Background of Christianity in France
There are currently two exciting movements involving Christianity occuring in France:
- The first movement involves an increased awareness of evangelicalism and a large mobilization of church planters. Evangelicalism in France used to be seen as a cult, but now, as a result of a group of evangelicals representing and explaining their beliefs more fully to the French authorities, it is being recognized as part of the French Protestantism and is slowly gaining more respect. Currently in France, there is only one church for every 30-40,000 people. The goal is to significantly increase the number of churches and there is much prayer in France toward this goal. This would involve many people, including lay people without formal theological training, in order to meet this demand. Right now, there are only a few seminaries in France with probably only 200-300 students getting full-time theological training.
- The second movement involves a focus toward gospel-centeredness. This will include a conference like the Gospel Coalition in which many famous speakers/authors would preach about the topic to hopefully around 700 people.
Prayer Requests:
- The dream for the Angers and the Geneva Bible Institute is that the two movements (Evangelical representation/church planting and gospel centeredness) would merge or overlap and strengthen each other
- That the effect of the conference would be an understanding that “gospel-centeredness” is not referring only to evangelism but also to the preaching that occurs regularly and to specific sanctification in individuals’ lives
- That those involved would know what the next steps are for continuation of the movement and specifically that a group of leaders for a French Gospel Coalition would rise up
