Armed French police stand guard in front of Saint Augustin Church in Paris on October 31, 2020, in the wake of terror attacks in France.
May the Church be found Faithful
The proposed Law to Uphold Republican Principles crossed another threshold on April 12th as the French Senate voted to uphold the bill designed to stem radical Islam that has been at the root of numerous terrorist attacks in France. Yet these deliberations also represent a changing dynamic for the evangelicals in France, as the proposed law will present new restrictions and oversight within the evangelical church.
As Clement Diedrichs, General Director of the National Council of Evangelicals in France (CNEF) says, “…the country’s leadership no longer has any desire to protect space for any faith.”
A joint committee of parliamentary deputies and senators will meet in May to further evaluate the bill before it is voted on by the National Assembly in July for final implementation.
Throughout the months of deliberations, French Protestant leaders have been diligent in their discussions with the government in advocating for the religious freedoms that are so deeply engrained in French society with the separation of Church and State, while also calling the Protestant church to prayer and avoiding a mentality of victimization.
Diedrichs says, “But since they are no longer in a Christian society, French evangelicals have to be witnesses to the gospel like the first Christians were in their non-Christian society.“
May the Church in France be a faithful witness to Gospel truth, and may the Lord give wisdom to evangelical leaders in discussions with the government.
For further information, read this report in Christianity Today: