From the 4th to the 18th of July, I was asked to lead a mission team to Guingamp, in Brittany, France. We drove there on the 4th, after crossing the channel from Plymouth to Roscoff overnight.We were joined by Claire from Glasgow, a student in speech therapy, Bethan, from Edinburgh, a vet student, David, a young job seeker, from Edinburgh as well, and Iain,UFM Scottish secretary in Glasgow. We stayed about 8 miles from Guingamp, in an old farm building converted into self catering accommodation.
Brittany is slightly bigger than Wales and has over 3 million inhabitants. There are churches in the main towns on the coast, but inland it is almost completely unreached with few churches.The church in Guingamp is one of the exceptions.Most members live locally, but some are spread out over a wide area.One family drives 38 miles in order to get to the church. Others drive 30 miles to get to the Sunday service. The pastor himself lives 13 miles away.
During those two weeks, we helped the church in their efforts to evangelise the area around the town, and further inland. We distributed around 7000 evangelistic flyers published by the church.We walked a lot and drove hundreds of miles, going as far as Rostronen, 30 miles south of Guingamp. In the first week, some of us did questionnaires at the local weekly markets of Rostronen and Guingamp. Emmanuel Hartiel, the pastor of the church, had organised two evangelistic meetings,one in Rostrenen, and one in Guingamp. 4 people came to the Rostrenen meetings, and the pastor had a good conversation with a lady following the meeting.
We also organised a children’s club on both Wednesday afternoons. In the first week, one little girl came from the outside, and in the second week, 3 children from the same family came along to hear the story of the Good Shepherd. It was the first time for these children to come to the church.
The team was encouraged to see some of the church members giving some of their time to help us during the distributions, and at the markets. We enjoyed great fellowship and had a lot of fun together. It was good for us as a family to discover the area, as it is where we hope to move in a year’s time. It was also sad to see the number of people who rejected the flyers. It dawned on me that God was giving them a chance, but that by rejecting these flyers, they were rejecting Christ. Please pray that the Lord would use our endeavours for His glory.
Emmanuel Durand
