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Southern France is, in a sense, paradise. The region includes the French Riviera, a global epicenter of leisure and wealth. Think Cannes, home of the world-renowned film festival. Think Monaco, where the Formula One Grand Prix winds through city streets. To the north rise the majestic Alps; to the south sits the Mediterranean Sea.
What more could anyone want?
But beneath its gilded veneer, a quiet absence exists among those sitting in this lap of luxury, says Patrick, an International Mission Board missionary who has been serving in Southern France since 2024 after spending more than a decade planting a church in New York City.
“In New York, we felt the city was distant from God. You kind of had to look for Him, but He was there,” Patrick said. “In France, especially in the south area, it feels devoid of God.”
Patrick said France is a constitutionally defined secular country. What that means is, the government not only avoids endorsing religion, but actively restricts its expression in certain spaces. Strict limits or outright prohibitions constrain religious symbols or dress in public schools, and prayer is barred in state-run institutions. Christianity—or the practice of any religion, for that matter—isn’t rejected as much as quietly sidelined.
“In New York, we felt the city was distant from God. You kind of had to look for Him, but He was there. In France ... it feels devoid of God.”
When Patrick and his wife, Kathryn, were learning French in language school a couple years ago, they shared with their tutors their background: that he was a pastor in New York and they were in France to help churches. A noticeable, awkward hush fell over the room, illustrating the culture in which they were immersing themselves—one where religion is personal and not talked about in the public realm. That kind of chill exists even among many of the Christians Patrick and Kathryn have connected with.
“If we go out and we’re having coffee and we begin talking about things going on at church, or we ask how we can pray for you, it’s like, ‘Let’s talk about that in a different place,’” he said. The government’s stance on religion has affected the cultural psyche of the French people, he added, making evangelistic conversations in the public arena difficult.
And yet the gospel work happening in this region with nearly 3 million people is promising for those willing to invest their time and resources. Less than one-half of 1% of the people are evangelical Christians. Those numbers are slightly worse than all of Europe, a continent of 820 million people with only 1.1% evangelical residents.
“I think the other compelling part is, we’ve seen lost people die without Christ, and it hurts.”
The IMB considers Europe not only an unreached people group, but the most lost continent on the planet. The National Council of French Evangelists report there is approximately one evangelical church for every 29,000 inhabitants in France, Patrick noted, and many smaller towns have no gospel influence at all.
The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Reach Europe ministry partnership with the IMB aims to reverse that trend of lostness. Last May, SBTC pastors were led on a vision tour that spanned seven countries where partnerships are being formed. The tour, in addition to France, included Athens, Greece; Bucharest, Romania; Budapest, Hungary; Copenhagen, Denmark; Leeds, England; and Ljubljana, Slovenia. Two more vision tours, one in the late spring and another in the fall, are scheduled. Several SBTC churches have already made return trips to some of those cities.
Colin Rayburn, the SBTC’s missions mobilization associate, said he is excited about the opportunity to mobilize churches to develop long-term partnerships in France—where he once served as a missionary himself.
“Europe is not only lost, but it’s more often than not anti-religious,” Rayburn said. “But what makes France so interesting is that, while the French are famously anti-religious, there is rapid growth in gospel acceptance and church growth.”
And that’s one of the things that’s most compelling for Patrick, who has immersed his family into a secular culture—as uncomfortable as that might be—for the greater cause of Christ.
“To stay in places of comfort felt disobedient to us,” he said. “To step out in faith and go places where we are the only Christians in the room the majority of the time is actually the place we find the most peace because we know we’re right at the center of what God’s calling us to do.
“I think the other compelling part is, we’ve seen lost people die without Christ, and it hurts. It breaks your heart. To know there are people dying every day who have not had an accurate representation of the gospel shared with them and not had a chance to respond compels us to go wherever we can. … As Christians, it’s tempting sometimes to be people of condemnation and look around the world and say what’s wrong. But we can be people of redemption and go try to take the hope of Christ where there are people in need of it. That’s what drives us.”
