10 years ago I moved with my wife and family to Créteil in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris, at the end of metro line 8. We came to plant a church that would be family, would make lots of room for the Holy Spirit, and would have mission in its DNA.
One of the reasons we came to Créteil is that it is the home of Université Paris XII, one of the 13 sites of the historic University of Paris. We used to work with Fusion out of Oxford Community Church, where we were Student Pastors, and we hoped that God would lead us back to students at some point. At the same time, we felt like first we needed to take time to bed in, to learn about mission and church in France, and build a church family that could welcome students.
That's been a journey with some amazing highs, and some lows too, but today the Communauté Chrétienne Espérance (Hope Christian Community) is a great family house church that loves Jesus and loves welcoming the students that come across our path every year. We're at a crossroads in our journey as a church, and we're sensing that it is time for us to start to get more proactive about student mission. We're praying about a student-based church plant/missional community out of our church targeting Paris universities, starting in Créteil (Paris XII).
Did you know that there are half a million students in the Paris region, and that the vast majority of them don't follow Jesus? Maybe we could do something about that.
If you're a student thinking about coming to study in Paris, or you're studying French and you have a year abroad as part of your course, could God be calling you to come and get involved?
We’re looking for students who want to engage in a mission team, for a year or more, and help us lay the groundwork for a student movement: prayer walking around campus, finding ways to connect missionally, using Discovery Bible Studies to start groups, etc. We’re ready to offer family, discipleship and direction to this team. We might even be able to help with your accommodation. We’re praying that God would give us students who are up for an adventure with God and having a go at pioneering a student discipleship movement in Paris.
Interested? Please get in touch at john@ccesperance.com
Family Photo: John, Nom, Reuben and Anaïs Bilson
