The student Bible groups of French-speaking Switzerland’s free evangelical churches are showing signs of renewal after several secondary-school groups faded during the Covid-19 pandemic. Jean-René Moret, secretary general of the GBEU de Suisse romande, says groups in Geneva and Fribourg are being reborn and that he hopes more will follow.
Moret, a former pastor of the FREE church in Cologny who took up the role a year ago, described his first year as “wonderful and eventful.” The GBEU works with university and secondary-school students across Switzerland’s French-speaking region and forms part of the ministry of La FREE, the federation of evangelical churches of French-speaking Switzerland. Over the past year the movement has inaugurated new premises while navigating a series of staffing changes.
Looking ahead, Moret identified what he called a “restrictive vision of secularism” as a key challenge, warning that it threatens the freedom of students to meet and discuss spiritual matters. He noted that many students now work to finance their studies and increasingly lack a Christian cultural background, yet are often struck by the warmth of welcome they find in the Bible groups. “The conviction that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always the best answer to the challenges of life, student or otherwise,” he said, drives the work.
(Originally published in French. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: La FREE / Fédération Romande d'Églises Évangéliques — lafree.ch/jesus-la-meilleure-reponse-aux-defis-de-la-vie-etudiante/
