WelcomeFrance: Important Mission Field?
If we can reach France with the Gospel we will reach the world.
That is the conclusion that the European Christian Mission, in an article on its web site, reaches about the importance of France as a mission field. Their assessment is that “France is possibly the key to reaching Western Europe”.
The European Christian Mission sum up the difficulty of working in France in this way:
Spiritual work in France is, hardly surprisingly, very slow and there has been no real breakthrough. It would be fair to say that France is the largest western nation that has not felt the power of the gospel. You might even say it is the largest “unreached” western nation, since there are large tracts of land and many cities with no evangelical witness. The spiritual ground is hard and unyielding and will only respond to patient evangelism and prayer.
The European Christian Mission, in their article, encourage Christians everywhere to pray for France, and in particular they say: “Pray for the missionaries working in this challenging situation, for perseverance and vision.”
An American pastor working in France said this at a conference a few years ago. Very little has changed since he said these words:
Moyer indicated that going to church is not a part of the thought process of the French people. He commented, “Bill Hybles [Willow Creak] has stated that those who come to church for the first time have thought about going to church at least once in the last two weeks. In France people haven't thought of going to church in two generations. People who have problems would never think of going to church to solve them.”
Read more about what was said at this conference and about the spiritual state of France and its need for the gospel.
Some quotations from a Facebook page about Europe in general, France in particular, that give some perspectives on Europe and France as a very difficult place for Christian mission:
“Just came back from a 6 month mission trip in Germany, France, and Switzerland. I LOVE France and lived with Wycliff missionaries for 3.5 months in Northern France. When I talked to various missionaries and European Christians, just about everyone told me 'You Know, Europe is the missionary's graveyard'...”
“...it's expensive to raise money to go to Europe and the work is many a times very slow and tedious...”
“There are many reasons why I think that Europe is the missionary's graveyard. I am in the process of becoming a long term missionary in France next year. What I've found is that there is a common misconception that mission in Europe is 'luxury mission' work and that missionaries going there aren't making the same sacrifices. This means there is less support from home. Lots of loving Christians make jokes about your mission calling, which makes it hard for the missionary even before they go. Secondly, Europe is a spiritual melting pot for all different faiths. Did you know for example, that there are 6 times as many spiritual mediums in France as there are doctors? From what I've read and heard, Europe is open to 'spirituality' but not 'organised religion'. That means that missionaries to Europe are always going to be under spiritual attack from evil which seems to have a stronghold in Europe. Let's take back Europe for God!”
Read the quotations in their original Facebook context.
On the SIM (Serving in Mission) web site you can read the following quotation:
“France has developed a reputation as a 'missionary graveyard.' It is both essential and urgent that everything be put into place so that the Gospel is preached with strength and vigor.”
Read the full article on SIM's web site
The whole of Europe is a vital and urgent mission field. It is also a very difficult one. We at Normandy Vision feel called particularly to work in the region of Normandy in France, and so the comments below are aimed at our particular sphere of work. What we have written can be applied to almost any region of Europe.
If you feel a concern for the spiritual state of Normandy and would like to do something about it, here are some possibilities to consider, suggestions that you might be able to do to help:
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