OAC Publications
Borderlines
June 1999

Spring in the City

Mark Howe reports on MEPA's Easter outreach in Paris

"Paris is definitely not Avignon. Stepping off the TGV in the Gare de Lyon, it took a while to realise that the station was not air-conditioned. The difference in temperature between the Midi and Paris always feels much greater than the weather maps suggest. "The outreach had a very different feel to it too. The team was smaller, and included a lot of people who had worked with us before. We worked with four churches in various parts of the city, using open-airs to invite people to evening meetings organised by the team. "We started the outreach with a whistle-stop tour of the city, followed by a barn dance in the evening. The audience participation was characterised by enthusiasm more than talent, but the friends of church members seemed to enjoy themselves, and the relaxed atmosphere encouraged people to talk. "The next day's programme was a soirée british, in a relatively poor and cosmopolitan district. The team donned traditional British costumes (!) and gave out a lot of invitations, but ten minutes before the programme was due to start, it looked like we were going to be performing to an empty hall. When the programme began, twenty people had walked in off the street. Some came clutching invitations, while others appeared to have seen the open door and decided to walk through it. Many stayed to talk long after the meeting had ended. "We discovered that each district of Paris has its own character. The next day's meeting did not attract any outsiders, but the open-airs were probably the most fruitful of the week. "We spent one evening with a youth group, which proved to be an eye-opening experience for the team. ("I didn't know mission could be so weird!" was one comment.) "On the last night, we had hoped to take the team on a boat-trip down the Seine, but our budget wouldn't quite stretch that far. But then one of the churches we had been working with gave us a gift for the team that almost exactly covered the bill. It was an interesting if rather cold way to bring our week in Paris to a close. The feedback from the churches has been very positive, and we plan to run a similar programme in 2000. Why don't you join us?