La Grace de Dieu (‘The Grace of God’) is a poor area of Caen. It’s both spiritually needy and economically deprived. The French government classified La Grace de Dieu as a priority district in 2015, recognising it as an impoverished urban area requiring public intervention. In 2018, 1,832 of La Grace de Dieu’s 4,099 inhabitants lived in poverty.
And, as its name suggests, the area has a long history of Christianity. In the Middle Ages, Cistercian monks founded a priory there which they named ‘A La Grace de Dieu’. The priory has since disappeared, and France is an increasingly and staunchly secular country to minister in, but Sena and Jane Ounate-Lare are seeking to bring the grace of God to La Grace de Dieu.
Sena serves as the pastor of Eglise Le Bon Berger (‘Church of the Good Shepherd’) and leads La Source Network Churches in the Normandy region. This involves regular preaching and overseeing the youth ministry across all five churches in the network. Both Sena and Jane are involved in running regular evangelistic courses, ministering to refugee families, leading small group Bible studies and reading the Bible one-to-one with church members. Their church currently meets in a hotel, but is facing competition from weddings and yoga retreats, so they are prayerfully seeking another venue.
As well as sustaining their current ministry at Eglise Le Bon Berger, Sena and Jane would love to launch a community outreach program among the council estates of La Grace de Dieu. A similar secular initiative closed a few years ago due to lack of funding, and their vision is for something that combines addressing people’s material and relational needs with their greater spiritual need. As they pray and plan, Sena and Jane spend time each week walking through La Grace de Dieu and connecting with locals in the hope that they can start something that will bring the community together and share God’s grace with them.
However, like the UK, France has been hit with a cost-of-living crisis. Consequently, Sena and Jane are facing a significant financial burden, which is stressful as well as limiting their ministry endeavours.
Yet this is where prayerful and financial gospel partnerships come in – like that which the Apostle Paul established between the Corinthian church and the Jerusalem church (1 Corinthians 16:1–4). After Crosslinks made Sena and Jane’s existing partners aware of their needs, Holy Trinity Hinckley prayerfully considered the situation and then increased their financial support. Or, as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 9:1, they increased their ‘service to the Lord’s people’.
Rev Simon Wearn, vicar of Holy Trinity Hinckley, writes, ‘we have been supporting Sena and Jane in their ministry in Normandy since 2017. As a church, we greatly value their work in both sharing faith and giving support to those in need. Our relationship with Sena and Jane has grown over the years, aided by Zoom calls during lockdown and annual visits. When Crosslinks made us aware of the increased financial support required, we were keen for both our support to be focused on a few mission partners, and not to overburden Sena and Jane by them having to expand the number of supporters they kept in contact with. In October this year, we are planning to send a small team to visit them in Caen to encourage and support them better – as well as sample a croissant or two.’
Sena and Jane have yet to personally meet many of the church family at Holy Trinity Hinckley, yet have been blessed by their generosity amidst a cost-of-living crisis. Members of Holy Trinity Hinckley may never see the eternal fruit their gifts have enabled until they reach the new creation, but are willing to give generously and graciously out of the grace they themselves have received from our grace-abounding Lord.
Jane writes, ‘we are full of gratitude and extremely touched by the generous response of our partner churches and individuals – and even more so when we consider the sacrificial nature of giving in the current cost-of-living crisis. We really want to thank you for your support and partnership that allows us to continue the ministry God has called us to here in Normandy and in France.’
Could you partner financially with Sena and Jane, either as a one-off gift or setting up a regular donation?