France has enchanted the world for centuries. Cobblestone streets and castles. Poodles and fashion. Wine and the Seine. Paris is synonymous with romance and mystery. Where else can you watch the Eiffel tower twinkle in the twilight, shop on the Champs Elysees, frown back at the Mona Lisa? France has long decked herself with the finest of culture and society. They are like royal robes, with which she has dazzled the world. Closely guarded, they have passed from generation to generation. Who are the people who wear them today?

You see them on the streets, in the stations, or driving past you on the roads. Here is a tall, slender man with equally slender loaves of French bread tucked under his arm. There is a woman charging over cobblestones in high heels, as the paws of her lap dog patter beside her. A mustached butcher sells rabbits. A graceful woman vends pastries. Impeccable clothing, chiseled features, eyes fixed straight ahead—today’s French still carry that ancient magnetism.

A Disillusioned People

The modern French man or woman is likely Roman Catholic in name, but secular in heart. While eighty percent of France holds the name “Catholic,” it is more and more becoming no more than that. Secularism is growing by leaps and bounds, along with Islam, and several cult and occult movements. Only nine percent of today’s youth practice any form of religion whatsoever. Only eight percent of the population has ever seen a Bible.

The French countryside is dotted by scores of massive Catholic churches and cathedrals. France was once called “the elder daughter of the Catholic church.” Today, she has drifted away. The buildings stand, cold and lonely, filled more with tourists than worshipers.

Disillusioned with mere religion, France is seeking other ways to fill the void. Laughing at Judeo-Christian ethics, she has embraced depravity. Scorning all faith as dead religion, she turns a cold shoulder to true Christian outreach.

To the average French person, Christianity is synonymous with the Catholic religion. In the common mindset, if Catholicism didn’t work, then Christianity is not the answer, because it is seen as the true Bible way. Other Christian groups are seen as cultic—dangerous, feared and to be avoided. This makes real Bible church work difficult at best. Christian workers are often disdained as promoters of American-bred cult life.

Of France’s 36,664 communities, approximately 34,500 have no resident evangelical witness. Evangelical congregations are few and far between—painfully tiny and hard to find. A healthy-sized French congregation has twenty-five adult members; many have fewer than this. They meet in houses and storefronts, adding to the suspicions of the French populace. Christianity is hard to recognize outside of the trappings of a cathedral.

France has long been labeled the “missionary graveyard” because of the great discouragement facing the Christian worker. It can take years of grueling labor and prayer for each convert. Some estimate that it takes an average of five years of work for one soul to turn to the Lord. No one flocks to evangelistic meetings. No one comes for humanitarian aid. Few are very interested at all.

Christian nationals face sneers and persecution from friends, family and co-workers. French Christians in full-time ministry suffer financially despite the country’s affluence. The small congregations can barely make ends meet. It is no easy road for the French man or woman whose heart turns to the Lord.

France has the world’s fifth largest economy. The standard of living is high. The people have great pride in their language, cooking, and way of life. Yet behind the poised exterior, France is the number-one consumer of anti-depressants in the world.

Influence Then and Now

During the colonial era, France was a major world power. Because of this, there are millions of French speakers scattered across the globe. French is a major language in much of Africa. It is spoken in over twenty African countries. Two out of every three French speakers live outside of France.

Within her borders, France has a great and growing international community. They are students, refugees, or people seeking a better life. Twenty percent of Paris’ population is foreign-born. France has a gigantic Arabic population. Many of these come from countries restricted from missionary outreach. In France, there are two hundred and fifty thousand Arabic people from Tunisia alone. Of them, there are no known Christians.

Islam is now the second largest religion in France, holding a ten percent Muslim minority. Of France’s six million Muslims, only 150,000 are ethnic French. There are no soft feelings between Islam and mainstream French secularism. Despite these tensions, Islam is still growing—and growing faster than Christianity.

The occult is also quickly growing in France. There are fifty thousand people in full-time service to black magic. This outnumbers France’s full-time Christian workers. The French spend the equivalent of 41 billion dollars on occult consultations each year.

France is turning further and further away from the Christian faith. At the time of the Reformation, some believe that France was nearly half Protestant. These believers were killed, imprisoned and driven from the country. For the most part, they are still gone, and they have never returned. Today’s French wear their beautiful robes over a secular heart.