If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve seen that France has been experiencing some unrest. The ‘Yellow Vest Protests’ occurred four weekends in a row, starting as a protest against a proposed environmental tax on gasoline, and gaining additional demands as the weeks grew on. They are protesting again today, hopefully a little less violently. A quick google search will give you plenty of articles on the details. However, one thing you won’t find on the media is the response of the church to this Crisis.

Every Evangelical Church belongs to an organization called the CNEF (Conseil National des Evangéliques de France). Since Evangelical Protestants only make up 1% of the french population, this organization provides ‘la solidarité’ to a group that would more or less be pretty isolated.

Just before the expected ‘Act 4’, the fourth week of protests, the CNEF sent out a petition, charging it’s churches to unite in prayer*:

The church, acting as the social and spiritual connection, does not intend to simply be a spectator during these times of tension we see throughout our country.

Condemning all violence, physical and verbal, we as Evangelical, Protestant Christians want, nevertheless, to hear the cries of those around us.

We are 2500 churches, differing in location and background, some rural, some urban, representing a diverse range of classes and ethnicities throughout France.

We wish to pray for the government and the leaders who must manage this crisis. We affirm, as Jesus has encouraged us, our respect for the authorities and look towards peace for our country.

We desire that the planned protests be peaceful. We hope that a dialogue would be established and that there would be no violence.

The words of Christ to the city of Jerusalem:

“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” Luke 19.42, ESV

are still a message applicable today for these protests of the ‘Gilets Jaune.’

We see that instability and injustices are driving this anger. However, we believe that the only true salvation is in Jesus Christ, as declared by the gospel, can provide the peace and the hope that gives us life.

The topics of prayer were as follows*:

Pray for the government

Pray that God would work in the hearts of those who are in the government, that He would lead them to make wise, just and peaceful decisions.

Pray for the president of the Republic of France, the first minister, the minister of internal affairs, and the leaders of the police force, as well as their advisors.

Pray for our law enforcement

Pray for the policemen, who are facing violence during these protests

Pray that they would stay vigilant physically and morally, and would stay measured and professional in their attitudes.

Pray for the judges and the justice staff, who are dealing with the penalties following the instances of violence.

Pray for respect for the state, the rights, and the authorities that govern us, which allow for peace and justice to exist in our country.

Pray for the Protestors

Pray for those in need, those in precarious situations, who are revolting against what they believe are unjust political decisions.

Pray that this bitterness would be an occasion to search for peace in another direction, and lead them to discover Jesus and to accept his salvation.

 

We are sometimes asked why we are in France. This is why, the last statement of the charge and the last line of the subjects of prayer. We believe that peace came to earth, so that the weary world can rejoice, and find salvation in this world of unrest.  During this same time period, the Mayor of Toulouse also reached out to the churches in the area, asking them to make a call for peace among their congregations.

It’s especially hard to be so far during times like this.  We love and miss France. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we don’t also love the USA. We are thankful for this year. In fact it’s hard to put into words how our hearts live in two places. It’s nice here, it’s comfortable, and we are well cared for and loved. Like most missionaries, we can’t wait to go, but it’s so hard to leave.

But we do feel the need, the call, and the desire to return. For those of you who like numbers, we are currently living in a county in Florida of about 150,000 people. The church that we are attending has a membership of about 1500 people. In Toulouse, the UNEPREF, a similar longstanding national denomination, their church in the center city has about 60-80 members, in a city of 1.3 million. (2) We feel called to come along side them and help grown and plant churches.

By law, we have to stay a year in the states, (3) but we also have to raise the funds to go back to our work as well.  This time of year is critical for us in fundraising. If you would like to help support our ministry, please click here to make a donation for our ministry. We will also be visiting many churches in the southeast, if you would like to hear more about our ministry in detail, we would be happy to share more about our work. We will be sending out a schedule in our monthly e-newsletter. If you would like to be on this mailing list you can sign up here. 

 

We wish you good tidings of comfort and joy this Advent Season. Thank you for your prayers and support.

 

 

(1) This is my unofficial translation of their document, if you would like the original, please e-mail me and I will send you a copy.

(2) Data from Wikipedia and rts.edu website. Also, as many of you know, we don’t plant Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) Churches (for many reasons) but instead partner with a French reformed denomination so that we are planting French churches, not American ones. The church here in Florida is a rather large church, even for America, but we pass about four other churches of varying denominations on our 15 minute drive there in the mornings. We can’t say the same for our commute in France.

(3) The tax totalization law requires US based employees to return to their homeland for 366 days every five years. (The US does the same for French employees.)