Report on Normandy Vision's Expo-Bible 2009

Expo-Bible 2009 at Houlgate

A Busy Time

The Expo-Bible has been cleared away, and the church returned to its normal state! We are trying to recover from what has been an exhausting period of preparing for the Expo and then running it for its twenty days of being open to the public. At the same time we had Sunday services to organise and prepare for, sometimes two on a Sunday separated by 50 miles. There were several pastoral visits to make during the period too.

Thankfully we had many helpers, both from the UK and more locally. We also were provided with the use of a flat in Houlgate itself during the period of the Expo which saved no end of time, energy an money by not having to travel to and from Houlgate every day.

Positive Feedback

The feedback that we had from visitors was universally favourable. All thought that the presentation was very clear and interesting. The number of Bibles, Christian books, Gospels and Christian tracts sold or given away gives a very good picture of the impact that we had. Most of the Bibles were sold to people who had never owned or read a Bible for themselves before.

Lectures on the Bible

We would also like to thank Pastor Pierre Wheeler for coming all the way from Arras in northern France to present two evening lectures on subjects to do with the Bible. While the numbers attending were lower than we hoped, the concensus was that the lectures were very much appreciated and very helpful in understanding better how the Bible has come down to us today and the archaeolgical evidence that there is to demonstrate the reliability of the Biblical texts.

An Example Highlight

One of the highlights for us of the exhibition was the visits made by several Gypsies. (Note: In the UK this community are usually refered to as Travellers, but in France they still refer to themselves as Gypsies with no negative sense behind the word as there would be in the UK). First there was a visit of a Gypsy pastor and his wife, who talked about the great spiritual revival taking place among the Gypsy communities in France. Christianity is growing faster among them than in any other section of the community in France, despite the fact that they are so often a despised group, even among other Christians. The Gypsy pastor brought many of his friends to visit the Expo, taking many of them round personally and explaining to them what the meaning was of the information on the panels. A Gypsy lady came in several times to ask for literature or to buy one of the cheap Bibles (1.50 euros) to give to her friends and contacts. It was a great joy to see their enthusiasm and desire to witness to those around them.