Decked in Sunday finery, the chattering line stretches out the door and up a gritty block of warehouses and homes in this working-class Paris suburb. Inside, the congregation at Impact Christian Center sways and chants to gospel rhythms with an African flavor as the day's first morning service rolls on, way behind schedule.
It is hard to believe that this outburst of religious fervor is occurring in France, the most staunchly secular nation of an increasingly secular Europe.
Yet even as Christians are fleeing mainstream churches across the region, evangelical Christianity is booming–thanks most recently to flourishing migrant churches, like Impact Christian.
France alone has witnessed an eightfold increase in evangelicals over the last half-century–from 50,000 to 400,000. Those numbers are small in absolute terms; evangelicals represent less than 2 percent of the European population. But their influence is growing, as Roman Catholic and traditional Protestant churches increasingly borrow from their hands-on and inclusive doctrine.
Perhaps most significantly, the evangelicals attest that spirituality is not dying out in Europe.
As it grows, European evangelicalism is developing a sharply different face than its American counterpart. Evangelicals have largely stayed on the sidelines of political battles–in part, experts say, because many believe in a strong separation of church and state, but also because they remain divided on a number of key issues.
While U.S. evangelists from Billy Graham on down have been preaching and converting here for decades, European churches are now embracing Asian, Caribbean and African preachers like Yvan and Yves Castanou, the French-Congolese twin brothers who run Impact.
“The church is here to solve all problems–family issues, financial issues, all different kinds of issues,” said Yves Castanou, 35, as he paused from greeting a stream of worshippers one recent Sunday inside Impact's threadbare community center. “Not just spiritual issues. And that's what really makes a difference.”
For Ivorian Blaise Ezoua, the Sunday services at Impact are worth a 30-mile roundtrip drive each week. “What touches me is the warmth and fraternal community among brothers and sisters here,” said the stocky computer technician. “We have brothers from Central Africa. We have brothers from China. We get people from everywhere.”
Brothers from France are also joining.
“The church is alive,' said Luc Perrin, a 27-year-old baker who switched from his own evangelical church to Impact last December. “Faith is much more important here than at the other church I attended. I'd rather grow in this environment than in another.”
Still, Perrin acknowledged his enthusiasm is not shared by less religious French. “The evangelicals make them afraid,” he said.
French skepticism, if not downright hostility, is fueled by a myriad of factors–from suspicions that evangelical churches are tainted by American influence, to fears they provide platforms for bogus pastors. Even evangelical leaders warn that African-style prosperity churches–preaching and feeding off improbable dreams of financial success–are flourishing around Paris.
Wariness of evangelicals also lingers in the French government, which has a standing special committee to oppose questionable cults of all types. In some areas, evangelical preachers say they have a hard time getting permits to build new houses of worship, a complaint shared by their Muslim counterparts.
Relationships between churches and local officials are better elsewhere. In Ivry, the Castanou brothers say Impact is now an accepted fixture in the town.
Moreover, the churches are increasingly gaining acceptance from another quarter–mainstream Christian churches, who are adopting some evangelical trappings. Alpha courses–a Christian study program founded by an evangelical church in London–are now blossoming among Roman Catholics.
Traditional Protestant parishes are also trying to soften their austere and formal edges.
“For many years, the French Protestant movement was a bit scornful of the evangelical movement,” said Jean-Arnold de Clermont, head of the French Protestant Federation. “We thought their theology wasn't very solid, that we were more intelligent. Now, we realize these evangelical churches not only have intellectuals, but they're more emotive, more spiritual. It's in our interest to learn from each other.”