Exploring a New International Partnership: Rural France

6 days ago

2 min read

God is opening doors for new partnerships around the world, including a partnership between rural churches in the Pacific Northwest and rural churches in France. The NWBC has partnered with churches in the Asia Pacific Rim for the last fourteen years, and have been praying for more opportunities to connect internationally. Those prayers were answered last year when David Gass, who oversees NWBC international partnerships, was connected with the possibility of a partnership in rural France.

While David was exploring this partnership opportunity, God was already working behind the scenes. NWBC Catalyst Tim Howe and NAMB Pastor Ambassador Keith Evans, along with their wives, went to France this past June to host a soul care retreat for pastors and missionaries in the area. Less than 1% of the area's population claims to know Christ, creating an unchurched culture similar to that of the Northwest. The team was well received by the ministry leaders in the area, and Keith shared that “there is great potential for a fruitful partnership where all involved could benefit.”

In addition to the soul care retreat and conversations about a more formal partnership, two missionaries from France attended the Annual Meeting. God was working from many angles, opening multiple doors for connections with leaders in France.

When the NWBC plans a new international partnership, the first step is to send a vision team to the location, which will be happening in October. As they explore this potential partnership, they’ll spend a week and a half traveling around rural France, connecting with churches there and bringing ideas home for a debrief session. The goal is to establish a partnership that enables rural churches in the Pacific Northwest to connect organically with rural churches in France.

Keep the vision team and leadership in your prayers, asking God to reveal His plan for this partnership and open doors for new connections. As David Gass said, “We can go into this with our plan and our eyes open, but when it comes down to it, it’ll be determined by what the Lord wants. We may have a plan, but He directs our steps. We go with our hands and our eyes wide open to the Lord… [believing] that He’s in it.”

The average church in the Northwest has around fifty people in attendance on a Sunday, so if that describes your church, you’re not alone. It’s easy to feel like you can’t do as much because you’re not a big church, but this partnership (and other opportunities) will give smaller rural churches a chance to work together to make a big impact. This won’t be for enormous teams - instead, you could send a team of just five people from a rural church or ten from multiple churches together.