If you noticed I left out a very important part of the town of Bry sur Marne and wondered how I could possibly forget such a thing, then fear no more. I just wanted to give it more attention. The church where Paul is now a pastor is called Le Eglise Evangelique Baptiste Bry sur Marne. It's acutaly right on the edge of town on the border with Noisy le Grand. After a nice little five minute walk from the train station, you find the church in the midst of a residential neighborhood. That's because it's really a house that's been turned into a church. They've owned it for over thirty years, and have converted all the rooms into church space and offices.
Most of the congregation is African, about 24 out of 30 last Sunday, and it makes for a very outgoing worship time. That's also because we have no musicians. Every once in a while we get a guest piano player from another church, but otherwise it's all acapella. With lots of clapping and singing loud though, you don't really notice.
The head pastor, Alain, is there every other week as he also works part-time at another church. So the preaching is shared between a few different guys. Paul is intended to take over full-time next summer when Alain retires, so we're just getting used to how things are done. A couple weeks ago they had Paul go up front and tell a little about himself and they asked him questions. They also had me go up front and asked me what I thought of churches in France compared to America, and what I thought of being a pastor's wife. It was all in French and I was not prepared for it at all, but Paul said I answered correctly and didn't make a fool of myself, so that's good. : ) Luckily I didn't have to go into much detail.
Most of the congregation is African, about 24 out of 30 last Sunday, and it makes for a very outgoing worship time. That's also because we have no musicians. Every once in a while we get a guest piano player from another church, but otherwise it's all acapella. With lots of clapping and singing loud though, you don't really notice.
The head pastor, Alain, is there every other week as he also works part-time at another church. So the preaching is shared between a few different guys. Paul is intended to take over full-time next summer when Alain retires, so we're just getting used to how things are done. A couple weeks ago they had Paul go up front and tell a little about himself and they asked him questions. They also had me go up front and asked me what I thought of churches in France compared to America, and what I thought of being a pastor's wife. It was all in French and I was not prepared for it at all, but Paul said I answered correctly and didn't make a fool of myself, so that's good. : ) Luckily I didn't have to go into much detail.
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| the front of the church |
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| the entryway, bathroom on the right |
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| pretty flowers in the front yard |
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| the main meeting room |
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| communion table |
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| the nice little office |
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| one of the little kids rooms |
Looks like a very nice church building; I can't wait to see it and meet all the people. Do they speak English at all?
ReplyDeleteNot really. One woman speaks a little.
ReplyDelete