Here in France, we have a unique situation where the world has come to us.
We are all familiar with Jesus’ last words in Matthew 28:19,
especially the part of “…go and make disciples of all nations.” (NIV) This always left the impression of me going somewhere far, to share the gospel with some unknown group ofunreached by the message of the Bible, which I did for many years.
However here in France, we have a unique situation where the world has come to us. France has a total population of 68 million people. Although many French people still identify themselves as Catholics we still have a significant part of the population that comes from very unreached areas of the world.
In fact of the 108 people groups that live in France, 38 are classified as unreached. This includes the 11.2 % of Muslims in the country.
In France you find a relatively safe environment with most of the population speaking the same language, the country is known for its fast internet and trains that crisscross the country. This makes it the ideal place to touch the world in one place. In a sense, the world has come to France and all we need to do is step out and touch it.
This is what the OM France team felt called to do when they stepped into a partnership with the CEP church in the neighbourhood of Montreuil, on the eastern side of Paris. The CEP church is one of just a few evangelical churches in this neighbourhood of 111 367 people, with a large immigrant population. There are Muslims from Mali, Niger and other parts of North Africa some Turks and a host of other unreached nationalities.
A few months ago at the launch of the initiative, during a Sunday service, 2 young Muslim ladies from Mali, covered in their hijabs walked into the church and asked what they needed to do to become followers of Jesus. They walked into the church as confused Muslim young women and walked out as born-again Jesus followers.
This encouraged the church and OM France to keep on reaching out to the local community in Montreuil. Once a week there are different activities at the church where the community can come for personal prayer, encouragement and even find clothes, on another day they are doing evangelism at the weekly markets.
Please keep this church in Montreuil and the OM France Muslim outreach team, in your prayers. They are courageously reaching out to very unreached people groups that God has brought to their doorstep.
What has the Lord brought to your doorstep and what are you going to do about it?
By Martin de Lange, OM France
[1] https://data.worldbank.org/country/france?view=chart
[2] Source: http://joshuaproject.net/countries/FR
[3] https://www.insee.fr/en/statistiques/7342918?sommaire=7344042
[4] https://www.cepmontreuil.fr/
[5] https://www.montreuil.fr/la-ville/population