CHURCH PLANTING France For Jesus: Peter & Mariela Demetriou’s journey

Liberté Church in Strasbourg, France gathers in the historic and iconic Temple Neuf in the heart of the city for their weekly services.

FRANCEFRAN FOR JESUSFOR JE

Aussie church planters, Peter & Mariela Demetriou share the journey of the past seven years to win France for Jesus.

FRANCEANCE FOR JESUSR JESUS

‘I am believing for revival in our nation... despite the hardest few months, we’re seeing a new spiritual hunger.’ – Peter Demetriou

In 2013, Aussie family, Peter and Mariela Demetriou and their two daughters took the giant leap of faith and moved with 154 boxes from Sydney to be part of a church planting team to Strasbourg in France. The genesis of Liberté! Church in Strasbourg began with a strong apostolic call to Europe of over 20+ years before. Peter with his Greek-Cypriot background, and Chilean-born Mariela, both had Europe burning in their hearts since their teenage days. When Peter proposed to Mariela in Paris in the late 1990s, he vowed that they would one day return to the City of Light and Western Europe to live. Centrally located in Europe, Strasbourg is only a brief TGV ride away from Paris, a bicycle ride away from neighbouring Germany, and a quick train trip from Switzerland and Luxembourg, as well as a scenic car ride away from the best coffee in Milan and Venice. Strasbourg is a secular city of particular influence, being the seat of a number of European institutions and bodies including the European Parliament - where Peter has been invited to monthly prayer breakfasts in his pastoral capacity. Whilst the strict laws of separation between Church and State in France apply across the nation, Strasbourg’s population was mainly Protestant after the Reformation, therefore the Alsace is unique to the rest of France in that it has a prime evangelistic opportunity to get a gospelcentred program into schools. “We are literally standing on a city of gold. There is so much opportunity for impact and for the gospel to reach these places in Europe!” said Peter. Growth of Liberté! Church Peter and Mariela quickly outgrew their lounge room where they started Liberté! - a bilingual French/English church - with about 40 French people at the time who became an integral part of the core team. They moved into a local Methodist hall, then into the smaller chapel space of Temple Neuf - and are now in the main grand salle of the iconic Temple Neuf building, for weekly Saturday evening services. Temple Neuf is a historical Protestant institution in Strasbourg. The cathedralstyle church is where John Calvin planted the first French speaking congregation to French refugees. Today Liberté! Church collaborates with the local Lutheran Pastor who allows them to use this extraordinary venue, in the heart of the city. Peter and Mariela live in the centre of the city and walk or cycle everywhere. “We really have taken the time to get to know café and restaurant owners and have developed great relationships with the locals here,” said Mariela. “We have had the opportunity to run some of our outreach events at their café’s, and there is definitely an openness and an intrigue. We have lived here for seven years now, and through the favour of God, we really have built trust through community.” Five years on, they have experienced amazing victories and incredible moments with combined worship and prophetic nights with other churches in the city in efforts to build camaraderie, unity and encouragement between churches. They have taken their worship team to be a blessing into the small villages of their region, with Worship Concert’s and encouragement to the local congregations. They have a dedicated Prison ministry team with two monthly Worship Services – one for the men and one for the women, led by our Prison chaplain, including running Alpha prison services. Each Tuesday morning, they also have a team who prepare breakfast in a disadvantaged area of the city, that is typically seen as the hub for human trafficking and illegal immigrants. Peter and Mariela’s long-term vision is to create an ‘Apostolic Hub and Training Centre’ that cultivates current and future leaders/ pioneers in the heart of France. This in effect resonates with the vast Protestant history of Strasbourg, a city well known for its hospitality where reformers would visit Strasbourg to seek respite and for a recalibration of vision.

Covid19 impact The Grand-Est region was one of the worst hit areas of France for Covid-19 with approximately 30,000 deaths across France. Peter and Mariela both contracted the virus end of February, after attending a civil wedding of less than 20 people. Peter battled the virus for over six weeks with a terrible cough and secondary lung infection, with the overwhelming fatigue and body aches; Mariela is still dealing with lingering aftereffects of ailments and inflammation in random parts of her body due to Covid. “It was a scary time for us both. There were zero testing kits in France, or any masks during those scary weeks and months,” said Mariela. “We got rejected at the hospital labs after presenting with a script from the Doctor to get tested for Covid. They said to us quite frankly, ‘Unless your husband arrives in an ambulance [or basically dying], we will not test him.’ That was mildly good news, we guessed it wasn’t so bad if he didn’t need to be in hospital. “We had no access for blood testing labs, to receive physio or decent medical attention. No one could test our lungs or breathing to see if we were getting any better until weeks after. “Our 14-year daughter was running out each day to get our groceries, we couldn’t even shop online as the stores were not equipped for the mass e-commerce onslaught,” said Mariela. “So, we prayed, took communion daily, and desperately sought the prayers of close friends and family. We had a 1km radius

restriction of where we could go, and had to fill out daily permission slips to go to the pharmacy or the grocery store with infinite queues. Our region had make-shift hospitals created by the army in the carpark of Mulhouse [an hour or so away from us] which was not coping. The constant onslaught of dealing with grief from people in our community who had lost family members or loved ones, and the continual ambulance sirens that echoed the streets, it really was all so heavy… “Our fervent prayers as a church was incredibly unifying for us all, and immensely strengthening,” said Peter. “Even trying to explain to our friends’ back home what we were going through sounded like a movie. It was a very surreal three months and quite honestly, if it wasn’t for Jesus and His amazing kindness over us, I am not sure how we would have gotten through this. The Demetriou’s eldest daughter remained in Sydney to complete her HSC this year and the thought of not knowing when they can see her again is really hard. “Now borders are closed in Australia, and oneway flight is almost 5,000 euros, so who knows when flights will be allowed to operate again by the Australian government from Europe,” said Mariela.. “But we also know we have the most incredible heavenly Father, who sees all, knows all and nothing catches Him by surprise – He has us in His loving hands. It was day by day, moment by moment, – allowing Him to just walk us through with hope in what felt like the valley of shadows.” Liberté! Church was one of the first churches in the region to re-open their doors with strictly adhering to 30-page dossier of rules and regulations. Meeting with masks, the hand sanitizers at every entrance, respecting the social distancing, everything to ensure zero physical contact. “The air hugs are certainly something we don’t want to get to used to,” said Peter. “I have missed our physical gatherings as church so much, and I have seen a shift in people in our city – an openness, a new level of care for each other, it’s extraordinary. I am believing for revival in our nation. Despite the hardest few months, God is sovereign, and we are seeing a new spiritual hunger emerge. The harvest is so ripe! Now bring on those workers…. France needs Jesus and we are here for it!”

The Posture of Biblical Justice

By Kirsty Emery and Jacqueline Grey

In our global pause, issues of injustice have come to the forefront as the tide has gone out on our busyness. What remains on the shore is the heartache of natural disasters, domestic violence, mental health, racism, human trafficking, corruption in politics, environmental issues and even the pandemic itself. In some ways we are united in our pursuit for justice; in other ways we are divided in the methods of justice. Our young people especially may find it difficult to navigate the overwhelming sense of need in our world. There’s a physical and emotional investment required to process the collision of truth with personal world views. It can be tempting to shut down and simply become paralysed by the chaos of the world. What do we do with all this? How do we handle it? To begin, we must ask: What does the Bible say about justice? How did Jesus outwork justice? Let’s take a step back to look at the posture and spirit in which we best outwork justice as followers of Christ.

1. Biblical Justice Stands on the Right Foundation

Social justice begins with God. The true foundation of justice is based on God’s character. In Psalm 97:2 it says that “righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne” (NRSV). Justice is part of the very nature of God. God is righteous, God is just –– it’s his essence. Deuteronomy 32:4b says: ‘He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!’ (NRSV). Justice also comes from the heart of God. Jeremiah 9:24 says: “’I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight,’ says the Lord” (NRSV). Justice is about God’s order in the world. God has set an order to creation and the world we live in. That includes moral order—doing the right thing at the right time, based on God’s ways. It also includes valuing every person as made in the image of God, and respecting creation as belonging to God, not us (Genesis 1). Doing justice, then, is essentially aligning ourselves with God’s ways. So justice is God’s idea and God’s plan. We see throughout the Old Testament God’s instructions for the people to live justly. One of the challenges we have today as we read these OT laws is how to outwork God’s justice and instructions in our own culture and time, especially in light of the cross of Jesus Christ. However, ingrained in the Old Testament law were requirements to care for the poor and vulnerable within their community, which were reinforced by Jesus (Luke 4:18-19). In fact, to oppress the poor is to show contempt for God (Proverbs 14:31). The prophets continually reinforced this message. One such well-known message comes from Micah 6:8, asking us what God wants us to do: to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Fortunately, we have a model of what this looks like in Jesus Christ.

2. Biblical Justice Walks in the Footsteps of Jesus

Jesus modelled a lifestyle of sacrificial service for others. He taught the disciples not to concern themselves—like the unbelievers do—with who is first, who is ruling, or who is most honoured. Instead, they were to concern themselves with humble service for others (Matt. 20:25-28, 23:11). Just prior to His crucifixion, Jesus demonstrated this posture by washing the feet of the disciples: a task normally assigned to servants or slaves (Jn 13:13-14). In fact, ‘the account of a superior voluntarily washing the feet of an inferior is without parallel in antiquity.’ 1 How does this relate to justice? This is the posture of justice. Injustice occurs when both individuals and a society value selfinterest only.

Jesus also taught His disciples to love God with all their hearts, and to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ (Mark. 12:30- 31). Our world is obsessed with self-focus and self-interest. Generally, we speak out when our own interests are harmed. We fight if someone acts to harm us or our family. But what about our neighbours’ interests and welfare? It reminds us that God is not only concerned for us, but for others as well. God is love, and love reaches out to others. God’s love does not dehumanise others or set them up in categories that undermine their value. This is most keenly expressed in the love of Christ who came to take away the sin of the world. Jesus did not act out of self-interest. He acted out of love. We can love because Christ first loved us and showed us the true meaning of love (1 John 4:7-21). In fact, to love others is a command. This command is not about social revolution, but when we apply its message it is revolutionary. For us as Christians, we are called to follow in the footsteps of Christ by loving one another (John 13:35). In this way, we witness to the world of Christ’s sacrificial love. It requires us to unite as a community to demonstrate this revolutionary lifestyle.

3. Biblical Justice Builds Community

The idea of pursuing justice together is very evident in the Bible. In fact, the greatest picture of ‘justice together’ is seen in the Triune nature of God Himself and the Gospel narrative: The Father, who so loved the world, He gave His Son. The Son, who gave His life to reconcile us to the Father; and the Holy Spirit with us for the continual inward transformation of our hearts into the likeness of Christ. We then seek the external transformation of our world through the togetherness of His Body: The Church. A Hebrew audience thought as ‘we’ not ‘I’. Today, in a more individualistic society, it’s easy to pursue justice as ‘I’ but deep within our DNA is the pursuit of justice together. We see leanings toward community in collective social media responses, masses at protest gatherings, etc. People are moved by solidarity. They are craving communal justice. This is because we are created for community. The most common metaphor for the Church is that of a body. In 1 Corinthians 12:27, Paul tells us that we are the body of Christ and each one a part of it. He then goes on to encourage the community to build up the body and care for all its parts. Another metaphor for the Church is of a building (1 Pt 2:5). Building a solid structure takes time and care. While sometimes in the building process, we need to pull down old pieces of structure such as wrong thinking and practice, however the purpose is to build. This is important as some expressions and methods of social justice we see in the world today are about deconstruction only and miss the important step of construction. Other expressions may want to construct something that is not in alignment with God’s purposes for the world, which we must also be aware of. This does not mean that we simply reject their work, but that we be careful to ensure that our activity is ultimately building towards an expression of biblical justice. The work we do towards biblical justice is to advance God’s order in the world. The cornerstone of this project then is Jesus Christ and the gospel message. This is what we work towards and are building. It should result in lives transformed and communities reconciled. This requires dedication and resilience. The work of biblical justice should not be treated like a fad or a sprint, but is a long walk following the footsteps of Jesus. Under the leadership of National President Wayne Alcorn, the ACC Indigenous Initiative led by Pastor Will and Sandra Dumas, represent community justice. This team exemplifyies the posture of biblical justice as they lead us in the mission of empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pastors and leaders, and to build the church in Australia. They model longterm, faithful service towards reconciliation in our communities. There are many groups in our communities that work towards biblical justice and serving others, who also demonstrate sacrificial service for the benefit of others that points to Jesus Christ. We can’t do all things, but we can each do one thing. We may be limited by our current situation in what we can do, but we can do something. Rather than be overwhelmed by the needs and injustices, we can seek to do one thing that helps work towards biblical justice. It may be to pray, or give, or serve, or volunteer, or speak, or educate. May the Holy Spirit guide us as we consider our own work and how we can and do contribute to seeing God’s ways outworked here on earth.

Kirsty Emery is an ACC pastor at Hope Centre and serves in the ACC National President’s Office. Dr Jacqueline Grey serves as the Dean of Theology and Professor of Biblical Studies at Alphacrucis College.

1. John C. Thomas, Footwashing in John 13 and the Johannine Community (Sheffield: SAP, 1991), 187.