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Francophone Protestantism in England

by
06 September 2013

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From Mr Frederic Stansfield
Sir, - The Rt Revd Christopher Morgan, the retired Area Bishop of Colchester, is right to argue that the Reuilly Concord between the Church of England and the newly united Église Protestante Unie de France (EPUF) offers opportunities from which Anglicans can learn (Comment, 16 August).

One of the most pressing needs is to support French-speaking Protestantism in England. There has recently been an even larger movement of people from France to England for economic reasons than during the religious migrations of the 16th and 17th centuries.

At present, two churches in England are affiliated to La Commission des Églises Évangéliques d'Expression Française à l'Extérieur (CEEEFE), the co-ordinating body for Francophone Protestant churches outside France. One is in London, at Soho Square. The other, which I attend regularly, worships in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, receiving generous help from the Dean and Chapter. If one in 100 French-speaking immigrants in England attended a Protestant Church, this would be about 5000 people - more than ten times the current attendance in London and Canterbury. It is beyond the resources of a small, local congregation such as ours to address this unmet nationwide need.

A reinvigorated mission is needed to bring the Christian message to the French-speaking community in England. This could be provided through the Church of England, through expansion of the French Protestant Church, or preferably by both methods.

FREDERIC STANSFIELD
1 Coppergate, Canterbury
Kent CT2 7RT


From the Archdeacon of Switzerland
Sir, - Bishop Morgan's article on French Protestants was very informative, but did contain one slip. The words of the hymn "Thine be the glory" ("À toi la gloire") were written by a pastor of the Swiss Reformed Church, Edmond Louis Budry (1854-1932).

He was born in Vevey, on Lake Geneva (where there is a flourishing Anglican chaplaincy today, part of the diocese in Europe), and ministered in the town for 35 years. The English translation by Richard Hoyle dates from 1925.

Strangely enough, the hymn has not found its way into the Reformed Church in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, as I discovered when looking for a multilingual hymn for an ecumenical service.

PETER M. POTTER
St Ursula, Jubiläumsplatz 2
3005 Berne, Switzerland


From the Revd the Lord Griffiths of Burry Port
Sir, - I did enjoy Bishop Christopher Morgan's article on French Protestantism. The Église Réformée de France successfully united with the Église Méthodiste de France in the early 1970s. I was pastor of a church in the eighth arondissement of Paris in the early 1970s, just before the union.

I so agree with Bishop Morgan that we in Britain can learn much from the way church unity has been and is being achieved in France. He suggests that "the Reuilly Accord [which] has been in place for more than a decade" means that Anglicans and members of the Reformed Church need not feel they are strangers to each other.

The Covenant between our two Churches here in Britain has also been in place for more than a decade: I hope it, too, might lead to something more significant than polite smiles and distant hopes.

GRIFFITHS OF BURRY PORT
Wesley's Chapel and Leysian Mission
49 City Road
London EC1Y 1AU

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