What Exactly Are the Procopios Doing, Anyway? - Part 1: Why Plant In France?

In my post from a few months ago, I announced that Loanne, Jack and I had accepted a call to participate in a church-planting internship with Acts 29 Europe pastor Philip Moore. I promised I would tell you all what exactly we're doing here, so for the next few days I'll be posting a few blogs that will fill you in on the details.

I'll do this by answering some common questions. Some of these have been about what we've had to sacrifice to come here. I answered these questions in a post this past December; for the purposes of this post I'll just say that if we look at the facts, it could seem like we have sacrificed a lot, but that God has been so present in our situation that it doesn't feel like much of a sacrifice. God asks us to sacrifice in order to fill us up with better things (Rom. 8.28), and even in our moments of difficulty we have been aware of the promise and presence of those better things.

But of all the questions we've been asked since moving, the three most pertinent ones have been:

1) Why plant in France?

2) What does the internship entail, and what are its future goals?

3) What do you need?

I'll dedicate one post to each question.

1) Why Plant in France?

On the surface, it could seem like France isn't a very logical place for missionary work. France is not in the  so-called 10/40 Window. France is a wealthy country. We have the Internet. We drive cars (yes, someone did once ask Loanne that question). It is fairly easy to live a comfortable life here. Christians are not openly persecuted in France. So why would such an initiative be necessary?

It is important to know a few facts. France's history is long, and has pushed the country to a very secular mindset—a mindset that the French culture as a whole prides itself on. This is understandable, since keeping the country secular seems to free it from the sort of religious wars and persecutions its history has witnessed. But the result is that often, people are either wary or indifferent, not necessarily to the Gospel (as we'll see in a second), but to the church which was called to proclaim it. Because of this, evangelical churches have had a hard time putting down roots. 

Today, of France's 65 million people, less than 1% can be counted as followers of Christ. On average, there is 1 evangelical church for every 32,000 persons in France. Less than 10% of the French population own a Bible, and 80% have never even handled one.*

But glory to God, Christians in France have not been inactive. Since 1970, over 1,400 new evangelical churches have been planted and established in France; the total number of credible evangelical churches in France today stands at 2,308. This is certainly a good thing: outposts for the Gospel have been created to bring a credible witness to areas which didn't have them before. 

However, in order for the current French population to have reasonable access to the Gospel, another 4,192 churches would need to be planted...today.

This means that in many towns in France, there is not a single credible witness to the Gospel of Christ. When people think of Christ they often think of the pale, skinny guy on crosses in cathedrals; they think of morbid images of self-flagellation and depressing liturgies. Most of them certainly don't think of the true, biblical Gospel of Christ, because they've never heard it. Contrary to popular belief, the French are not indifferent to the Gospel; most of them simply haven't had the opportunity to hear it faithfully preached. 

What is more, if they wanted to hear the Gospel and have access to a Gospel-centered community of believers, many of them would be unable to, because there are simply no churches in their area. 

The need in France is very great. There are many other issues at stake than just the ones I've mentioned, but these will have to suffice for today. Our challenges are different from those one may hear of in missions conferences, but no less real. That is why we are planting in France. That is why it is a real and pressing need. 

* This post's stats have been borrowed from the CNEF (Conseil national des évangéliques de France) and Acts 29 Europe. Map adapted from www.1pour10000.fr/la-carte.