Dave and Amy are CMS mission partners located in South-West France. They planted an international church in 2007 and their heart is to share Jesus in a deeply secularised culture.
Dave and Amy work in partnership with other local French churches and are developing strategies to help people in the community who are in need.
Dave and Amy first came to Perpignan for a year in the late 90’s as part of Amy’s French degree. They recognised the way that Modern Europe is, more than ever, a mission field. There is socially very little exposure to the Gospel message and children are not taught anything to do with Christianity in School. Occult practices are widespread across France with around 50,000 full-time medium and spiritualist practitioners out numbering Christian workers by a long way. Protestant faith is regarded with suspicion with many smaller bible-believing churches labelled as ‘cults’ or ‘sects’. God is often regarded as irrelevant, and the question has been asked 'Does the future of Europe have a church? Their answer is ‘Yes!’
Why International Church?
At the same time Europe’s social and cultural landscape is rapidly and dramatically changing, with cheap travel and internet communication making Western Europe like a global village as unprecedented numbers of people migrating.
Riverchurch aims to understand the needs of this generation. In a region that many have said is like a spiritual desert, Dave and Amy’s vision is to see God's kingdom established like a river that brings and sustains new life.
Dave & Amy moved to France in 2005. They have 5 children, Abbie, Beth, Grace, Zach and Levi who are all bilingual and attend local schools.
Dave & Amy are passionate about worship, the Word and to see unity between churches. Their heart is to motivate others to find their life calling and engage in God's Mission. This includes welcoming and supporting UK gap-year students who come to serve the local church.
Their vision is to build a community of Christians seeking an intimacy with God that shapes everyday lives. Their purpose is to make the good news relevant in Europe bringing hope and new life, expressing Church in a contemporary, fresh and energetic style. This often means taking ‘church’ beyond its walls to go to places others will be such as in cafes, for family walks and barbque’s.
They also run Alpha courses from homes and make hospitality and sharing meals at home an opportunity to build friendships and create space for people not part of church to be included in the church community. Dave and Amy believe in the idea ‘that’ belonging can come before ‘believing’.
Other creative ways to reach people: They also use free informal language conversation/tuition (for French people wanting to improve their spoken English and non-French learning French) as a means to get to know others, which leads to people from various cultures, and even other faiths-backgrounds, such as from North Africa, to become involved in church life for the means of language-learning. All are welcomed.
Dave and Amy are working with a local councillor towards facilitating a ministry of crisis pregnancy care, which is to date non-existant in France and many women with no support, advise or care when faced with traumatic situations linked with unplanned pregnany.
Dave and Amy have a heart to increase their ministry to children and young people, who receive little or no understanding about the Christian faith at school in France and most having even no grasp of the Christmas story! With many non-believing parents sensitive to the need to give children some understanding of the Christian faith there is a huge opportunity to develop groups and children’s clubs involving short term mission teams as well as local church members in this ministry.
They have five children, Abbie, Beth, Grace, Zach and Levi, who are all bilingual and attend local schools.