Chinese evangelical Protestant churches are expanding in France, congregations originating from several Chinese Christian diaspora groups that shared the same faith without being homogeneous. Writing in the French ecumenical studies journal Istina (January–June), Eric Pires Antunes (Psalt College in Paris) reports that there are now 50 Chinese evangelical churches in France, with more than 40 of them in the Paris area. They share a strong sense of mission, even though they are a minority within the larger Chinese diaspora in France. Chinese Christians in France started gathering together in 1958 and later organized a church. However, the Chinese Protestant churches active in the country today are not the outcome of the growth of that initial group, but developed from successive mergers of different groups from the Chinese diaspora. Interestingly, only three churches are clearly Pentecostal. While the place of the Holy Spirit and the expectation that miracles may occur is strong, this does not derive from a specific theological orientation but from the inherited experience of persecution and mission in hostile environments. Most of the churches identify with an international missionary network, the Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE).
Chinese evangelical outreach in France.
Chinese Christian immigrants had cultural differences and spoke different Chinese dialects, but the shared Chinese script as well as the fact that most of the immigrants were fluent in Mandarin provided a shared foundation. Some churches prefer to gather on the basis of specific dialects as a natural channel for communication and prayer, but most continue using Mandarin as their language for public meetings, thus making them accessible to Chinese people of any provenience. Second-generation members often tend over time to prefer switching to French as the language of worship, which means that most churches have Chinese-speaking and French-speaking groups, sometimes worshipping in quite different ways (with the French-speaking branch closer to modern, Western forms of evangelical worship). Non-Chinese preachers are often welcome in the French-speaking Chinese congregations. The faithful of Chinese churches in France often spend entire Sundays together in various activities. Some churches have made great efforts to preserve Chinese language and culture, even operating their own schools for teaching Chinese to young people. They have also opened these schools to non-members and non-Chinese, which is seen as a way of doing “soft” missionary work. Antunes also observes an emphasis on proper academic theological training for ministers.
(Istina, https://istina.eu/)
