We have written multiple times about the need, hope, and potential for another great awakening in America. From significant shifts in Methodism to the uncertainty in political and social movements, people in unexpected places are rediscovering comfort and clarity through religion. In a world of economic instability, political upheaval, moral ambiguity, and institutional collapse, religion remains a vital resource for those who learn, observe, and listen.
My Predictable Starting Point
I will admit that when I think about the Great Awakenings, I focus on America. This is not out of arrogance; it is because this is where I live. When I consider the Great Awakenings, I see them primarily as an American phenomenon from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. From John Wesley to Billy Graham, these are examples of individuals who awakened or revitalized the nation’s religious life during times of great stress and revival. We were, and in many ways still are, a young nation that often embraces new ideas or brings back old ideas in new ways when needed to set things right.
An Unlikely New Point
When I think of Europe, it is not a place I would usually associate with researching the Great Awakenings. Europe feels ancient, settled, and in many ways spiritually exhausted. On our rare trips there, we see churches converted into homes, restaurants, and businesses, or left to decay. Many seem beyond repair, waiting for the wrecking ball or for time to erase them from the landscape. It is easy to assume that Europe has moved past religion entirely.
And yet, that assumption is wrong.
Quietly and almost imperceptibly, seeds of faith are being planted throughout France. The very country that once exported secularism to the world is now beginning to show early signs of spiritual renewal. And in a twist that would surprise most Americans, it is the evangelicals, not the historic churches, leading this movement.
“…the term (evangelical) more accurately refers to a person whose primary vocation is proclaiming the Gospel, much like having a missionary or itinerant role. We still speak of the first evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John!”
France, long seen as one of the most secular countries, is becoming a place where the Gospel is quietly taking hold again. What seems like a decline on the surface might actually be the foundation of a new awakening.
Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Abundance
People in Europe, like those in America, live in relative abundance. Not everyone, but by global standards, most do. Yet abundance has not brought peace. We inhabit a world that feels hollow, hurried, and strangely weightless. The COVID era increased isolation, but technology has caused just as much harm. Many feel spiritually unanchored, socially isolated, morally adrift, and overwhelmed by too many choices and too much information.
The same pressures we experience in America are also present in Europe: increasing inequality, AI-driven job fears, worries about automation, and, for young adults, a housing crisis that makes the future seem out of reach. Governments provide quick fixes rather than real solutions. Institutions that once offered stability now feel fragile or outdated.
In this vacuum, substitutes for religion rush in. On the left, secular ideologies like environmentalism, social justice, and gender theory serve as moral frameworks. On the right, nationalism and populism provide identity and a sense of belonging. But none of these movements offer the moral clarity, forgiveness, or hope that faith supplies. Causes have replaced religion, acting as the bread for those who are emotionally starved.
“When people hunger in body or soul, they will worship whatever fills the emptiness.”
When you lack purpose, meaning, stability, or hope, whatever fills that emptiness becomes your substitute for faith. It becomes your ideology, your community, and your identity. But substitutes cannot satisfy forever. And when they fail, the hunger returns even stronger than before. That hunger is often the first sign that a revival is on its way.
French Spiritual Awakening
France has experienced a spiritual revival before. One of the most notable movements was the seventeenth-century “Quietism.” Quietism emerged during a time of religious conflict and exhaustion, offering the French people a refuge from spiritual turmoil. It was a response to chaos, a way to cope in a world that felt overwhelming.
What is happening today is the opposite. If Quietism was a retreat inward, the new evangelical movement in France is a movement outward, a spiritual energizing rather than a spiritual calming. Evangelicals are not retreating from the world; they are reaching into it. They are planting churches, forming communities, and offering clarity in a culture that often feels morally and spiritually lost.
Many factors drive this change. Immigration has introduced vibrant Christian communities from Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. Younger generations, disillusioned with secularism, are rediscovering faith as a source of identity and stability. Others turn to religion after realizing that political causes, social movements, and personal autonomy cannot satisfy the deeper hunger for meaning. In a country where Catholicism has struggled to adapt to the twenty-first century, evangelical churches are stepping in with energy, simplicity, and a sense of purpose.
France may still appear secular on the surface, but beneath that facade, something is awakening. The same spiritual hunger that once fueled Quietism is now shaping a quite different movement—a louder, more confident, and more outward-facing one. It reminds us that spiritual renewal rarely looks the same twice, but it always begins with people searching for God in a world that no longer makes sense.
Role of the Notre Dame Fire
As strange as it might seem, I first noticed signs of an awakening in France after the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. The disaster was more than just a fire; it was a national shock. France nearly prides itself on secularism, but witnessing its most iconic cathedral engulfed in flames stirred something deep inside. Perhaps it stirred something older in the French consciousness, a reminder that faith shaped the country long before modern politics. And maybe it reminded people that the cathedral was not just stone and glass. It symbolizes who they are and where they come from.
In the days after the fire, people watched quietly. Donations poured in from everywhere. And the French, who usually talk about religion with a kind of shrug or skepticism, suddenly spoke about Notre Dame with genuine emotion. The fire did not create that feeling; it revealed it. Whatever longing there had been had been suppressed for years, but it had not disappeared.
Rebuilding the cathedral was more than just a construction effort. It became a shared purpose, a unifying act in a divided nation. It provided people with a sense of mission, a reminder that some things are worth saving, not because they are old, but because they are sacred.
France remains deeply secular, but the fire revealed a truth that statistics can not show: the French people’s spiritual imagination is not dead. It is dormant, waiting for a spark. Since the fire, that spark has emerged in unexpected ways, especially with the quick growth of evangelical churches.
Some sources now say that a new evangelical church opens in France every ten days. The numbers are small compared to America, but the trend is clear. From 50,000 evangelical Protestants in 1950 to about 750,000 today, the movement has grown fifteenfold. Meanwhile, Catholicism, once the foundation of French identity, has reduced 42,000 churches to just 10,000 parishes, struggling to adapt to the twenty-first century.
Evangelicalism is not the opposite of traditional worship, but it differs from it. In a nation seeking clarity and community, evangelicals are stepping into the gap with a sense of mission that feels both new and strangely familiar.
Just like in America, French evangelicals are starting to voice their opinions in politics. Immigration, gender ideology, and questions of national identity are influencing their involvement. The movement is more subtle than in America, possibly due to stricter speech laws, but it remains just as committed. A quiet movement can still become a strong voting bloc and spark cultural change.
The fire at Notre Dame did not cause this awakening, but it revealed it. It exposed the spiritual fault lines of a nation and reminded the world that even in highly secular societies, the hunger for meaning never goes away. Sometimes, it takes a burning cathedral to make a nation look up.
Pray for Purpose, Strength, and Growth
I have an ongoing conversation with Christian friends here about the Evangelical Movement, Contemporary Christian Music, and traditions. It is the kind of discussion that never truly ends and should not. We all approach it from different perspectives, but the questions are valuable.
With young people today, the church has to work to get their attention, not in a desperate way, but in a realistic one. There are too many distractions, too many screens, and too many things fighting for the same mental space. Reaching teens and young adults is hard, and holding their attention is even harder.
I have always believed that unless you can bring people into church long enough to hear the Gospels and meet Christ, the rest does not matter. Young adults who have never been inside a church are not likely to walk in and feel drawn to a worship service that looks and sounds like 1978. The battle is lost before it even begins. You do not have to water down the faith to make it approachable, but you do have to meet people where they are.
For many older Christians, faith began early in Sunday school and was nurtured by parents who ensured we attended. These traditions shaped us before we even understood their significance. Starting in adulthood, however, it is different. It requires more intention, patience, and a different kind of invitation. I hope that the church can adapt without losing the core of what makes it the church in the first place.
What I see happening in France reminds me that renewal does not always start where you expect it. Sometimes it begins quietly, in small churches, in conversations, in people who decide they are tired of substitutes and want something real. If it can happen there, it can happen here. And if it does, it will not be because we engineered it. It will be because people were hungry, and God met them in that hunger.
The survival of Western Civilization relies on more than just politics or economics. It depends on whether we remember what unites us and if we are willing to fight for it.
Resources and Further Reading
A book tells the stories that made unity among French evangelicals possible, by Joel Forster, Evangelical Focus, evangelicalfocus.com, October 07, 2024.
EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY IN FRANCE IS GROWING, by Ron Edwards, Living Eternal Now, livingeternal.net, November 18, 2025.
Evangelicalism in France continues to grow, driven by conversions, by Sarah Belouezzane and Benoit Vitkine, Le Monde, lemonade.fr, August 31, 2025.
Evangelicals are already a majority within French Protestantism, by Staff, Evangelical Focus, evangelicalfocus.com, April 15, 2021.
France: The Success of Evangelical Protestantism, SSPX Information Service, fsspx.news, July 10, 2024.
France’s evangelicals flex their political muscle, by Eva Thiebaud, Le Monde diplomatique, mondediplo.com, January 14, 2025.
France’s evangelicals: A growing voice in a secular nation, by Elena Pompei, France 24, france24.com, October 30, 2025.
Newcomers change the face of the evangelical Protestants in France, by Marc Deroeux, Christian Network Europe, cne.news, April 15, 2025.
The Four Great Awakenings: Transformations in American Christian History, Brewminate: A Bold Blend of News and Ideas, brewminate.comv, October 8, 2021.
The Great Awakening, by Thomas Kidd, Bill of Rights Institute, billofrightsinstitute.org, Last accessed March 3, 2026.
Why France? by Staff, Impact France, impactfrance.org, Last accessed March 4, 2026.
