In secular France, Christians work to bring new life to an old monastery – The Christian Chronicle

MARSEILLE, FRANCE — At the northern edge of this seaside port city —  first settled by Greek sailors 2,600 years ago — stands the abandoned Betheline monastery.
It’s just one of thousands of decaying religious structures scattered throughout France.
In a society once dominated by Catholicism, people increasingly profess no faith affiliation at all.
Faith in France: Read all the stories in the special series
“When you look across about 200 countries and territories … France is up near China, the Czech Republic and North Korea in the share of people who are unaffiliated and likely atheists,” said Stephanie Kramer, a global religious demography expert for the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.
Yet on a recent weekday, sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows of the former monastery’s century-old chapel — as Christians who came to clean up debris, repair vandalism and trim 17 years of tangled brush in the outdoor prayer garden sang praises to God. 
A cappella hymns such as “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord,” “God Is So Good,” and “Unto Thee, O Lord” echoed off the stone walls as members of Churches of Christ — from France, the U.S. and elsewhere — celebrated a new beginning for the Betheline. 
“Father, we are so grateful to be together and praise you in this place,” prayed missionary Craig Young, who has taught the Gospel in this Western European nation for 35 years. “Lord, you were at work to prepare this place for us before we even knew it existed.”
Missionary Craig Young holds up a French/Arabic New Testament as he speaks in the century-old chapel of the abandoned Betheline monastery in Marseille, France.
After seven years of searching for a site to open a Christian outreach center, the Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ — a French-speaking congregation launched by American missionaries in 1991 — bought the Betheline for $1.9 million in November 2024.
Three current and former Marseille missionary families — the Dauners, the Hutchinson and the Youngs — contributed financially to the project, along with other American and European supporters.
“By what we believe to be a miraculous act of God, he kept it for us and gave us the opportunity to purchase it at just the right time,” Craig Young said of the former monastery.
A drone image provides an aerial view of Marseille, France’s second-largest city.
About a 15-minute drive from the Betheline, the Chapelle de Fuveau church worships in a converted auto body shop.
There, the 100-person congregation — a diverse body reflecting Marseille’s status as a Mediterranean melting pot — organizes homework help for children and language lessons for immigrants. 
In a neighborhood split equally between French and Arabic speakers, Muslim women feel comfortable entering the church fellowship hall beside the main auditorium.
“They just walk right in, and they stand there, and they chitchat,” said Katie Young, Craig’s wife and missionary partner. “There’s like a constant welcome at our church. People come in, sit and talk over a cup of coffee and build relationships.”
But limited space prevented the church from expanding small evangelistic endeavors like music and drama classes or starting larger ones like a Christian school and medical clinic.
In recent years, the congregation in southern France looked at “other smaller options” that made sense for boosting community engagement, Katie Young said.
Members and guests visit outside the Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ in Marseille, France, before a Sunday morning worship assembly.
But acquiring the Betheline seemed unfathomable: It’s a three-story, 16,000-square-foot structure where an estimated 80 priests lived a half-century ago, producing milk, cheese and vegetables to sell to neighbors and support themselves. 
“God giving us this, it was more than we could ever imagine,” Katie Young said. “I laughed at it really. I thought that it couldn’t be possible. But if it were to be possible, God would do all of it.”
As the missionaries prayed about the idea, the agricultural part of the property sold to a different buyer. A developer kept the monastery itself, holding out hope for permission to demolish the old building and construct a lucrative new apartment complex. 
“God giving us this, it was more than we could ever imagine.”
But as concerns arose about France’s second-largest city becoming a concrete jungle and losing its charm, Marseille officials refused to grant a zoning change. 
Eventually, the owner agreed to sell the Betheline to the Christian Service Association, the church’s nonprofit entity. Funding for the purchase came together quickly, although about half of the estimated $800,000 renovation cost still needs to be raised.
“We came along at just the right time,” Craig Young said. “It’s God’s timing.”
A view inside the chapel of the former Betheline monastery in Marseille, France.
A nation of 68.5 million people, France is home to just a half-dozen Churches of Christ — including two in Paris — with roughly 300 total members nationwide, according to longtime church leaders interviewed by The Christian Chronicle.
Still, signs of faith can be seen in the secular nation — from Jerry and Zoobi Jones buying a former convent school in northwestern France to start a Christian college to Sherry Pogue transforming a small castle in eastern France into a place for missionary rest, renewal and encouragement.
Geographically, France covers an area not quite the size of Texas.
“One of the questions people have asked us over the years is, ‘Why not go to a more fertile field? Why stay in Europe?’” said Arlin Hendrix, a missionary in Lyon, France’s third-largest city, for 50 years. “And my response to that is, ‘I think we need to be here for a time when something will change.’
“France is in a crisis right now,” he added, referring to the political upheaval and repeated resignations of prime ministers since President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly in June 2024. “And our prayers over the years have always been, ‘Father, whatever it takes to turn people to you, may it happen.’”
Max Dauner, a missionary in France for 54 years, worked alongside Hendrix in Lyon before joining the work in Marseille.
Dauner believes the time for change has come. He voices hope for a spiritual renewal in his adopted home country.
“To me, this is historically and symbolically very important,” he said of the Betheline project. “To me, it’s a sign of the rebirth of the Christian faith in France.”
Missionary Craig Young gives instructions to American mission team members working at the former Betheline monastery in Marseille France.
Dan Cooper, retired longtime minister for the Pitman Road Church of Christ in Sewell, N.J., has led short-term mission groups to France since 2007.
In past years, the groups helped with projects at Centre Bonnefoi, a church-owned mountain retreat center — three and a half hours from Marseille — where Christians operate youth Bible camps. 
While in France, the groups connect with participants in the Chrétiens en Mission (Christians on Mission) program, a yearlong spiritual internship based in Marseille and known as CEM.
Members and visitors at the Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ in Marseille, France, snap photos of a new group of Chrétiens en Mission (Christians on Mission) program interns.
“Since I first learned of this church 25 years ago, the growth has not been rapid by any means, but it’s been slow and steady, genuine,” said Cooper, a Pitman Road elder. “They are not baptizing people just to impress people with records. They are discipling people, and they are reaching the young generation, Muslims, nonpracticing Catholics, atheists. They are reaching across the board.”
Related: Christians with a Muslim background make a difference for Jesus in France
With the purchase of the Betheline, Cooper organized 25 American Christians — representing Churches of Christ in at least seven states — to work at the site. Among their tasks: demolishing walls, removing fixtures and furniture, taking down paneling and ceiling tiles and cleaning windows that had gone untouched since the monastery’s closing in 2008.
In an email, Craig Young described the team’s work as “the first major step towards impacting lives and generations (we pray!) through the mission of the Betheline Christian Outreach Center.” 
American mission team members Paula Pancoast, Dan Cooper and Shannon Carey help clean up the former Betheline monastery in Marseille, France.
Chapelle de Fuveau church member Patricia Hezard prunes a tree in the prayer garden of the former Betheline monastery in Marseille, France.
He’s hopeful other groups will follow.
Despite theological differences with Catholics, several of the Christians who traveled to Marseille said they felt a spiritual connection with the priests trained at the monastery.
“I could almost feel the presence of the monks,” said Lois Gerst, a member of the Tabernacle Church of Christ in New Jersey, who worked to restore the garden. “I’m sure they came out here to pray.”
Kathy Ashton, a Pitman Road member, pointed to the sacrifice many priests made as they completed their training and left France to care for needy children in Papua New Guinea.
“We’re working hard, but we’re not sacrificing our whole lives like they did,” Ashton said.
Shannon Carey, a member of the Pioneer Valley Church of Christ in Chicopee, Mass., snapped a picture of old shoes and boots left behind by the clergymen.
“As I was carrying these shoes outside belonging to these precious men who dedicated their whole lives to God, I said, ‘Thank you for your service,’” Carey said.
Dusty shoes and boots left behind by the priests who lived at the Betheline monastery in Marseille, France.
Now, a new generation prepares to serve at the Betheline.
“It’s because of 35 years of hard work that we’re starting to see a lot of fruit with this generation,” said Maël Duquesne, a 25-year-old Chapelle de Fuveau member. “It’s because of 35 years of Craig and Katie and Max and (Max’s wife) Prisca planting seeds and watering and working hard.”
Ten children in the congregation under age 5 provide an indication of the preponderance of young families.
A children’s book about the lost sheep is seen in a Sunday school classroom at the Chapelle de Fuveau church in Marseille, France.
Sarah Bingham, 26, who grew up Methodist, first became familiar with the work in Marseille when Diana Hutchinson taught her eighth-grade French class in New Jersey. 
Garth and Diana Hutchinson, Katie Young’s sister, worked as missionaries in Marseille for 19 years. The Hutchinsons returned to the U.S. to care for Diana and Katie’s aging parents.
Ultimately, the seeds Diana planted inspired Bingham to move to France and join the CEM program.
“I decided I wanted to stay in Marseille because I felt that God was speaking to me the most at this church,” Bingham said. “The singing a cappella in French was something I really liked to do, and I ended up getting baptized at the end of that year.”
Bingham is now engaged to Duquesne, who was raised Catholic in northern France, 600 miles from Marseille near the border with Belgium. 
At age 10, he began attending the Harmony Bible Camp at Centre Bonnefoi, which draws children from Christian and non-Christian households alike.
Christians work on the cleanup effort at the abandoned Betheline monastery, which the Chapelle de Fuveau church plans to use as a Christian outreach center.
“I really met Jesus in this camp,” said Duquesne, who later moved to Marseille for the CEM program. 
Duquesne and Bingham plan to marry in Betheline’s chapel next June, if the renovation is far enough along.
Both work in education.
Related: No phones allowed, but machetes OK: Global program aims to build teens’ faith
Their prayer: to start a Christian school in the former monastery.
“The idea,” Duquesne said, “is to have something open to the world, just to say, ‘Here, there is light, and there are children who learn about Jesus, who love Jesus. Whoever you are, you can come.’”
Another Chapelle de Fuveau member, Dr. Simon Richard, just finished his general practitioner residency. 
His wife, Anna, works as a midwife.
The Richards’ desire: to open a medical clinic at the Betheline.
“I always pictured myself doing family medicine but as a part of a mission for the church,” he said. “I did not want to have my job, and then on the weekend, I go to the church activities, and they are two separate things. I’ve always wanted to merge them.”
The Chapelle de Fuveau congregation prays on a recent Sunday.
He wants to use his talents in an environment where he can offer spiritual and medical guidance.
As the daughter of missionaries, Hannah Hostetter, 18, has lived in Ghana, Cameroon, the U.S. and France. 
One of five new CEM participants introduced on a recent Sunday, she intends to study engineering after her internship ends.
Chrétiens en Mission (Christians on Mission) interns celebrate with cake featuring the CEM initials. Pictured, from left, are Jon-Emmanuel Zamord, Nathan Dauner, Hannah Hostetter, Rafael Reis and Elie Subarayadu.
Hostetter chose that major, she said, because mission works often need engineers “to create the wells or build the orphanages or organize things.”
“That way I can be like a tent-making missionary,” she said, “like supporting myself but also working for God.”
Talk of a possible school and clinic at the former monastery immediately brought one thought to Hostetter’s mind.
“Oh, maybe they’ll need an engineer.”
Missionary Craig Young speaks to American mission team members in the century-old chapel of the abandoned Betheline monastery in Marseille, France.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to France to report this special series. Reach him at [email protected].
The Chapelle de Fuveau church is accepting donations to help with the renovation of the former Betheline monastery.
A view outside the former Betheline monastery in Marseille, France.
Filed under: atheists Betheline Christian Outreach Center Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ France International Marseille National News Pitman Road Church of Christ post-Christian Europe Religious nones Top Stories Western Europe
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