by STACEY HEANEY

A MOIRA woman who spent time in France helping her husband build a Baptist church has told her story in a new book.

Joan Crory's account of her time, 'A French Adventure', will be launched this (Saturday) in Moira Baptist Church Hall at 8pm.

Joan and her husband George, who was a Baptist Pastor before retiring four years ago, spent nine years in Central France where they overcame the language barrier to befriend the local community and plant a Church which is still thriving today.

Joan explained: "This book is a personal story of nine years in France with Baptist Missions, trying to plant an Evangelical Church."

The couple were in France from 1985 to 1994 and Joan explained their journey started when a young man they knew returned home while working in France.

"We saw him when he came home to visit and he was very tired and we felt that God was saying to us to go and help him out, so we applied to the Baptist Missions."

Joan said the move to France, which meant leaving behind their two daughters Pauline and Fiona and their son Peter, had been difficult for the whole family.

"Our younger daughter was 17 when we left and because we lived in a Manse when we left, they had to find a new home, so it was hard for them," she said.

Joan added: "We were in a small place called Trevoux, and set about planting an Evangelical Church in Neuville.

"In a lot of towns in France there is no Evangelical place to worship at all. The brief was to plant a little Church there and we did, it's still there and still going, which is great."

Joan's journey in France wasn't all plain sailing, however, and she and George found the language barrier quite difficult to cross. "The biggest headache was the language" she explained. "We went to language school in Paris for nine months before we arrived in the town. We went to a small village where we didn't know a soul and we used to invite our neighbours in one by one to get to know them, which in France is very unusual. Here we are very welcoming, but in France they are different with people they don't know, so it was quite unusual to invite strangers into your home."

Joan concluded, "This book is my personal account of what it was like to be there and start something from nothing."

Joan's book 'A French Adventure', will be available from Faith Mission, Vic Ryn and all Christian Outlets. Everybody is welcome to attend the launch tomorrow at 8pm, at which she will be giving a talk.

stacey.heaney@jpress.co.uk

Ulster Star
26/09/2008