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France. Pray for France. Flag & location. Map of France. Population of France. The religious scene in France. The population of France is around 65 million, 20% living in the Paris area France is the nearest mission field to the UK
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France Pray for France
The religious scene in France • The population of France isaround 65 million, 20% living in the Paris area • France is the nearest mission field to the UK • Roman Catholicism : only about 14% regularly attend Mass • There are over 5 million Muslims. The samepercentage of practiseas in Catholicism • 1.5 million claim to be Protestants (with 600 000 practising) • Around 3 million (oftendisenchantedCatholics) are involved in New Age spiritualities and a growingnumber of under30s are agnostic. There is a new current of radical atheism.
Public life in France isruled by the republicanidea of liberty, equality and fraternity. This meansneutralitywith regard to religion, whichis absent frompolitics and education. Lawsexistregulatingreligious practice and minority groups only tend to runintodifficultieswith the authoritieswhentheyactoutside the law.
A mission field • France is a mission field. Even if the Roman church tries to keep up appearances and canmobilise large numbers, France is a highlysecularised country. Religiouspractiseislowparticularly in the cities.
Evangelical believers in France • Evangelicals are growing. At presentthere are 460 000 evangelicals and over 40 denominations. • Since 1970, 1 500 new evangelicalchurches have been created. This encouraginggrowthispartly a result of immigration • In 2007 evangelicalchurchesestablished the National Council of French Evangelicals (CNEF)
Points for prayer • Pray for the growingchurchplantingmovement • Pray for deepening of biblicalfaith to accompanyrecentgrowth • Pray for a renewal in preaching, biblicalteaching and evangelism • Praythat the temptations of neo-evangelicalism, ecumenism and compromise withliberalprotestantismwillberesisted • Pray for the training of candidates for the ministry (Seminaries at Aix-en-Provence and Vaux-sur-Seine near Paris and the Bible colleges at Nogent and Geneva) • Pray for the work of the National Council of French Evangelicals