Phil Wilthew recently visited our friends at Église le Chemin, la Vérité et la Vie (CVV), which translates as “The Way, the Truth and the Life Church”, to spend time with the team and to pray Yann Selle into eldership. CVV is a thriving multi-site Catalyst church based in Paris, France, and in the next of our “Focus On” series highlighting the pioneering work being done across the world, Phil shares a few highlights from the trip, challenges for the church in France, and pointers for how we can be supporting them in prayer.
Q: What’s the context like for churches in France?
Challenging but huge opportunities. Paris is the 3rd most influential city in the world for culture, fashion and creativity. There are still relatively few Churches that have a clear Word and Spirit ethos. City living is costly and building community is challenging, but God is on the move!
Q: What were you encouraged by during your time in Paris?
The huge potential – many young leaders who are called to be culture shapers in the city.
Q: What are some challenges facing the French church?
Here are a few key challenges:
– Cost of living
– Transient population
– Buildings and facilities
– Raising leaders in a busy environment
Q: How can we be praying for the church there?
– Please pray for growth for CVV
– Pray for leadership development as new leaders are raised up and released in the church and the workplace
– Pray for evangelistic fruit as they reach out into the city