France

Population: About 67 million. 

Religion: Before the 1789 Revolution, a long history of severe persecution of dissenters and reformers; now a resolutely secular state with freedom of religion. Anti-sectarian legislation was passed in 2000, and obvious religious apparel is banned for those working in public services and education.Traditionally dominant Catholicism has been in decline for decades, while atheism and other faith groups grow.The government currently forbids collecting data on individuals’ religious faith, so all statistics are estimates. 

Prayerlist:

• The accelerating decline of religious faith since the 18th Century has seen France’s Catholic and mainline Protestant legacies plummet in recent years, even as atheism has grown. Hostility toward organized religion as well as the privatization of spirituality mean that regular attendance in any church is below 8%. Some surveys show that over 30% of French people are non-religious. Most French have a profound ignorance of, or indifference to, the gospel, many having never meaningfully encountered it.Yet, the relativism of postmodernity has generated acute emptiness and existential angst; as many have noted, this in turn has created a spiritual hunger that has grown rapidly in recent years. Pray that such hunger might overcome the suspicion toward religion. Pray that Christians would be prepared to patiently and relationally share Jesus with those who seek. 
• Evangelical Christians are few (1.0% across all confessions), split between many denominations and confessions.They demonstrate high levels of commitment and are a younger population than France’s average. Growth is steady, and a new congregation is planted almost every week. Pentecostals and charismatics are the fastest growing. This is all in the face of strong secularizing trends in public life. Pray for: The public perception of evangelicals, unity among true believers, the fast-growing minority churches; especially Africans, Antilleans and Gypsies and vision for outreach. 
• Physical and human resources are a key to church growth in France. Having a visible building gives the Church credibility. But pioneer churches have to face two challenges 
  simultaneously: hiring a pastor and finding a building. Pray for God to provide solutions to these formidable challenges. 
• The unreached sectors of French society are many, such as: the nearly 50 million French people who have no real link with a Christian church; many urban areas; many rural communes are quite traditional and resistant to change; The Loire Valley and Brittany, Picardy and Centre regions are particularly lacking in evangelical congregations; The Basques in the southwest are virtually without an evangelical witness in their language; The island of Corsica is quite closed to outside influences - in the population of 290,000, there are perhaps 300 evangelical believers.
• The unreached minorities. Pray about the following: The French Jewish community, North Africans (mostly Muslims), Black Africans (have come in large numbers from Francophone Africa as students, refugees and work-seekers) and  The large number of Indo-Chinese refugees.
• Islam is now the second religion of France. Growth is largely through immigration and a higher birth rate, but there are an estimated 150,000 French converts to Islam, mostly via marriage. Pray for the following issues: the deep divisions within French Islam, primarily between fundamentalists and secularists; assimilation of Muslims into French society and pray for a Christian ministry to Muslims.
• Youth ministries are vital in a nation suffering a crisis among young people. A generation has grown up with a crisis of identity, with young people longing for meaning, purpose and belonging. The steep rise in violent crime among youth, high rates of youth unemployment (23%, and up to 40% among ethnic minorities) and Europe’s highest rate of youth suicide point to a deep malaise. Once believers, young people are often strongly committed to spiritual community. But they need deep and lasting discipleship to instil a Kingdom worldview, replacing the permissive amoral relativism they are used to. Pray for children’s, youth  and student ministries,  networks and movements in France. 
• Less than 10% own a Bible and 80% have never even handled one; pray that bible will be spread to more people, so than they can get the to know the truth.