Christians with a Muslim background make a difference for Jesus in France – The Christian Chronicle

MARSEILLE, FRANCE — A stained-glass chapel — a symbol of institutional religion — sits at one end of the Betheline.
At the former monastery’s other end, friends and strangers alike find a “house church.” 
That’s how missionary Craig Young describes the informal welcoming presence of Khaled and Djedjiga Hassani, who serve as the property’s caretakers.
Faith in France: Read all the stories in the special series
“The door is always open, the coffee is always hot, and lives are always being touched,” Young said of the immigrant couple’s simple living quarters, where a small needlepoint portrait of Jesus hangs on the wall.
“There’s hospitality as a word,” the missionary added, “and then there’s what they do, which is a different level.”
On a recent morning, the former Muslims served a Kabyle omelet — a sweet, spongy cake made with eggs, flour and baking powder — as they welcomed a small group of visiting American church members.
A group prays in home of Khaleb and Djedjiga Hassani, caretakers of a former monastery that the Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ is transforming into a Christian outreach center.
While offering cups of tea and coffee, the hosts invited the guests to drizzle honey on the omelet and spread fig jam — homemade from trees on the Betheline grounds — on bread.
As Marseille’s Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ works to transform the dilapidated former monastery into a Christian outreach center, the Hassanis provide a mix of physical labor and spiritual encouragement.
“Khaled is a mechanic,” Young said of his best friend. “His father taught him mechanics in Algeria and taught him how to work on tractors, so now he just works on anything. He could probably do just about anything to a motor with a piece of wire.”
Djedgiga maintains the kitchen, drawing rave reviews for her culinary skills.
At age 8, she started cooking with her grandmother, preparing meals in a tiny casserole pot. Decades later, she has no problem feeding a handful of people — or three dozen.
“I grew up in a big family, so 30 people for us is nothing,” she said through a French interpreter. “I can make enough for them. It’s really not a big deal.”
Djedjiga enjoys cooking and serving groups large and small.
As ethnic Berbers, an Indigenous people group in North Africa, Khaled and Djedjiga spoke Kabyle growing up.
An arranged marriage brought the two together a quarter-century ago.
As a young man, Khaled, now 55, served as a soldier in Algeria. He immigrated to France in 2001, a few months after the couple’s wedding. Djedjiga followed him to the Western European nation shortly afterward.
Soon after Khaled’s arrival in Marseille, he met people from the Chapelle de Fuveau church. A dinner invitation and a bowling outing led to him visiting the church and developing relationships with Christians, including missionaries Garth and Diana Hutchinson.
A discussion between Garth and Khaled turned to the differences between Christianity and Islam.
“It was getting a little tense,” Garth said of the conversation before a meal at the Hutchinsons’ home.
An arranged marriage brought Khaled and Djedjiga Hassani together. They consider it a match made in heaven.
Lightening the mood, the missionary told his Muslim friend, “I’m going to pray that one day you preach the Gospel in Algeria.”
Khaled laughed heartily at the suggestion.
For eight years, Khaled wrestled with what to make of Christianity.
Related: In secular France, Christians work to bring new life to an old monastery
If his children wanted to become Christians, he decided, that would be OK.

“But it’s not for me,” he told himself.
Later, he contemplated becoming a Christian but not telling anybody. Or maybe, he thought, he could be a Muslim and a Christian.
“But Jesus says you can’t serve two masters,” he said. “And there’s only one choice. I prayed as a Muslim about my decision to become a Christian.”
Finally, he gave his life to Jesus — despite the rift his conversion caused with extended family.
Khaled thanked Christians in Marseille for their patience with him.
A small needlepoint portrait of Jesus hangs on the Hassanis’ living room wall.
But he’s far from alone. 
“Any (evangelistic) work in France is a long haul,” Diana Hutchinson said. “It took eight years for Khaled, but it’s just as long for other French people. They’re very suspicious, and they distrust religion. Because of the history of all the religious wars in France, they have a good reason for that.”
After Khaled’s baptism, Djedgiga told her husband, “I’m going to see if this Jesus changes anything.”
“I’m going to see if this Jesus changes anything.”
He changed everything.
“Khaled’s personality, his behavior, his patience all changed,” Djedgiga said. “He learned to listen, and now he has a heart for God.”
Besides needing to see Khaled’s transformation, Djedgiga required a better understanding of the Bible. As her French improved, the sermons she heard made more sense.
Some of the meals made by Djedjiga Hassani during a recent mission trip by American Christians to Marseille, France.
“It took me about 10 years,” she said, “to realize that God is God, Jesus is Jesus, and Jesus is my Savior.”
Two years after Khaled’s immersion, Djedgiga followed him into the baptistery.
Later, Khaled traveled to Algeria for his father’s funeral. While there, he visited a church not far from his village. The minister asked him to preach.
“As I was standing up, I thought about what Garth said,” Khaled said.
God answered Garth’s prayer, and Khaled couldn’t be happier about it.
Immigrant Khaled Hassani and missionary Craig Young, pictured at the former Betheline monastery in Marseille, France, are best friends.
Even as Khaled became a leader in the Chapelle de Fuveau church, his faith journey brought trials.
A decade ago, a car struck the Hassanis’ daughter Lili — the third of their four children — as she walked home from school. 
Then 10, Lili suffered serious injuries and required multiple surgeries.
“See what happens when you leave the Muslim faith,” he remembers some people telling him.
The woman whose inattention caused the collision never apologized. Khaled’s anger burned against her, and he sought compensation from her in a tribunal court.
But when an officer asked Lili in a legal proceeding if she wanted the woman to pay for what she did, the child replied, “I forgive her because I’m a Christian.”
“I forgive her because I’m a Christian.”
A hush fell over the room, and Khaled had to decide quickly whether to continue with the case. 
“I realized I had spent eight years thinking about the decision to be baptized and then another eight years as a Christian,” he said, “but I hadn’t understood forgiveness.”
However, his daughter had.
“I told the officer, ‘You can just write down what she said.’”
Khaled Hassani speaks at the Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ in Marseille, France.
Khaled Hassani speaks at the Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ in Marseille, France.
The Hassanis view their work at the Betheline as a calling.
In the renovation efforts, Djedgiga said she sees God in action daily.
“It’s as if I’m reading the Bible, and it’s happening live in front of me,” she said.
Khaled and Djedjiga Hassani serve as caretakers for the former Betheline monastery, which is being renovated as a Christian resource center.
As Khaled sees it, the outreach center — aimed at reaching lost souls — will build on a foundation already laid.
“I’m the fruit of a project like this,” he said. “I’m already that person.”
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].
Filed under: Berbers Betheline Christian Outreach Center Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ Christians former monastery former Muslims France house church International People Top Stories Western Europe
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