FRANCE - Evangelicals Flex Their Political Muscle
One Sunday last year, I went along to the Martin Luther King (MLK) Church in Créteil, where pastor Anne Battista was encouraging the faithful to set their egos aside, put their faith in God and convert the young. Her message—a blend of personal development, submissiveness (‘Believe like a little child!’) and proselytizing—was interspersed with songs and light displays.
On another Sunday, in a hall in Marseille’s Saint-Lazare district that had seen better days, a hundred or so people of all ages, mainly European—in contrast to the area’s largely immigrant population—gathered for an Assemblies of God service. Pastor Mathieu Burles preached on coping with stress and the dangers of overwork. The music here, performed by a young woman at the piano and a drummer, was lower-key than in Créteil. Lyrics appeared on a screen for the congregation to sing along karaoke-style.
Though each is distinctive, all these churches belong to Protestantism’s evangelical wing. which in 2020 accounted for as many as one in four Christians in some parts of the world. In Europe, evangelicals are a much smaller minority, about 3% of the population, and they are even less numerous in France, where strict legislation means no official statistics are collected on religious affiliation. The trend in Western countries—whether the US, Australia or Western Europe—is away from organized religion.
-mondediplo.com, January 2025
Arno's Commentary
According to the CIA Factbook, the population of France stands at 68 million. Religiously 47% are Roman Catholic, 4% Muslim, and almost 42% not religiously associated.
France is a very progressive country, with a per capita GDP of $56,000 (2023). Export volume is $1.05 trillion, and imports $1.09 trillion.
Life expectancy for 2024, according to Worldometers, is 83.5 years—about average for Western Europe (for the USA, it’s 79.5 years).
There are diverse opinions as to the power of religion in political matters. One thing has become clear in the last few decades: Muslim-dominated nations have followed the old Roman Catholic system of dominating and mastering political activity as well. For example, in 1979, Iran under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini established a theocratic system where political authority is vested in a religious figure known as the “supreme leader.” That system seems to be on the losing side globally.
Our interest lies in the living Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, who stated: “I will build my church.” Here, the apostle Paul admonishes his spiritual son: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
