Prayer Letter

Lula Deroeux

When we began in Gif-sur-Yvette four years ago, we invited a student-pastor to work alongside us. Her name is Lula; she is French; and she's currently 27 years old.

At the end of her two years' training, our church-plant took the decision to invite Lula to stay on in Gif-sur-Yvette as a half-time co-pastor. (That obviously involved paying her a half-stipend, which was a real challenge but also an important step forward on the road to becoming a more independent congregation.)

This summer, Lula reached the end of her probationary period, and we are glad to report that she has just been recognised as a fully accredited Baptist pastor. She is also about to become a mum for the first time!

As you can imagine, we have been enjoying the challenge of navigating this new season of Lula's pregnancy and maternity leave. It is an opportunity for the church-members to step up and take on more responsibility (which is another important step forward on the road to becoming a more independent congregation).

We have added two new people to the leadership team, and we have been working with a few of our members who are now leading Sunday services and preaching.

“Praise Him with stringed instruments and a keyboard”

Truth be told, the keyboard does not actually get a mention in Psalm 150, but we (in Gif-sur-Yvette) have been really enjoying having a digital piano these past six months, in addition to our usual guitar and bass.

Emma is an Anglican pastor from Australia, who has been learning French at the Les Cèdres language school in readiness for joining a church-planting ministry in Nantes. Since January, Emma has been worshipping with us and has put her musical talents at our disposal. In return, she has enjoyed being integrated into a local congregation of a manageable size and having plenty of opportunities for French conversation practice.

We will miss Emma when she moves on but will hope to stay in touch and have opportunities to catch up with her in the future.

FEEBF Vice-presidency

At their recent annual assembly, the French Baptist Federation (FEEBF) re-elected Philip as their Vice-President. This will be the final part of his maximum six-year term, after which both he and the current President (Nicolas) will pass on the baton to another duo. The FEEBF National Executive is renewed by half every two years. It will be in May 2027, then, that elections will next take place.

Pray for Nicolas and Philip and for the renewed National Executive. (One of the newly elected members came up through the youth group in Massy that Rosemary led.)

Family News

In between our Home Assignment engagements, over the coming six weeks, we hope to be able to call in on various members of our extended families.

Our travels will take us from Angus to Hampshire, and to a range of places in between. It is always enjoyable for us to catch up on everyone's news, as well as to share about what God is doing in France.

We would appreciate your prayers for safe travel and that we might bring encouragement to each of the congregations we meet.

Prayer Points

- Pray that Lula's baby may be born safe and well later this month.

- Give thanks for the time we have shared with Emma and pray for her, as she moves to Nantes.

- Pray for God's blessing on Nicolas and Philip and on the renewed FEEBF National Executive.

- Ask God for safe travel and encouraging encounters during our Home Assignment.

With our warm good wishes and our thanks for your ongoing support,

Philip & Rosemary.