Special Day of Prayer

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Dear friends,

The particular and uncertain circumstances in which we are living, characterized by an increase in positive cases of Covid-19 and hospitalizations, the partial confinement extended to all of France and the latest abject terrorist attacks, arouse concern and disarray among the French population, including within the Christian community.

It seems to us that these ordeals, despite what our health and political authorities think, also have a spiritual dimension which goes beyond "health, daily bread and security" without however giving up on watching over and providing for them! Where to find the true meaning of life? Where to find tranquility in the midst of the anxieties of the moment? Where can we find the answer to the hideous grimaces of violence and death? Or find the courage to be messengers of comfort in the midst of anxiety, artisans of justice in the midst of the excesses of our society, of peace in the midst of present disarray, of a hope that transcends death?

To respond to these challenges which are beyond us, the members of the body of Jesus Christ, we have to engage in the fight of prayer which is at the heart of the Christian vocation. It is in this spirit that the Faculté team invites you to a day of prayer on Saturday, November 14, 2020. We invite you to choose a prayer time during that day, and to pray for the faculty, its students, and its needs.

This is urgent! It is essential to remind ourselves, and to share it with our contemporaries, that if the medical profession heals, if the body of Christ intercedes and testifies, it is indeed the Lord who heals, who gives new life and awakens, in those who trust in him, a hope that never deceives!

United in Christ, the living Lord, and in prayer,

Pierre Berthoud,
President
Professor Emeritus
Faculté Jean Calvin



15 Minutes

Paul D. Wolfe

Paul D. Wolfe

15 minutes.

That’s how close they came to an unimaginable catastrophe.

On April 15, 2019, as the fire in Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral raged on, they were just 15 minutes away—maybe even 10—from a collapse within the building that probably would have meant its complete destruction.

That’s how close they came.

That’s what I learned a few nights ago when I watched the riveting documentary, “Notre Dame: Our Lady of Paris,” which chronicles the events of that awful day and night, when so much was lost, and so much was spared.

By just 10 or 15 minutes, the firefighters who bravely entered that glorious building in a desperate attempt to save it were able to control one particular area of flame that had nearly spread to the point that the cathedral would have been totally lost.

The documentary was simultaneously heartbreaking and thrilling. So much was lost that day, and they were close to losing the whole building. But they didn’t. Thanks to their skilled and noble efforts, much was spared, so that Notre Dame still stands on that site, and the work they’re doing now is that of restoration, and not rebuilding from scratch and memory.

What struck me as I watched that program was the revelation that heroic efforts had saved Notre Dame—efforts that few knew about at the time, carried out by men and women whose names almost nobody knows to this day.

Thinking now about the church (and not just a church building), isn’t that the way it often goes in God’s economy? Even now Jesus Christ is building his church—and in some cases preventing spiritual damage and destruction—by means of the unseen heroic efforts of relatively unknown dedicated servants.

And isn’t that what’s happening right now in Aix-en-Provence, at the Faculté Jean Calvin (FJC)? The men and women who serve at that seminary are not known widely to the world, and their efforts day after day to instruct and pastor and pray and manage the seminary will be known to very few in this life. But that’s exactly how Christ is building his church in France, and beyond. That’s exactly how Christ is training his present and future servants.

Thus it’s a privilege for us, as we give and pray and encourage, to know that we’re standing with them, and supporting them. No major television network is going to broadcast into millions of homes around the world a documentary about what’s going on at FJC. But I say, we don’t need them to. We walk by faith and not by sight. By faith we see glory that won’t see the light of day this side of heaven. And that’s why we stand with them. Dedicated servants. Heroic efforts. Day after day.

On September 13, FJC held an opening ceremony to launch the new semester, as well as hand out the diplomas from the past school year, which COVID-19 had sent online. The work of the seminary goes on, even in the strange and trying year that is 2020!

Yours in Christ,
Paul D. Wolfe, President
The Huguenot Fellowship

Rise of French Laïcité

William Edgar

William Edgar

Thoughts on Stephen Davis, Rise of French Laïcité

Huguenot Fellowship followers on our web site may be interested in a recent book describing the evolution of the current version of secularism in France. The book is by Stephen M. Davis, Rise of French Laïcité: French Secularism from the Reformation to the Twenty-first Century (Eugene: Pickwick, 2020). The author, Stephen Davis, has been a church planter in the US, in Romania and in France. He holds an earned doctorate from Columbia International University.

Laïcité means, roughly, the lay state. Why should we care about a uniquely French conjugation of secularity? For several reasons. The country of France has been a leader in so many ways. One of them is the manner in which it has faced the increasing challenge of immigration and the consequent diversity involved. Another is the openly admitted reality of two cultures, one the conservative (mostly Roman Catholic) willingness to have some sort of church-state alliance, and the other the hostility toward the church and its clergy.

Very well researched, the book begins with the Protestant Reformation and ends with the most recent developments in contemporary France. Davis ably describes two hard-fought milestones in the separation of “religion” from the public square. They are the laws of 1901 and 1905. The first is “the law of associations” whereby clerical influence was seriously curtailed. The second was a decisive disestablishment clause forbidding cults (worship groups) from having state support. The author notes that neither law succeeded in eradicating religion altogether, much to the disappointment of extremist secularists.

The presence of Islam comes up for special scrutiny. Debates flared up over religious garb, the hijab and the “burkini” in public places. The challenge was to forbid any sort of propaganda without alienating Catholics, with their earrings and necklaces. The final decision was to forbid “ostensible” garb.

The problem for many protestants, especially evangelicals, is for the general public not to confuse them with cults (les sectes). Fortunately allies such as the recognized scholar Sebasthian Fath, a French Baptist, have succeeded in making the proper clarifications. Our seminary is given honorable mention (p. 137), and president Pierre Berthoud is quoted. He underscores the need for a training ground that prepared leaders for a world in which a hostile version of salvation was offered.

Following Allen V. Koop, the author gently admonishes well-meaning American missionaries who come to France with good intentions, but with little idea of the complex history which has led to laïcité.

I am not aware of any comparable study in English of the rich, involved history of the march toward a unique version of secularity. The book ends with helpful suggestion for bringing the gospel to the French, with their aspirations and misconceptions.

William Edgar
Former President and Trustee
The Huguenot Fellowship

Opening Ceremony Photos

Dear Friends,

Our meeting last evening went very well. We were 70 people around the fountain in the garden of the Faculté, well spaced and masked. We were able to hand out the diplomas which we were unable to last June!

Blessings,
Kim Tran
Director
Faculté Jean Calvin

Still Building His Church

Paul D. Wolfe

Paul D. Wolfe

June 2020

“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

On a recent Sunday morning I preached on that passage for our church here in Fairfax, Virginia. While standing in my living room. Alone. Seeing only one face looking back at me. Mine. On my computer screen. Because I was leading our worship service on my laptop via Facebook Live. The same way I have every Sunday since the Ides of March. Because, well, coronavirus. Such is church life here in the middle of 2020. These are the Days of Distancing.

It would be difficult to imagine a more apparent mismatch between message and reality. “You’re saying that Christ is building his church—but you’re saying it in an empty room because your congregation is scattered and has been for months! Shouldn’t you say that Christ will get back to building when your church has gotten back to its building?”

But good news: the mismatch is only apparent. Even during these strange, separated, scattered days, Christ is still building. Still bringing men and women to faith. Still building us up in that same faith. Still guiding and guarding and sustaining and strengthening churches all over the world.

And...still training up servants of the Word who will go out as his instruments. That’s where Faculté Jean Calvin (FJC) comes in.

To be sure, the spring semester at our beloved seminary in Aix-en-Provence was unlike anything they’d ever experienced. They found themselves relying upon technology in new ways, too. They, like us, have been learning the international language of Zoom. They found themselves having to come up with different approaches to teaching and learning and fellowship.

But guess what: they did! It happened. The teaching and learning and connecting all happened. COVID-19 was the mother of invention. Our brothers and sisters at FJC answered the providential call, and the work of the seminary went on.

Lord willing, next month they’ll hold a graduation ceremony. This, too, will have to be virtual. And it will take place slightly later on the calendar than they’d originally planned. But the Lord who’s building his church is a perfectly patient builder, whose timing and ways are always spot-on. And a new corps of FJC graduates will go forth as those forged for service—not only by what they got in the classroom, but also as a result of how the Lord challenged them in their final semester.

Join me in rejoicing, and praying for their fruitful labors!

Yours in Christ,

Paul D. Wolfe
President of The Huguenot Fellowship

P.S. As you might imagine, for FJC these are lean financial times. They’re trusting in the Lord to provide. If you’re able to make an additional gift this summer to participate in that provision, our mailing and online addresses are here on our website, waiting to be of assistance!

Get Up, He's Calling You!

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Calling: a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence; the vocation or profession in which one customarily engages. (Merriam-Webster)

“Calling” is a word laden with significance, both collectively as we are united within the Body of Christ, and individually, as we bear witness to the grace showered on us through God’s redeeming work.

In the Huguenot Fellowship, we are passionate about the work of the Faculté Jean Calvin (FJC) seminary in Aix-en-Provence, France; and the vital role it plays in training and shepherding those individuals who sense God’s calling on their lives in service for Him.

The Protestant Reformed Evangelical Church of France (Union Nationale des Églises Protestantes Réformées Évangéliques de France , UNEPREF), the denomination in which many FJC graduates are currently serving, recently published a booklet called, Leve-toi, Il t’appelle! (Get up, He’s calling you!). Spearheaded by three women connected to the seminary – a former member of the staff and two alumna who are currently serving in churches - the book outlines the nature of calling as taught in the Bible, allowing the reader to witness the work of God in the lives of His children, from Biblical times to the present.

The authors of the 19 testimonies describe not only how they heard God’s call to salvation, but more specifically, how they came to the conviction that He was calling them to set their lives apart in service for Him. This book is a challenge to discern the ongoing story of God’s work, and be encouraged by testimonies of how God is building His Kingdom through the service of His children.

France needs pastors, youth workers, Christian musicians, Christian counselors and more to bring the Hope of the Gospel to the land of John Calvin.

Would you pray with us for the Lord’s work in calling His children to lives of service for Him?

Would you pray for Faculté Jean Calvin and its strategic role in training these future workers for this task.

Lord, raise up laborers for the Harvest. To God alone be the Glory.

Ruth Ann Leduc
Trustee of The Huguenot Fellowship

P.S. If you have further interest in Leve-toi, Il t’appelle! (French only), please email hello@huguenotfellowship.org to receive the publisher’s contact info.