CEM Summer

We put the children on the train to Marseille last Saturday for the weeklong Summer Christians on Mission program. There will be 20 youth, or young-in-Spirit, who will spend 9 days studying the Bible, visiting the older folks, spending time with children in the neighborhood and singing in a chorus. It’s a week full of study and service.

The Church there is called Fuveau Chapel. Fuveau is the name of the street that crosses just in front of their place. It used to be a mechanic’s shop, but the church-planting team was able to put up a façade, paint the interior white… It looks just like a country church you might run across in some village in Southern France.

The Marseille church is building community in a difficult neighborhood. That’s essential to renewal. There are many poor there and a large number of North Africans. This tends to cause racial tension. But the Fuveau Chapel reaches out to all French people, no matter their backgrounds. Many people just walk in on Sundays, thinking it’s a Catholic church. Several Algerians have started attending. All are warmly welcomed. All can hear the Gospel that destroys barriers and unites all people in Christ