I was born in the States (New Jersey), of Scottish heritage. My father sailed from Glasgow to New Jersey after fighting in the British army in the Second World War. The Lord called me to work with OM in France when I was still a young man in my twenties and I married Danièle (French) over 20 years ago. We have three children and have been working with OM in France ever since.
For an Anglo-Saxon reader, evangelical churches in France are quite small, meeting in places that don’t have an official church look. The average size of French churches is about 35-50. This means they can function with a “family” atmosphere, but often this number is hard to break out of, because it requires a different mentality of church life and growth. It is in the larger cities (population over 100,000) that churches grow most quickly.
There are 36,551 cites/towns/villages in France. The vast majority of them (35,000) are without an evangelical church. But do not let this statistic discourage you too much! France has many thousands of small villages that are still considered a ‘commune’ in the legal sense. There are 340 towns with at least 10,000 inhabitants that have no existing evangelical church.
Let me give you a personal example of the western part of France where OM has a long-term church-planting strategy. Historically, this region has been very attached to the Roman Catholic tradition. I live in the city of Nantes, which is home to 500,000 people if we include the surrounding towns. There are no more than 15 organised evangelical churches. in this entire region, which means around 450 Christians gather together on a given Sunday morning. Even though my numbers are approximate, they give you an appreciation of a typical situation.
Areas where there is a larger than average number of churches:
French evangelicals are such a minority on a national scale that we often have to remind people we come into contact with that we are not part of a cult! My daughter had 650 students in her middle school and not another single Christian. Along with the 1750 evangelical churches, there are 700 Reformed and Lutheran churches, although often quite liberal.
Evangelical Christians in France are usually very committed believers because they are living in a secular society that has never experienced the Protestant reform in the way that Northern Europe or the United States did. When they go to church on a Sunday, they know why they are going - it is not a routine. They need fellowship, as they often don’t meet another Christian at work during the week.
French culture affects the church in the following ways (many of these views are subjective):
religion is viewed as something negative. French people have been ‘disgusted’ by Roman Catholic dominance for centuries. Democracy came as a liberation from the RC church. So religion is tolerated, but evangelicals live in a secular society where religion is considered to be a ‘private’ affair and evangelism is therefore frowned upon by local authorities.
the permissive society is aggressive on evangelical Christian youth. Sex, drugs and family breakdown are common. A young person who wants to follow Jesus has a tough time ‘standing out’ and learning the core values of the kingdom of God.
the occult is rampant in France. Statistics show that mediums, faith healers and fortune-tellers earn as much money as medical doctors! Most Christians involved in church-planting in France can tell you a few stories of encounters with people who have practised the occult, often out of ignorance as they have searched for spiritual truth.
The Christian church in France has grown significantly over the last 20 years and the rate of growth is increasing, particularly among Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations. The Catholic church has a growing ‘renewal’ movement and many Roman Catholics are reading the Bible for the first time in their lives. Relations with the government have improved slightly thanks to unified movements such as the Evangelical Alliance. However, local governments still treat churches on a ‘case by case’ basis, and decisions are often taken based on the mayor’s personal view on religion, evangelicals etc.
Does this picture of France surprise you? Many Christians are unaware that there is currently such spiritual poverty in a western “Christian” country. But we see signs that encourage us as we pray and work here. Please join us in asking God to build His kingdom among the French people.
a document prepared by Chris Lorimer, OM France Director from 1993 to 2003