Author: Emmanuel

Back to my roots: a visit at the Eglise Protestante Evangélique de Cognin

My family and I joined the “Groupe Biblique de Chambéry” (GBC) when it was in its infancy, in the mid  1980s. At the time, there were only 3 families, if I remember well: one missionary family from the USA, and two French families. We met in a flat in Chambéry. The church grew, and we were joined by other missionaries. We moved to a rented meeting room in a supermarket. the shop was closed on Sundays, but hired conference rooms upstairs. We were there for a few years until the church moved to its current premises in Cognin, a suburb of Chambéry.It became the “Eglise Protestante Evangélique de Cognin” after I left for Wales. I was converted and baptised in the GBC. That’s also where I met Esther I have many sweet memories there.

It was good to be back on Sunday morning, although it was a bit sad also. The church is still quite small, and a number of people have left. But the faithful remains, and  I was happy to see them and catch up with their news. I am due to preach there next Sunday.

Crossing France on the motorways

France has got a very efficient network of motorways. There are 11 392 km of motorways. About 8000 km of these are toll roads.

Today, we crossed France, from Guingamp to my hometown of Chambéry: 1000 km, 980  of which were on motorways.

I love driving on French motorways. It is a quick way to move around. They are well maintained. They feel safe. There’s not too much traffic if you avoid Paris and the few who have a lot of traffic. Some people think they are expensive. But you get the services you pay for, don’t you? I don’t mind paying if I get a good service. We left at 3am and arrived at 1.30 pm. That’s not bad considering many people were on the roads for their holidays. The only traffic jam we saw was in Lyon: people going towards the south. But we were on a bridge overlooking that road.

One of the downsides is that you don’t see much of the country. On our way, we went through many beautiful and historic places: Tours, the Loire Valley and its castles, Bourges, Lyon… But if we had avoided the toll roads, it would have taken several days for the journey. But we’ve arrived safely and quickly for a bit of holidays in the beautiful Savoie.

John Newton: What a man

[amazon_link id=”0852349084″ target=”_parent” container=”” container_class=”” ]John Newton (Bitesize Biographies)[/amazon_link]I have read two books in the “Bitesize Biographies” series published by EP so far. They’ve both been very helpful. So, when Cross Focused Reviews gave the opportunity to review a biography of John Newton recently published in the same series, I jumped on the opportunity. I received a review copy with no obligation to give a positive review.

I read it in one seating, on my way to a conference. I found the story gripping and fascinating. The chapters on John Newton’s Hymns and correspondence were especially helpful. Like the other books in the series, this book gives a introduction of John Newton’s life and ministry and make you want to know more about the man and his writings.

The colloque Biblique Francophone

The colloque Biblique Francophone started today in Lyon. I travelled through France on te TGV and had time to read the recent biography of John Newton in the bitesize biographies series (EP). I had received a review copy. I met my friend Andrew from Nantes who had travelled in the same train as me, but in another carriage.

We had two sessions today. One on occultism by Florent Varak, a French pastor in Lyon. I always find this subject difficult, but Florent Varak was quite balanced I found. For the second session, Samuel Foucachon exhorted us to follow Christ. The men who turned the world upside down in the first century didn’t follow methods or techniques but were disciples of Christ first.

Time for bed now, prayer meeting is at 7.15 am.

It’s always nice to see family and friends from home

On Monday afternoon, we had a visit from Esther’s cousin Gwilym and his family. They were visiting his brother in law who lives in Lannion. His wife Celine is French and the two children speak both Welsh and French (and English). I took the two boys with me to get Maxime and Jean-Baptiste, and I showed them one of the classrooms. There were many differences they said. For example, back in Wales, there are no individual desks in the classrooms, and they use an interactive board while in the French classroom, each pupil has a desk and faces the teacher. The board is still an old fashion black-board.

We had a nice time. And our boys were really excited to see their second-degree cousins.