Report:
Seminar on the future of the church in France
The first seminar of our autumn programme took place at Houlgate Evangelical Church last Saturday afternoon, September 23rd. The speaker was Pastor David Brown, who works with France Mission. He has been involved in planting two churches in the French city of Nancy, which has a population of over 400,000 and is situated in the region of Lorraine. Currently hes is pastor of a new church plant at Blanc-Mesnil in the Parisian region. For the last three years he has also been the General Secretary of the GBU (Groupes Bibliques Universitaires), which is the French equivalent of Student Christian Unions. He has also written books about the French church and how it can reach out to people in France today.
While there were very few people that came to this first seminar, those that did come found what David had to say very helpful and informative, and they said that they had benefited personally from coming. David first explained something of the background to modern French thinking - that is, Postmodern thinking. He then looked at some of the proposals being put forward by the Emerging - or Emergent - Church movement, in particular by Brian McClaren, and critiqued them in the light of Biblical truth.
In his second session David went on to present a way of reaching out to people in France today with the gospel that allows the historical Biblical truths to find "points of entry" into the culture and thought of early twenty-first century France. This he did by drawing on the method that he has developed known as Passerelles. A passerelle is a bridge, typically a narrow footbridge, or a gangway on to a ship. He spoke of the four key bridges, the four key points of contact that Christians can use to reach out to their French neighbours today. The four bridges are:
- Human Value
- The Church
- Spirituality
- The Sense of History
David Brown went through each of these topics showing how they could be used to open up doors of common thinking with those outside the church.
The questions asked, and the feedback left, showed how interested those present were in what David had to say.
News posted September 26th, 2006
