A Nation Awakening: Phare FM's Bid to Reach All of France for the Gospel

Phare FM, TWR's Christian radio partner in France, has a narrow window to expand from reaching 30% of the French population to 100% by securing a national broadcast license. Leaders Claude Greder and Nathanaël Chong say the timing is urgent, witnessing what they describe as a "pre-revival atmosphere" in France, with a surge of youth baptisms and fresh spiritual hunger. If funding is confirmed by the end of June, nationwide broadcasting could begin as soon as September.

Claude Greder (right), Nathanaël Chong (center) and TWR's John Lundy (left) discuss Phare FM's vision to bring the gospel to all of France.

Claude Greder likes to tell the story about the baby who led his mom to Christ.

The baby was sick, Greder explained, and was crying in the baby seat after a visit to the doctor. The mom scanned stations on the car radio, hoping to calm him. She finally came to a station that did the trick. The crying stopped. 

When the mom realized it was a Christian station, she turned the dial. She tried this several times, and only the Christian station would calm the baby. She finally gave in and left the station on.

“The baby calmed down and fell asleep,” said Greder, president and chairman of the board of that station, Phare FM of Mulhouse, France.

“She Shazamed the song that had finally put him to sleep,” Greder said, referring to the Shazam app used to identify songs. “It was a French Christian artist.”

A few days later, Greder said, the woman had that song playing when a therapist visited her home to care for the baby. When the therapist asked about the song, the woman shared her story.

Greder went on:

“The therapist said, ‘Did you know that next Sunday this artist is giving a concert at my church? Would you like to come?’

“The very next Sunday, the young woman brought her whole family to the concert. They all gave their lives to Christ.”
 

From 30 to 100: A Campaign to Go National

Greder and his colleagues have seen an increasing number of stories like that take place in France during recent years, enough so that Greder believes the country has reached a “pre-revival atmosphere.”

Now, Phare FM, TWR’s partner in France, is in the midst of an audacious campaign to expand its reach, overnight, from 30% of the French population to 100%. “We could effectively go live nationwide within hours,” said Nathanaël Chong, Phare FM’s chief executive officer. (Phare means “lighthouse” in French.)

But there’s a significant obstacle.

France offers 25 national broadcast licenses, Chong said, and one of them recently became available. In his presentation to the radio commission, Chong explained that since Phare FM is listener-supported, it wouldn’t threaten the ad revenues of the 24 other broadcasters. The argument seemed to go over well. 

“I was genuinely surprised by how open and encouraging they were,” Chong said. “I was also honest with them: We want to go national, but we don’t have the money.”

The annual licensing fee is 1.8 million euros, the equivalent of almost $2.1 million US. Phare FM was allowed to submit its application if it demonstrates by the end of June that the needed funding is in place. If the license is granted, nationwide Phare FM broadcasting will begin in September.

Why Now? Signs of Spiritual Awakening in France

Greder and Chong were in the United States in May, visiting TWR offices in Cary, North Carolina, and other places to outline the opportunity.

TWR has only had a formal partnership with Phare FM for around a year, said Harry Bettig, TWR’s liaison to Thru the Bible. But the relationship goes back to when Tom Streeter, then TWR ministry director for Southern Europe, established a partnership with Radio Colombe of Lyon, France, which is part of the Phare FM network.

Phare FM stations currently broadcast a Minute With [J. Vernon] McGee as a way to invite listeners to the full Thru the Bible program on its website, Bettig said. 

“They’ve got a good website and good-quality production and audio – they sound good, with good announcers,” Bettig said. “Their leaders seem very mission-driven. You can tell they’re there to reach France with the gospel.”

The time seems ripe. Although evangelical Christians still officially make up only 1 to 1.5% of the French population, both Greder and Chong say they’ve seen notable signs of awakening just during the past five years, and it is largely a youth movement. Greder said 25 people were baptized in the church he co-pastors on a recent Sunday, and about two-thirds were younger than 21.

“We feel the Lord is moving and calling people in ways that go beyond what the church alone can produce,” Greder said. “There is a hunger, a thirst, that simply wasn’t there five years ago.”

Chong compared the opportunity to raise the money to reach all of France to the moment when the Israelites were standing at the Red Sea with the Egyptians in pursuit. (Exodus 14)

“We’re doing what we can do: showing up, sharing the vision and believing that as we take these steps, God will open the sea,” he said. “We see a movement in France, and we believe we’re standing at the beginning of something historic.”

Learn more about Phare FM at pharefm.com. International donors can participate in the effort to bring Phare FM to all of France via TrustBridge Global. Visit pharemedia.org/trustbridge.

Images: (middle, right) Phare FM Chief Executive Officer, Nathanaël Chong, discusses the spiritual landscape of France while visiting the TWR offices in the U.S.