PARIS (BP) — As a French pastor was setting up for a community outreach event during the Olympics, he recalled a conversation he had overheard years before and had never been able to forget. A mother and child were walking along the street in front of his church.

“What is this place, this building?” the child asked. “It’s a museum,” his mother responded.

During the outreach, the church was packed with people as they opened their doors to the community for a children’s festival. An unprecedented number — more than 100 people — attended the outreach event.

The church, located in an area where many Muslims live, set up play stations around its courtyard, as well as inside the building. Some mothers told their children they could only play outside, but suddenly it began to rain. As everyone rushed to move the games inside, the children begged their mothers to go inside the church and keep playing. For some, it was their first time to ever enter an evangelical church.

Several people who came to the event returned for Sunday church services and asked the pastor if they could meet to discuss their questions about faith. He was thrilled.

“I don’t think anyone is ever going to see this place as a museum again,” the French pastor told Jason Harris, the International Mission Board’s (IMB) Paris team leader.

French people are one of the largest unreached people groups in the world. Large pockets in France of 200,000-300,000 people have no evangelical churches at all. Ninety-five percent of French churches have fewer than 100 people, and most are fewer than 50.

“There’s usually one pastor on staff, and he’s the custodian, the secretary. He does everything,” Harris explained. “He has a lot on his plate.”

Not only does evangelical presence in France remain small, but Christianity confronts a hostile spiritual climate. One Southern Baptist volunteer met many Parisians this summer, and he noticed they were often uninterested and even resistant to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Local churches have struggled to make significant progress in church planting and missions among the French.

“We’re often asked why we’re in France, a western country that maybe doesn’t seem like a mission field to some, but the worldview that France unveiled before the entire globe at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games is a very clear answer to why we’re here,” Harris said.

His team envisions planting five churches in Paris within the next five years. But they know church planting in a post-Christian environment like France is a long and rigorous marathon, often lonely and isolating. Harris said one of his team’s greatest needs is strong partnership with existing churches.

“Ultimately, we’re here to serve the French church, and we want to equip and strengthen them as much as possible,” Harris said.

He expressed his hope that working alongside local churches for Olympic outreach will help strengthen these partnerships, mobilize local believers and fuel future church planting efforts in Paris and beyond.

“I pray this is an opportunity for Christians in France to really step up and to take seriously the responsibility to reach the nations that are in their own backyard,” Harris said.

Several local pastors have reached out to Harris and expressed how encouraged they’ve been by opportunities the Olympics have created for the gospel. Churches that were initially wary or overwhelmed by the prospect of partnering to host outreach events are now jumping in to fill needs as they hear stories of God moving among their communities.

After one local French believer participated in IMB’s Olympic outreach for a day, she messaged Harris to say how amazing the outreach was and told him she wanted her church to be more involved. He encouraged her to talk to her pastor, and she did. The pastor made an announcement to his congregation, encouraging members to participate.

Later, Harris contacted her pastor for help when they had hundreds of digital engagement contacts reaching out to them from social media ads and QR codes, but not enough French speakers available to respond to messages. The pastor sent a group text to his church members, and soon they doubled the number of digital engagement responders available for conversations with French speakers.

Another local church in a Paris suburb hosted a talent show to make connections in its community. The event, which included line dancing, jokes, music, skits and games, provided an open place for nonbelievers to come and see believers having fun and to hear the gospel in a relational way. Harris said it was simple but fun, and they were encouraged to see so many people come into the church — a big step for a lot of people in France.

A pastor’s wife from another church went with some members of the Paris team to do street evangelism. She shared the gospel using custom-designed Olympic pins as an evangelistic tool and prayed with five people who made professions of faith.

These glimmers of growth in a nearly lifeless spiritual landscape bring hope and encouragement to Harris, his team and local French believers as they labor for the spread of the gospel among the French.

“We pray this summer leads to a fruitful season of church planting in Paris, alongside the French church,” Harris said. “Pray for endurance, partnership and a harvest across France.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Kristen Sosebee writes for the IMB.)