The Pasleys: Missionaries to France

Sean Pasley was called into missionary service to a country in which less than one percent of the population (670,000 people) identifies as protestant evangelical Christians. Sounds a lot like North Korea, the most anti-Christian nation in the world, but it’s not. It’s the country of France.

Their Story

Sean and Kendall Pasley were born and raised in North Mississippi, where they have lived and ministered together for the past decade. Married since 2010, God has blessed them with three boys: Liam, Ewen, and Declan. His wife Kendall is a full-time mother, homemaker, and teacher to the children, as well as being a piano and vocal instructor. 

The Pasleys have served in church ministry since he accepted an intern position in 2009. Currently a seminary student at Midwestern, Sean’s most recent pastoral role was at Calvary Baptist Church in Horn Lake, Mississippi, where he began serving in 2017. A missional church pastored by Greg Cook, Calvary had been praying for a church planting partnership before Sean came on staff, and now they are the Pasleys’ sending church.

For a long time, however, especially while attending seminary, Sean says, “I had a problem with the term missionary because mission trips seemed to only be about humanitarian aid and Instagram pictures. It wasn’t until I met a missionary to Central Asia whose ministry was focused on evangelism and church planting (caring for people’s spiritual needs rather than solely their physical needs) that I changed my mind.”

Also, when God first gave Sean the desire of going abroad for mission work and a heart for French people, he had a lot of “yeh, buts” for God; however, the following cultural realities changed his thinking:

But don’t they have a lot of churches already? Yes, there are many churches, and the overwhelming majority of them are empty.

But don’t they have plenty of people to reach them? No, the number of evangelical Christians is almost zero.

But aren’t they a wealthy country? Yes, but they lack the riches of Christ.

With that positive missionary experience and those questions answered, he felt even more burdened to leave the U.S. 

Laborers are Few

Sean’s mother is a native of France, so he is familiar with French culture, but, he says, “ . . . we never truly realized how little the people of France knew of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ until recently. We were grateful to learn of the work that God is doing through His people in France, and we believe that He would have us labor alongside them.”  

France is the most historically catholic country in the world and Catholicism is their national identity; however, only four percent attend mass, go to church, or carry a Bible. Forty-six percent of the French population claim that they have no religion and identify as atheist, agnostic, or nonbelievers. That’s 25-32 million people. 

French-speaking Muslim immigrants from North Africa make up five percent of the population and live in southern France, the largest percentage of Muslim immigrants in all of Western Europe. There is less than one percent Protestant, so there are really no evangelicals, only small churches of fifty to sixty regular attendees, which in France would be considered a megachurch. 

Gospel Hindrances are Many

Very few of the 67 million people of France have any understanding of the good news of the gospel. It is estimated that as many as 50 million French people have no real link with any Christian church at all. When that statistic is combined with the fact that Christian beliefs and values are seen as antiquated roadblocks to progressive thinking, the French are practically an unreached people group.

Basically, secularism is the unofficial state religion of France. While similar to the United States Constitution’s first amendment, France’s secularist policies effectively grant freedom from religion. 

But the real roadblock seems to be a completely anti-Christian culture, one where the occult is prominent and Bibles are almost non-existent.

Sean tells the story of a church planter in France whose wife began a Bible study, but no one had ever even touched one, much less owned one. They even seemed fearful of doing so, as if it was prohibited. 

In addition, Sean explains that, “Occult practices are everywhere; there are more palm readers than preachers, pastors, or missionaries. Witchcraft and ‘dark arts’ businesses are on every street, but the answer to all that darkness is the gospel.” 

Thankfully, he says, there has been an increase of evangelical churches in recent years, but the need continues to increase with a growing immigrant population and a youth population that is largely uninterested in the gospel. 

Their Call is God-Given

“While we love our ministry in the States,” Sean says, “we believe that the Lord has work for us in France. Through much prayer and reliance on Scripture, we are obeying God’s call to move our family overseas for the sake of His gospel. There are obvious challenges facing gospel ministry in Europe, but we are ready to spend our lives participating in God’s plan.”  

The Pasleys will be living in Albertville, France, where they will search for like-minded churches in which to get a foothold in an area where missionary work is not encouraged. 

Their five-year ministry plan begins with one to two years of language school, cultural acclimation, and evangelism. In the next three to four years they will prepare for church planting and partner with a local church in discipleship . . . then they begin the process of planting churches. 

Sean says studies have shown that it takes ten years from the time they hear the gospel for French people to believe and accept it, but he knows that their plans are in God’s hands.  

Sean requests the following prayers:

Please pray for the salvation of French people, and that God would prepare hearts to receive the gospel even now

Please pray for our family as we prepare to live and minister in a foreign culture.

Pray that the Lord allows France to soon become a beacon of light and life for His glory.

If you or your church would like to partner with the Pasleys email them at pasleyjs@gmail.com or go to https://app.securegive.com/BMAMissions/main/donate/category