Misconception: We’re going to be living the high life

I really like the idea of having a Monthly Misconception spotlight because frequently a lot of people will express and have similar questions and concerns. It is important when people are honest and bring these questions and concerns to light. It’s a great opportunity to thoughtfully and prayerfully correct false assumptions, whether those false assumptions are other peoples or our own. I am confident that others have similar questions or concerns and either don’t want to ask or don’t have the chance to ask us personally, so my hope is that this monthly spotlight will answer some questions and encourage people to come to us with others. So let’s do this. 

Love that this photo is complicated AND similar to the layout of Paris

First Misconception: We’re going to be living the high life in France

A lot of people look through our finance post or the finance page in our ministry overview and they kind of gasp or sometimes laugh out loud. We need to raise close to $8,000 in ongoing monthly support in order to live in France and start new communities of believers there. Instantly, a lot of people multiply this figure by 12 and think… these kids are going to be living on $96,000 a year, that’s close to -or- more than what I make. We understand the shock, we experienced a similar reaction when first seeing these figures. But what we learned, and what you need to realize, is that it's not that simple. 

Out of the $8,000 we need to raise each month, Ryan and I will actually be living on around 3,250 euro per month (similar to what we live on in dollars now actually). And considering we are hoping to be living in Paris, probably in a modest two bedroom apartment, rent could realistically be around 1,500–2,000 euro per month. Some of you may be concerned about this now, how will we live on this in one of the most expensive cities in the world? The answer is simple, we will aim to live simply and responsibly. 

The other question you may be wondering now is, what happens to the rest of the money? Well, a lot actually. 

• First a small chunk is set aside for the currency conversion from dollars to euros (this is changing almost daily and a complicated matter in itself, we'll just leave it at that for now) 
• A substantial chunk goes to cover our health insurance (both in the U.S. and in France so we’re covered both places) 
• A small chunk is put into a separate account for our retirement someday (I'm very thankful World Team requires us to do this)  
• Another small chunk is set aside for ministry expenses above and beyond our basic living expenses (this helps us better serve the French whether we’re hosting them in our home, purchasing bibles or other resources for them, etc)
• And lastly another chunk (14.5%) goes back to World Team, our sending organization, so they can continue to support and train missionaries like us

So that is pretty much it. If you still have questions, both Ryan and I are happy to talk about it more. We want to be as open and humble as possible with you about our finances and continually express our thankfulness for the many financial partners we have. Ryan wrote a series a while ago about why we raise financial support and why we believe it's a biblical thing to do, I won’t re-hash that but you are welcome to check that out if you haven't yet.  

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.

The blood of the martyrs

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church,” said church father Tertullian. He wrote this in the second century when Christians were often experiencing serious persecution for their faith. However, instead of stamping out the faith, persecution often multiplied it. This is the unfathomable, paradoxical plan of God at work. I’ve been reading a book about the history of Paris, and while I’ve never really thought about it in light of Tertullian’s quote, if his quote is true France is in for churches sprouting up all over the place. 

Let me explain. Systematic persecution of Protestant Christians began in the late 1500’s with estimates of up to 30,000 being killed for their faith in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of 1572. But it wasn’t just Protestants that suffered. During the French Revolution all things Christian were targeted for extermination. Church lands were confiscated and Catholic priests were forced to leave the priesthood, flee the country or be put to death. It’s hard to know how many lost their lives for faith in Christ between these few centuries.  

So, if Tertullian’s statement is to hold true, we should one day see a flourishing of churches in France. But it hasn’t happened just yet. Maybe the seed was buried deep by the Revolution. Or maybe the stony ground produced by the Enlightenment hasn’t completely broken up yet. But whatever the reason the church has been slow in sprouting, God isn’t done with France. 

Please join with us in praying that God would honor the sacrifice of those French martyrs who would rather die than deny Christ, and that from their faithful witness churches would sprout.