“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

The Long and Winding Road (Back) to Saint Sébastien

By Jonathan Chereau

The verse above summarizes our calling to ministry. My wife Michelle is from Ecuador. She, her mother, and her two siblings immigrated to Spain for a better life. I am French and grew up in a Christian family. We had different ways of seeing life as we grew up.

Though worlds apart, God brought the two of us together in 2006 in Madrid, Spain. At the time, I worked with Operation Mobilization (OM; a mission organization) in Nantes, France. OM organized a mission trip to Spain with the Saint Sébastien Church youth group to visit IM missionaries in the Madrid area. I was not planning to go on the trip, but at the last moment, a seat became available.

OM asked me to participate as one of the leaders of the trip as part of my ongoing training. Michelle and I encountered one another several times during our visit and activities in Spain. We exchanged emails and kept in touch after the trip.

Before long, I decided to move to Spain to be close to her. The Lord let me find a job in Spain. We dated then married in 2012, starting our life together. A year later, our first daughter Zoe arrived. The next year, Michelle graduated from college. However, we barely survived on my one small salary. We decided to move to France to seek better opportunities for our family.

I really struggled with this idea; I loved life in Spain. But we moved forward with the plan. I found a job quickly as a restaurant manager. We began attending Saint Sébastien FWB Church. Missionaries Robert and Judy Bryan were helping the church after it had experienced many problems. Then, in 2017, Robert began to prepare for retirement, looking for a team to lead the church because we didn’t have a pastor to take over. In the beginning, four couples formed a leadership team. During a church business meeting, some members began to discuss the future of the church. Some people felt strongly that it was time to close the church.

I remember sitting in the back because I arrived late from work. The atmosphere was charged with tension. Some people wanted to continue the church; others didn’t. After listening for a time, I felt moved to lift my hand and ask to speak. I told the congregation we needed to step up as church members and put maximum effort into continuing the church, to shoulder our responsibility.

At the end of the meeting, we voted to keep the church functioning. This moment marked a shift in our focus. The four couples on the leadership team worked together to carry out responsibilities. Time passed, and we felt the need to have a full-time missionary in the church. Initially, Michele and I didn’t feel it was our place, our calling, to lead. Since arriving at Saint Sébastien, we had struggled to determine why God wanted us in France. I didn’t like my job; Michelle couldn’t find work.

Michelle and I began talking at length about the idea of being missionaries. We started praying about it. We also began turning to other people for advice. We felt the need to have someone full-time at the church and wondered if maybe God just wanted us to step up. The need was certainly obvious. Robert shared three prayers with us to help decide if God really was calling us. First, ask God to show us His plan for us. Second, pray if this decision was His will we would have peace and wisdom in the situation. And third, pray for God to open doors to make it clear it was His will.

In October 2018, I sat in my apartment with Robert Bryan, Dennis Teague, and Douglas Randlett, talking about the future. Douglas looked at Michelle and me and said, “I see you in the U.S. this summer.” However, nothing was settled or approved. We didn’t even have a glimpse of being missionaries. However, in April 2019 we met with the IM board and received approval as interns to come to the U.S. in July. Once again, we were reminded when you follow God’s will, He opens doors. God accomplishes everything according to His purpose.

So, we started our journey as missionaries. It wasn’t easy. I had to resign from my job. We gave up our apartment and put everything in the church garage during the time we were in the U.S. We spent three exciting months traveling, speaking in churches, and meeting people.

We returned to France ready to conquer the world for Christ! We had so many ideas, but COVID arrived right after our return. It was a difficult start to our ministry. Or, as Dennis Teague told us many times, “Welcome to ministry!”

Our own enthusiasm for ministry was not at the same level as the other leaders in the church. If you know me, I get a little too excited when I have big ideas. We prayed for guidance, but all of us felt we were not on the same page. Our leadership team dissolved right in the middle of the pandemic, and we suddenly found ourselves in charge of the church.

I remember looking around and asking myself if this really was what God wanted for us. This moment in our internship was the hardest time we have had. We lost friends. We shed tears. We felt powerless. For the first time as a family, we wandered in the wilderness. Although everything looked hopeless, we thanked God for great leaders like Dennis and Carol Teague and coworkers like Joel and Lydie Teague, who helped us find our path and motivation to continue the work in France.

After this long and winding road, today, we work at the church in Saint Sébastien—a small, multicultural church. Our members share the desire to serve God together. We have couples from Africa, South America, and France. It’s amazing how people with such diverse backgrounds enjoy being together to worship God and grow spiritually.

During training, we were told, “Find something you are good at, that your community likes, and you have a bridge to your community.” We wanted to build that bridge to our community. Something God could use to reach people for Christ. Michelle has a major in English, and she has a passion for kids. So, we started outreach through “Connexion Kidz” (translated Kids Connection).

At the beginning, around ten kids attended with their mothers. This outreach provided a great opportunity for us to show how a church operates and share a testimony to our community. Everything is done in English, and we offer this for free. The kids learn a story. They enjoy games, activities, and a craft. At the end, we share a snack and good conversations around homemade pies prepared by the moms.

In 2022, when churches returned to normal after the pandemic, we began to see people turning to the church for answers. Young people read the Bible during lockdown and were seeking a church. Last year, we baptized three people, and ten new people began coming to church. Even though the pandemic was a major struggle for us, we see God’s hand in every step.

Day by day, through each curve in this winding road, we see Romans 8:28 being fulfilled in our lives and ministry. God has been faithful. We trust Him and His plan for us, even though it did not happen as we planned.

We pray our church continues to grow in number, but we also pray we will be stronger in our testimony to those around us. May God give us more opportunities to build more bridges to our community.

About the Writer: Jonathan and Michelle Chereau are currently in the States raising support for their next term of ministry at the Saint Sébastien church in the greater Nantes area of France. The couple has three daughters. Learn more: iminc.org.