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WHY FRANCE?

France's Global Influence

POPULATION

  • Total Population : 67 million

  • Population of Paris : 12 million (18% of total pop)

  • Paris is the largest urban area in the European Union

FRENCH LANGUAGE

  • Spoken by 480 million people worldwide in over 33 countries

  • The fastest growing language segment in the world

  • Estimated to be the most spoken language in the world by 2050 (surpassing Mandarin and Arabic)

FRENCH-SPEAKING IMMIGRATION AND GROWTH

  • Approx. 37% of immigrants to France and the European Union are from countries where French is a spoken or trade language (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, etc.)

  • Africa is seeing the largest population growth compared to any other continent, and many of those countries are French-speaking

The Hope in the Darkness

CHALLENGES TO THE GOSPEL

  • France is an officially-secularized post-Christian nation

  • Laïcité (secularism) – the French culture is both legally and socially constructed to keep religion out of the public sphere

  • Muslims represent 8-10% of the population and this number is steadily rising due to immigration and birth rates; France has the largest Muslim population in Europe

  • The occult and witchcraft are steadily rising and gaining influence, especially among youth and young adults

CHRISTIANITY IN FRANCE

  • 58% of the country is atheist, agnostic, or “deist” with 21% “convinced atheists”

  • 32% of the population say they are Catholic yet only 5% go to massonce a month

  • 69% of the population do not have a Bible

  • 22% (15 million people) of French people visit a medium or fortune teller and spend 400 billion euros annually on spiritism

  • There are 100,000 mediums in France and about 2,500 pastors –40 mediums for every 1 pastor

  • Nationwide there is 1 church for every 29,000 people–our department (Oise) has 1 church for every 40-45,000

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