Kidsgames

Pentecost - Monday 13th June. A public holiday in France (yes, in secular France where religious practice is a private matter!)

380 kids from 5 to 14 years old gathered together for Kidsgames. This is a kind of Biblical Olympiade organised by the French Scripture Union (La Ligue pour la lecture de la Bible - LLB in French) and the Evangelical Alliance of Valence. The day consisted of team games, promoting Christian values and getting kids to know the Bible. It's particularly useful for inviting kids who don't regularly attend churches, giving a different impression of Christians.

We took a team of 11 down and again were proud of two of our teens who helped lead the group. It was a privileged time for getting to know other parents. We had a good fun day. Pray for these contacts that they bring people to a vibrant relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cousins and other visitors

The first of our summer visitors arrived safely in Valence where we were finishing the Synod. Four quick days catching up on family news, showing them around, explaining French life-style, just enjoying being together as family. I really miss that.

Tomorrow Ruth arrives - a missionary friend working in Niger.

At the same time we are helping our English friends pack up more stuff so they can leave at the end of the month. We are grateful for every relationship - but it's hard to always say goodbye to those whose company we enjoy or whom we have come to love.

The Synod

At the beginning of June our Union of Churches held its two-yearly Synod. This year our church sent me along with another member to represent our local church. Pascal went along as Pastor and had nothing to do except catch up with friends and colleagues and follow the news and debates.

They announced my new status as a recognised worker for the Union and then proceeded to vote me in as Vice-Chairperson for the Synod. They seem to give jobs to all the new ones coming into the Union! I sent off an SOS to my prayer supporters and launched into an official role asking my co-chairers to take on all the procedural parts (they were much more competent at the rules and regulations for all that).

introducing Frédéric de Coninck

With Prof Blocher

I was privileged to introduce our two visiting speakers : both have significantly contributed to the French Evangelical world, Frédéric is a sociologist and elder in an Evangelical Mennonite Church. The same one Pascal and I attended while we were at the Bible Institute in the Paris region. Professor Blocher was also one of our lecturers while we were studying there and is one of the very few French theologians to be translated into English.

Our Union is not perfect and has its foibles, but Pascal and I appreciate it and are happy to be a part of it. In recent years there has been specific action to help churches grow and there is one church plant going on at Poitiers. Our Union juggles with modern evangelicalism and old-fashioned traditional churches.

This year we had an important vote to decide if our Union should join the new Conseil National des Evangéliques en France. (CNEF). The vote ended up being for an Associate membership instead of a full membership. We were disappointed because we believe we should be in full membership, but this status will allow the Union to suss out the Council and apply for full membership at a later date. We hope so anyway.