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Sipping a cappuccino in the sun-drenched Place St. Louis in the Paris suburb of Garches, I wandered from the azure sky and the fragrant spring blossoms toward debates raging on the pages of missionary literature. Why did I permit such an intrusion? Because of the passing parade of villagers and the overwhelming presence of the parish church that dominated the plaza.

To some missions writers and promoters, the presence of that church—and thousands of others like it—indicates that Europe has been “reached” and therefore should be crossed off the list of world missions objectives. Crossed off, that is, by US churches and mission boards. The corollary of this conclusion is that we should therefore focus our world evangelization efforts on places and people where few, if any, churches exist.

I find no fault with those strategists who say we should concentrate church planting where there are no known churches. But none of those carefully researched lists of such places would include Garches. Why not? Because of that looming edifice in the village square.

However, we have to understand that this church represents a Christianized Western Europe of long ago, from which the gospel has virtually vanished. A once vibrant Reformation era church faced extermination. Some historians claim that the repression of the Huguenots doomed France to spiritual darkness forever. Others suggest that the French Revolution cast a pall over France that continues to this day. Whatever the country’s history, we know that for many reasons the soil for sowing the gospel in France remains remarkably hard.

Researchers tell us that half the people are non-practicing Christians. Regular church attendance has dropped to six to eight percent of the people. In the words of Operation World, Christianity in France “is doomed to marginalized insignificance.” This is why we cannot and must not cross France off the list of our church-planting objectives. As far as I could tell, Garches lacked a creditable evangelical witness and therefore is unreached, despite its historic parish church.

Has the good news touched Garches lately? Hardly. If national statistics about French church- going apply to this village, we know that pitifully few go to the ancient, primary church. As I slowly drained my coffee, I asked myself if any of the people strolling by—and sitting beside me in the outdoor café—had worshiped anywhere in any church last Sunday. Had they ever heard the good news?

If not, what can and should we do? There is, of course, a creditable French evangelical church, plus numerous transplants from outside. I visited one such effort in central Paris and talked with another man who over 23 years of hard work has planted a thriving church in another part of Paris.

However, it is obvious that it will take incredible patience and hard work for some US-sponsored person to bring the good news to Garches. My problem with ignoring Garches in our US missionary church-planting strategies is that it is too easy to cross this village off our list. It’s almost like our saying, “Been there; done that.”

Another tough question arose in my mind. Which churches and agencies are willing to pray and support people for the grinding years of work required in really tough places? To plant a church in Garches would take years of patient seed sowing without much of a harvest. But if we can do it in non-Christian cultures of Asia, for example, what’s to keep us from doing it in post-Christian France?

Do we really think that our Lord of the harvest has crossed France’s villages off his list? I don’t think so. If not, why should we?

Pulse No. 8, May 16, 2003