All articles in category France

April 2018

Articles > World Mission > Europe > Western Europe > France > News > Events > Persecution

Carcassonne terrorist attack: a Christian response

Terrorism has hit again! Since Friday 23rd March, France has been in shock. The attack in Carcassonne and Trèbes left four people dead and many injured physically and psychologically. The French are sad, angry and indignant. As Christians, how should we react? What thoughts should guide us? Today we want to weep with those who weep (Rom 12.15). We want to pray for those who suffer the loss of a loved one. We want to pray for them to find their consolation in God. “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all”(Romans 12:17). While...

By Paul Wells

February 2017

France

Evangelicalism in France

Protestantism is a very marginal minority in France, numerically less than 2 per cent of the total population. France Mission estimates there are 1,700,000 Protestants in France and 600,000 evangelicals. The first figure seems generous. People can say they are Protestants just because they are not Catholics. They sympathise with the Protestant minority because they take them to stand for freedom of conscience and tolerance. In the second half of the 20th century, the Roman Catholic Church ‘lost’ France, with religious practice and christenings plummeting. In spite of that, Catholicism is still a cultural heavyweight in society, and, if you say you are ‘Christian’, that...

February 2017

Articles > World Mission > Europe > Western Europe > France

France

In the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire. His subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. France was a major participant in World War I, from which it emerged victorious, and was one of the Allied Powers in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War. The Fifth Republic, led...

What can be done?

October 2013

France

What can be done?

Fiona Steward, a missionary with UFM Worldwide and Grace Baptist Mission, has been reaching out to students in Bordeaux, France, for the last 8 years. She shared her inmost motivations in a recent prayer letter. What can be done without God? An obvious question, but one that our sinful, self-reliant, self-glorifying hearts need to grasp more. It is a deep consolation to be reminded that no one can stop the Lord accomplishing all that he has purposed. Everything is through and for Christ. The glory can only ever go to him. What can be done without the cross? I love what was said of Spurgeon’s...

By Paul Wells

July 2013

France

Praying for France

The population of France is around 65 million, 20 per cent living in the Paris area. Public life in France is ruled by the republican idea of liberty, equality and fraternity. This means neutrality with regard to religion, which is absent from politics or education. Laws exist regulating religious practice, and minority groups only tend to run into difficulties with the authorities when they act outside the law. Mission field France is a mission field, even if the Roman Church tries to keep up appearances and can mobilise large numbers. France is a highly secularised country; religious practice is low, particularly in the cities....

June 2013

France

A week of outreach organised by ‘La Voix des Prophètes’ (Voice of the Prophets) in Paris.

About 110 young people between the ages of 15 and 25 were on the team. During the week there were more than 500 significant conversations! Over 900 Bibles were distributed. More than 500 copies of the booklet ‘Cher Abdullah’ and the CD ‘Chemin vers le ciel’ (testimonies of Christians from Muslim backgrounds) distributed. We were very encouraged by the final evening meeting. Over 180 people were present, many of whom came from countries that are closed to the gospel: Senegal, Mali…many Arabs, Berbers and French people. There was a simultaneous translation into Arabic provided by an Egyptian brother. The room was so packed out that...

By Naomi Fay

June 2013

France

Serving the Lord in Brittany

As a French and European history undergraduate student at Cardiff University, I spent the academic year 2011-2012 in Guingamp, Brittany. This was my year abroad in France. From an academic point of view, its purpose was to improve my language skills and immerse myself in French culture. I was able to fulfil these criteria whilst working for a Christian mission organisation, UFM Worldwide. Guingamp Guingamp is a small town in rural Brittany that dates back to medieval times. It has a population of about 25,000. Despite being small, it is well connected, being on the Paris-Brest train line and also being home to a...

By Paul Wells

June 2013

France

Praying for France

France today The population of France is around 65 million, 20% living in the Paris area. Public life in France is ruled by the republican idea of liberty, equality and fraternity. This means neutrality with regard to religion, which is absent from politics or education. Laws exist regulating religious practice and minority groups only tend to run into difficulties with the authorities when they act outside the law. France is a mission field. Even if the Roman church tries to keep up appearances and can mobilise large numbers, France is a highly secularised country. Religious practice is low particularly in the cities. ...

Missionary Spotlight – Theological Education in France

By Paul Wells

November 2000

France

Missionary Spotlight – Theological Education in France

Owing to the separation of church and state in France, there are no departments of theology in French universities, apart from the University of Strasbourg. This is a blessing, as it means that all the churches have had to maintain their own educational structures outside the state educational system. Yet it can be a disadvantage as far as wider academic recognition is concerned. In France today there are three Protestant faculties of theology. Firstly, the seminary of the Reformed Church of France, formed when faculties at Paris and Montpellier joined together in the 1970s as the Protestant Institute of Theology. This institution is modernistic...

Missionary Spotlight – Fact File – France

June 2000

France

Missionary Spotlight – Fact File – France

Fact File – France Area: 210,000 square miles. The largest nation in West Europe, Metropolitan France includes the island of Corsica. Neighbouring countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Spain. Climate: Generally cool winters and mild summers; but mild winters and hot summers along the Mediterranean. An occasional strong, cold, northerly wind is known as the mistral. Terrain: Mainly flat plains or gently rolling hills, with the Pyrenees mountains in the south and Alps in the east. There is a central plateau called the Massif Central. Population: 60 million. Life expectancy: 79 years. Ethnic groups: A variety of...

Missionary Spotlight-A Call to Battle

By Malcolm Ball

June 2000

France

Missionary Spotlight-A Call to Battle

Very soon, on 18 June, France will be remembering the 60th anniversary of General de Gaulle’s famous wartime broadcast from London: ‘France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war’. His call was to French people everywhere to take up arms for the defence of the patrie. History records the outcome of those momentous years. But since then, while much progress has been made, many battles have been lost on the spiritual front. And others are still being lost. The war is far from won. Catholic heartlands This is especially true of the battleground around greater Nantes, the sixth largest city in...

Missionary Spotlight-France and the Gospel Message

By Jean-Claude Souillot

June 2000

France

Missionary Spotlight-France and the Gospel Message

Talk of France? It would be easier to pour the ocean into a teacup! France is well known in England as a place for holidays, good food and cheap wine. Few realise that it has been the cradle of modern philosophers, who have enjoyed the limelight here ever since their ideas helped to do away with our monarchy! France is a spiritual desert, a ‘forgotten field’. Glorious history France has a forgotten, but glorious, church history. Less than a hundred years after the crucifixion of Christ, Christian martyrs in the Rhone valley (going as far as Lyons), boldly laid down their lives for Christ. In...

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