Reaching out in France

An Elim team from Northern Ireland got their first taste of mission when they visited Vie Church in France to support its latest church plant. Chris Rolfe reports.

This summer, a team from River of Life Church in Ballyclare saw God in action overseas during a mission trip to France.

The ten-strong group spent a week in July doing community outreach to support Vie Church’s latest plant in Bonneville, near Geneva.

“Elim Missions asked if I would be happy to host the team. My heart is for releasing people into what God has for them and for church planting, so I said yes,” says Elim pastor Luc Favre, who oversees the Vie Church network.

Vie Church has a history of church planting. It has five congregations – speaking French, Portuguese and Spanish – in Thonon-les-Bains and Bonneville, all birthed from the main church in Ambilly.

The Ballyclare team went to help its newest church connect with its community, explains Beth Jennings, who headed up the trip with her husband Timothy.

“They’re trying to do more evangelistic outreach so that people will come in and get a flavour of what the church is like,” she says. “We went to the Sunday service on the first day, then we did outreach activities like leaflet drops to invite people to a kids club. We helped to run the club, did prayer walks and took part in gospel meetings in the evening where there was preaching, songs, testimonies and fellowship.

“We also spent a day with young people from the church.”

Luc adds that the team helped with a local festival, where families were invited to play games and enjoy face painting and other activities. “They also had a day off to explore the area, because part of mission is enjoying life!” he says.

The trip was a first for many of the team, says Beth, and was a brilliant experience for them – even if it did mean being shaken out of a few comfort zones. “It was really helpful having a multi-generational team aged from teens to 50s.

There was something special about having the different generations together and our 16-year-old was so encouraged by the older people,” she says. “It was great for them to have exposure to different parts of ministry too. People got to share their testimonies, which they don’t often do at home. They don’t normally speak from the front either, so it was a good opportunity for them to do that.

“Praying for people on the street and handing out leaflets in a different language was new for them too, but they all really enjoyed the trip and many want to do another one now!

“It was also really helpful for them to see what God is doing in a different part of the world and be a part of what God is doing in Elim globally.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.