France: God's Instruments in the Past...And the Future

by Keith Carey

When you think of France, what do you think of? Cafes, berets, and baguettes? Existential philosophers? Red wine and gourmet food? Impressionistic art? Think again. France in the 21st century is becoming a land of minarets, mosques, and falafel stands. Before we get to modern France, let's briefly talk about where France has been in the last 3,000 years.

The Church Gets a Good Start in France
The Celtic tribes that crossed the Rhine River in 900 BC did not know that their offspring would some day form some of the strongest fellowships where the Lord of Creation was worshipped. In the early days of the Church, many people from this part of the Roman Empire seemed to excel in spiritual virtues. The writings of Irenaeus, the Bishop of Lyon, helped to keep the fledgling Church from being destroyed by heresy. In the 400s, an escaped Celtic slave was shipwrecked off the coast of what was later known as Normandy in the northwest of France. He was trained at a monastery there, and brought some of the monks with him to evangelize Ireland. His name was Patrick. Within 15 years, this band of monks won all but a couple of southern Irish provinces to the Lord.

In the late 700s and early 800s, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, ruled from what is now France. Though he sometimes evangelized through force, he was committed to Christ and His Church. He was the most powerful, and perhaps the most godly king for a period of 400 years.

France in the Crusades
Then came the Crusades. In 1095, Pope Urban II, a Frenchman, stirred up the people in Clermont, France, to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims. The Crusaders began by massacring the Jews of the Rhine Valley before continuing their journey east. The main army, made up mostly of French and Norman knights, took over Jerusalem in 1099, setting up the "Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem." The Muslims re-took Jerusalem in 1187, but the Crusaders were not yet done with their "Holy Wars" against the Islamic armies. In 1212, a group of French children, under the direction of the young Stephen of Cloyes, led the so-called Children's Crusade from Marseilles. Long before they reached the Holy Land, they were taken as slaves.

France was powerful during much of the Middle Ages, so much so that they often controlled the Papacy and the Roman Catholic Church. Even so, the Reformation had an impact on France, and by the early 1500s, 20-50 percent of France was Protestant. Most of these Protestants, known as Huguenots, had to flee persecution during the latter half of the 1600s.

The Age of Enlightenment
The 18th century was a pivotal time for France. Disillusioned with despotism of the monarchy and the narrow-mindedness of the Church, French philosophers like Voltaire and Rousseau began to win popular support for reforms. Their ideas are still at the core of today's secular humanism. They elevated human reason above religion. Claiming to be fulfilling the principles of the Enlightenment, as it was called, the French killed much of their nobility, their aristocrats and monarchs. Though they have turned their backs on the excesses of the French Revolution, the idea that we have nothing but our reason to guide us is still prevalent in France today. Speaking in a Perspectives class, Roberta Winter commented, "France has never had a revival." With only a few exceptions, we have not seen much dedication to the cause of Christ in France for the past 200 years.

Partly because of the arrogance spawned by the Age of Enlightenment, France accelerated its collection of colonial holdings during the 1800s until the beginning of WWI. French philosopher Charles Revouvier suggested that France could spread the benefits of civilization to less developed lands. France quickly gained colonies in Africa and Southeast Asia. Soon after WWII, France's colonial holdings began to break away. The French tried in vain to stop it, first in Vietnam, and later in Algeria. All they had to show for it was bitterness and massive carnage.

Immigrants Flock to France
However, they did gain something they didn't expect: immigrants from their former colonial holdings. Along with the immigrants, they had a number of other surprises.

During the 19th century, the French favored having other Latinized European peoples work for them as guest workers. In the years following WWII, France desperately needed to rebuild its nation. The low population growth and the loss of men during the war meant that they didn't have enough workers to do the job. The French tried to recruit from Spain, Portugal, and Italy. This time things didn't go as they expected. These countries weren't facing economic crises, so people preferred to stay at home. So the French reluctantly began to recruit workers from their former African colonies and the Magreb, i.e., Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

The French expected these people to come for a couple of years, then return home with their earnings. Again, their plans went astray. Instead of returning home, these Muslim immigrants began to encourage their families to join them to settle in France. The unwritten rule had always been that if one settles in France, one learns French and adopts their culture. In the past, some of the immigrants had adopted and remained staunch Catholics, which irked the secular French. But these new immigrants were Muslim, and they didn't want to change. Not only that, but they began to fill the low birthrate gap by having large families. Muslim immigrants were making up more and more of the French population. The French tried and failed to turn this situation around.

They tried to tighten their immigration policy. In 1974, the French tried to stop Muslim family members from coming to France, but that effort was overturned four years later. They also offered free passage home to those who wanted to leave. Those who took this offer were the European immigrants, so that effort failed. Now the French were "stuck" with people in their midst who had a different religion, social ethos, and language. And there was nothing they could do to get rid of them. Today, Muslims make up almost 10 percent of France's population, according to Operation World. In 1976, there were only about 12 mosques and prayer rooms in France. Today there are more than 1,000 of them according to a December, 1996 article in Pulse.

Unlike the more welcomed immigrants from Vietnam and Cambodia who have entrepreneurial skills, the North African Muslim peoples are part of the working class. For the most part, they live in rundown suburbs and complain that they suffer from discrimination.

What is God Doing With This Situation?
It's difficult to understand what God is doing by bringing so many unreached Muslim people groups to France. The primary "religion" of France is not Roman Catholicism, but secular humanism. According to statistics, there is a large overlap between the nominal Catholics and the atheists in France.

Hostility towards Muslims is overt in that land. At times, Muslim girls have been suspended from public schools for wearing headscarves. Muslim communities are segregated, and they have political forces like the National Front with which they must contend. Some Muslims have reacted by becoming bitter and joining radical Islamic groups.

Yet there is potential for God to move in the midst of these obstacles.

The prayer guide that you are now holding is one of at least four prayer guides directed to French concerns. According to an article in the July 2003 issue of Charisma Magazine, "The Objectif France movement-dubbed France 2003 this year-has steadily gained momentum among churches and prayer groups since its initiation in 2000.... Central to the campaign is a comprehensive prayer guide...inspiring prayer for France." This prayer campaign begins right before Easter, so now is the time for a new cycle for 2004. They have seen answers to prayer during the past three years. If you would like to participate this year, go to their web site at www.lafrance2000.org. The prayer guide is in several languages.

There are a couple of notable efforts to reach the Muslims in France. From March through July of last year, Operation Mobilization sent between 50,000 and 100,000 New Testaments to Muslims in Paris. Christar is an organization that sends well-trained missionaries to spread the gospel through friendship evangelism. Both of these efforts need prayer.

Let's Pray!

• Pray for the Muslims of Paris to respond favorably to the New Testaments that they received less than a year ago.
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to anoint and empower Christar workers in France.
• Pray that the prayer movement for France will result in a major spiritual shakeup that will change France much more, and in a far different direction, than the so-called Enlightenment.