Trainee pastor Rémi Marat is preparing to plant a church in north-east France
[Note from Paul Cooke: thanks to the generosity of FM supporters, we’re able to support Rémi this year from the Education & Training Fund.]
We are the Marat family: Rémi (me!), my wife Aurélie, and our two children: Thomas (4) and Jeanne (2). In 2020, we made the decision to leave behind everything we had (jobs, home, country) to respond to God’s call by training at the IBG (Institut Biblique de Genève or Geneva Bible Institute).
So off we went, me, Aurélie, and Thomas (who was 4 months old), heading to Geneva for a year of theological training and community life. Afterwards, I continued my training with the IBG on the “pastoral training” course, so, in addition to my courses at the Institute, I was a pastor-in-training in a church near Paris in Marne-la-Vallée for two years – a period during which our family was able to welcome little Jeanne.
In a process of discernment, we became convinced that God was calling me to pastoral ministry in a rural setting, with a particular view to church planting in this context. God opened a door for us to continue training specifically in rural church planting, but this time not in France, but in the Republic of Ireland! So, at the end of August 2023, the four of us set off for Ireland, to get involved in a church plant in the small town of Loughrea (population 6,000), about 40km east of Galway. There we were working with a pastor/planter who shared with us his experience of and thoughts about rural church-planting ministry.
During the year, we were able to learn about the different stages of church planting, from initial preparation through the maturation process. Aurélie got involved in teaching children at church. As for me, I was able to practise preaching in English, which was no easy task! In His grace, God allowed our son Thomas to spend an incredible year at school, learning English. It’s been a blessed year for us in terms of training, but also in terms of relationships.
After this year in Ireland, we’re now back in France. We’re keen to see those areas where there is currently little or no gospel witness have the opportunity to discover the beauty of the Good News in Jesus Christ. In France, 50% of the population live in small towns or villages. We want the gospel to be preached in all these places, so that in this “time of God’s patience” (2 Peter 3.9), as many people as possible might discover the Good News of Jesus Christ. God has set our hearts on the small towns and villages of France, which are sorely lacking in churches, and therefore have little access to the proclamation of the gospel.
To this end, we’re currently at the Baptist Church in Faremoutiers (where former FM missionary Gordon Margery used to be the pastor) in the Seine-et-Marne department (60km east of Paris) for a year’s pastoral internship, so that I can finish my training by completing my fourth and final year at the IBG. This is a pastoral internship with a supervisor, courses, and a final-year dissertation which should focus on church-planting in rural areas.
And then will come the launch of the church-planting project, which will involve the recruitment of a team, surveying the location (preparation work, studying the local context), creation of an organizing council etc. Then, God willing, we’ll plant a church in the department of L’Aisne, which lies between Paris and the Belgian border.
My wife and children join me in thanking you for your support and for the prayers that accompany our ministry in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ.
