Every Sunday we go to church, just like we hope you do, and we worship our deserving God with a gathering of other believers. It is amazing and wonderful how this connects us all together, all around the world, every Lord’s Day. Amid this unity there is certainly diversity in how churches gather, where they meet, and how they approach worship.
For our family, going to church begins with a walk to the train station, where we can take a train straight to Saint-Lazare Station. This station is quite large and stands as a major hub for people coming in and out of Paris, especially for professional commuters. In fact, if you buy a French Monopoly board, Saint-Lazare Station is one of the four railroads you can buy. After emerging from the depths of the underground platform, we then proceed to walk to a movie theatre just 200 meters down the street. Starting at 11:30 am on a Sunday, you can catch their first of many viewings for the day, but if you arrive between 9:30 and 10:00 am, you will instead be greeted by Bryan or Armel or another member of Église Saint-Lazare (église means church).
Yes, you are being greeted by a French person, so make sure to “faire la bise” (kiss cheeks), and then proceed inside into the small lobby of this privately-owned cinema. Up at the counter, instead of popcorn and candy, you can find mini-croissants and coffee and lively conversation. Continue into room #4, and you will see a clean, classic 57-seat theater room. The church name and logo shines on the screen, there is a music stand on the floor in front of the first row for the preacher, and a keyboard piano and guitar are set up in the far right front corner for the worship team. At 10:00 am the service starts.
A worship service at Église Saint-Lazare is very similar to about any service in an American church. There is singing of course, and you may recognize the translated tunes of “In Christ Alone,” “My Chains are Gone,” any number of hymns, or even “My God is so Big” (with children gathered at the front, of course). Every week a member of the congregation reads the scripture for the message and another has a special time of prayer. The messages, offered by the lead church-planters Etienne or Joe, are meticulously-prepared expositional sermons. The service lasts around an hour, maybe a little more, which is somewhat short for your average French church. There is no option to stay longer, though, because by 11:30 everything must be packed up with the worshipers heading toward the door. There is already a line for the first movie viewing of the day.
![]() September 3 marked the first gathering of this church, and we average an attendance of about 35-40 people. Most of these people are believers who have come over from other Parisian churches to purposefully build the nucleus of this new church, and we have found them to be very excited and committed to this effort. In a country and city with so few churches, this attitude is essential. While the first worship service was less than three months ago, this church has been in the works for a couple of years. Joe and Etienne moved to the neighborhood over a year ago and have been holding planning and team-building meetings since January. Organizationally, this church is a collaborative effort between Orchard Group and the group Acts 29.
So why is this church meeting in a movie theater? We have shared this before, but you must realize that Paris is an extremely densely populated city (e.g. twice as much as New York City). Like any such large city, real estate is at a premium in its price and availability. Additionally, while there may be many meeting spaces for rent, many of these businesses do not want to tarnish their name by hosting a church. We do know of one location, which has many meeting rooms and is okay with renting to churches. As a result, four different churches meet there weekly. We know of another Baptist Church which actually owns their place of worship, and they allow three other churches to use it as well. Meeting space is a major issue. So from about 9:00-11:30, Église Saint-Lazare has a movie theater at their disposal, and it is a wonderful blessing.
This means that there is no official church space at any other point through the week, so most other activities take place in either Joe or Etienne’s apartments. This includes bi-weekly after church luncheons, small group gatherings, prayer meetings, or training sessions for different ministries. Paris’ beautiful parks also work well for a church picnic during the warmer months.
France needs more churches, and we are here to help. Being a part of Église Saint-Lazare, learning from its leaders and members, witnessing the creativity needed to gather and worship in this city, is truly an answer to years of prayer. We are thrilled to help with this church as they help prepare us for when our opportunity comes.
As you go to church this Sunday, you probably will not take a train, and it probably will not be to a theater. None of that really matters, though. Consider what our churches have in common both in their nature and in their purpose. Wherever you are the goals are the same, Jesus is Lord, the Great Commission is still valid. We pray that God would work powerfully through all of us in each of our given contexts.
Blessings to You,
Glen and Jessica
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