia.
She was what one might today call a social
conservative. She spoke out against porn and abortion – and for what
she saw to be the biblical view of life and family.
And she was a staunch supporter of the nation of Israel
– leading tours to the Middle East, where she encouraged visitors to
plant trees as a means to help in what she saw to be biblically-mandated
reforestation.
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During those years of social activism, she maintained a
close association with famed British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, who had
turned from agnosticism to Christianity in his later years.
Boards & schools
Gerard served on many Christian boards, among them
Christian Info Society, publishers of BC
Christian News. Current board member Dolphe
Hoffman served as treasurer of Sunday Line, Gerard’s ministry.
Gerard was a major mover behind the development of
Pacific Academy, a well-regarded, Pentecostal-based independent elementary
and high school. Gerard also worked with Willard Thiessen to start Channel
10, a Christian television outlet – now a faith-based spinoff of
Rogers, known as Joytv 10.
“I would definitely describe Bernice as a
networker. She wanted to help in anything that furthered the
gospel,” said Hoffman, adding: “She was ethical and
didn’t compromise. She worked with Bob Birch in the charismatic
renewal, and it didn’t matter about denomination. She was strong in
the Catholic charismatic movement.”
Entrepreneur Jim Pattison “admired her boldness
and uprightness,” he added.
Gerard was involved in Christian-initiated cooperative
housing in Richmond and downtown Vancouver. Shiloh Housing was eventually
taken over by Broadway Church, her place of worship in later years.
When Parkinson’s Disease began to take its toll
on her in 2000, she retired from Sunday Line. When she did appear in public, her gravelly voice was a
little thinner; but the glint for Jesus still shone in her eyes.
Bob Burkinshaw, a church historian at Trinity Western
University, recalls her as a leader among leaders. “When she walked
in, she commanded the room,” he told BCCN.
Burkinshaw said that in working with Bob Birch to
encourage the charismatic renewal, she helped bring to Vancouver such
international leaders as Michael Green and David Watson, as well as Dennis
Bennett, who advanced the movement on the American west coast.
Given such a tireless career in Christ, it’s not
hard to understand why Bernice Gerard topped the Vancouver Sun’s 2000 list of the
20th century’s most influential spiritual figures in B.C.
Her memorial service took place November 24 at Broadway
Church.
Lloyd Mackey is a veteran journalist, and was founding
editor of BC Christian News.
December 2008
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