Category: France

The local council is organizing meetings in various parts of the town to share some of their projects, but also meet the citizens and answer some of their questions. I was able to go to the one organized in the town hall on Saturday morning. The most interesting part of the meeting was listening to the various people’s concerns and questions.

Most were elderly folks. I was one of the younger ones. Their main concern was a feeling of insecurity. There are a few young people creating trouble around. Some garages and basements are regularly broken in, and they are noisy at night. It is a pain, and a very real problem, but as people talked, I realized that one reason for these is that there probably has never been any communication with these young people when they were children. If those older folks had shown interest in these young people and their families when they were children 15 or 20 years ago, maybe they could go and talk with them, and the situation would be easier.

Someone gave an interesting testimony. He had seen an older gentleman running after some young people, accusing them to have stolen his bike. He went to talk with them and explained that the man needed his bicycle, and that if they knew who had stolen the bike, they should give it back before the man goes to the police. One hour later, the bicycle was back.

But folks here are quite cold. I can say that because I am a local. People keep to themselves and a narrow circle of friends. They hardly know each other. They don’t talk to strangers. They don’t welcome new folks. While we were in Brittany, we felt we had a warm welcome from the local population. It took a few months, but after a while, it got easier and people were more open.

Here, the only people who have welcomed us and who have come to talk to us are ‘strangers’. They come from other parts of France. We are not unique. I was sharing about this with the headmistress recently. She is also from another region. She has also found that most of the people they have come to know as a family are not locals. Strange hey? No wonder a number of young people create trouble. Nobody ever showed interest in them in the first place.

On Sunday, I was in Lyon with my two older boys. We were there for the football match: Lyon vs Guingamp. Kick off being at 2pm, we left early so that we could be in church in the morning. I wanted the closest church to the train station for easy access, but also to get to the stadium quickly at the end of the service.

We found the church easily. They meet in what was probably a shop. There is a big window and people walking past it can see what’s going on inside. That is great as there was a market up the road, and some shops were open in the street. Many people walked past the church during the service.

We had a warm welcome. We were there early, and the pastor welcomed us, as well as a Korean missionary. People arrived slowly. It is a small work, but I was struck by the diversity. It is a Korean church plant by the JDM (Jesus Disciple Movement). So there were Koreans. But there were some French and Cambodians too, as well as two black men. The service was straightforward, and I enjoyed the sermon from Acts 13.

If you are looking for a church in Lyon, there is no doubt you’ll be warmly welcomed there.