Why France? Why Paris?

We’ve written before about why we feel lead to do church-planting in Paris, France but we’re asked these questions often. Sometimes we’re asked in a sincere and interested way and sometimes we’re asked in a “do you really expect me to believe that France needs missionaries” sort of way. However we’re asked though, I want to try to sum up our answer as succinctly as possible. It comes down to four things:

“All nations” — Need — Strategy — Call

1. All Nations: Jesus said to make disciples of all nations. Frankly, that’s enough for me, but this means that every group of people is a field in which to sow the Gospel. Every single one. No nation is exempt, no matter how wealthy or poor or democratized or whatever. Jesus said all nations, and France is a nation. Therefore, France needs people going there and making disciples.

2. Need: There are different kinds of need. There are physical needs like poverty, malnutrition, lack of education, and the list goes on. These things are serious, and God’s people must address them. However, there is also spiritual need. God told Jonah that the enormous cosmopolitan city of Nineveh was full of people who didn’t know their right hand from their left, meaning they were spiritually blind. They needed someone to help them see the truth. Spiritual need can only be addressed by God’s people. In fact, I would argue that if you wanted to do something about the physical needs of the world, then there needs to be multiplying communities of people following Jesus to have a greater impact on addressing those needs. Don’t think that I’m saying that addressing the often staggering amount of physical suffering in the world is something that followers of Jesus can put off for the time being, but what I am saying is that we’ll have a much greater impact if we see physical need and spiritual need as two sides of the same coin. France has staggering spiritual need.

3. Strategy: I’ve been general thus far, but now more specifically let’s talk about Paris. Historically, economically, politically, any way you want to slice it, Paris is one of the most important cities in Western Europe and the world for that matter. Paris is to France what Washington D.C., New York, and L.A. are to America. It has the politicians, the business people, the thinkers, the creative people, and more. When Paul planted churches he went to all the major cities of the ancient world; Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, because he knew that if you can start a movement of people following Jesus in a major city, then it will have the greatest impact on the area around it. Influence often works from the top down. If Paris had thriving and multiplying churches, then the impact on France as a whole would be enormous. Paris is extremely strategic. 

4. Call: Interwoven through all of this is our personal call. God has worked in us in such a way that over the past six or more years He has given us a heart for the country of France and its people. We feel personally burdened by this people’s darkness, and we want to get involved. God has brought this about through varied and different ways, but we feel more convinced than ever that this is where he is calling us. Call can be hard to define, but you know it when you feel it. We’ve felt it for a while, and we are attempting to do our best to follow God’s call.