Foyer Evangelique Universitaire

This morning Joy and I headed north to Lille, France, to visit a university ministry called Foyer Evangelique Protestante, or FEU which means “fire” in French. I am now familiar with GBU and through the states and some contacts here aware of Agape, European Campus Crusade. (try inviting a Muslim to a “Crusade” event : /) FEU was the latest on the list of ministries to check out. To say Joy and I were excited and overwhelmed by our time there would be an understatement. Two young couples with three kids between them welcomed us into their home for a morning discussion of their vision and ministry. Next we were invited to stay for a home-cooked lunch, to which a college student ran down from upstairs to join. Another student ran in from her morning on campus to eat up dessert and play with the kids. One of young wives toured me and Joy around Lille for the afternoon, during which we spent most of the time talking while walking, and not necessarily touring. Great fun! En bref, here is what I would like to share.

Vision
FEU exists to serve the Church, encouraging students who know Jesus and those who come to know him to plug into their local churches. While they offer a regular weekly line-up of events as well, they carefully work to balance and not overlap nor overextend students between their programming and the churches’. In Lille, they work with 4-7 partner churches to connect students with congregations, needs, and church life. FEU sees their role as a part of the Church to build the Church and seeks to cultivate in students habits which will carry them beyond university parachurch activities after receiving their diplomas.

What it Looks Like
FEU’s exist in Grenoble, Lille, Marseille, and Chambery, and take on a variety of forms. Most are facilitated either out of someone’s home, which is bought with the space and intent to rent rooms to students engaged with FEU such as in Lille, or a larger building such as in Grenoble. As we experienced today, in a house or building welcoming students, the front door is always open and someone is always in the home. On Thursdays the team meets together and stays together for a good part of the day, thus contributing to the community sense of the ministry. FEU is a part of France pour Christ’s mission and is a relatively new ministry as far as mission history goes. It is also a France-born ministry.

Weekly Ministries
FEU Lille’s weekly ministries begin on Sunday, transporting students to church in a large vehicle. For the afternoon, they gather students for football (soccer), which provides an excellent opportunity to connect with students outside of FEU. Sunday evenings they often organize a culture-themed party replete with food, music, maybe dancing, and hanging out. Mondays are prayer. Tuesdays are prayer and days on campus engaging in evangelization by giving 12-question Bible knowledge tests to passing students. This year they have been able to connect with 600-900 students through these questionnaires, many leading to more significant conversations and invitations to FEU. Thursday they offer a Bible study and are looking to begin next year shuffling students to churches for studies there instead depending on local church activity. Saturdays they organize tourist outings, beach trips, and other fun gatherings for students, many of whom they shared don’t get out and see much if it isn’t organized for them. Alongside regular activities, each member of the couples is actively engaged in meeting with students one-on-one for discipleship, prayer, and Bible study. Each couple and students involved in leadership are significantly involved in local churches so as to fuel FEU’s vision and model church participation for other students.

Personal Note
If you’ve been keeping up this year, church attendance has been a huge prayer request this year with students. Having seen increased faithfulness in attendance I am encouraged but also have needed wisdom in how to further connect these students with a church I’m myself learning. Being at FEU today provided a great source of encouragement, vision, and resources, seeing that here exists a ministry feeding into the life of the local church. Being there as well with Joy was excellent because I asked questions from the student ministry perspective and she asked from both local French church needs perspective as well as potential placement for short-termers with GEM such as myself (to which they are VERY open). Our different sets of questions were able to fuel a broader discussion and garner more well-rounded, useful information.

Before we headed out, we stopped by the “Catho,” the Catholic university and one of many Lille universities. According to Wikipedia, with over 97,000 students, this city is considered “one of the first student cities in France.” Let me add, nothing gets my blood pumping like a college campus. Nothing. And nothing gets it pumping more than one attracting national and international populations, such as Lille and such as Compiegne here, yet on a much smaller scale. Today my blood was really pumping.

Ah, feels like home...in front of the Catholic university main hall

On the way out of town, we drove through Roubaix, keeping our eyes out for potential mosques, which we know exist but for which I was unable to find addresses. Shocker. If you google Roubaix, you will pull up many articles on Muslim-civic interactions. This is considered one of the most heavily Muslim-populated cities in France and has attracted significant research attention in France and internationally.

Although we didn’t see much of Lille, if you are interested in checking out academic life, ministry opportunities, or want to visit a place not Paris (which I recommend), this is a great spot. Please feel free to leave a comment if you would like more information concerning FEU or other opportunities in Lille.