Nearly Half of France’s Sectarian-Drift Reports from 2021 to 2024 Involved Evangelical Churches

A Radio France investigation, based on information from the investigation unit, reports that between 2021 and 2024 nearly half of the reports received by the Interministerial Mission for Vigilance and Combating Sectarian Drift (MIVILUDES) about risks of sectarian drift involving religious movements concerned evangelical Protestantism. MIVILUDES head Donatien Le Vaillant said that this share does not match the proportion of evangelicals among the faithful of any worship in France. “So there is a disproportion between the number of reports addressed to us and the number of evangelical people in France,” he said. “That is still something very worrying.”

The evangelical movement is growing. According to figures from the National Council of Evangelicals of France (CNEF), a new evangelical church opens every ten days in France. Romain Choisnet, the council’s communications director, said the latest available estimates put the number of people in France who describe themselves as evangelical at between 1.1 and 1.2 million, a fifteenfold increase over 70 years. Some of these congregations are megachurches with large sound and light productions and thousands of worshippers per service, and their leaders maintain a visible presence on social media. Proselytizing is a central part of evangelical belief, the Bible is treated as a guide for every area of life, and churches may ask members for occasional offerings or a regular tithe, which the report describes as a contribution that can reach 10% of income. Sébastien Fath, a historian and CNRS researcher who specializes in the movement in France, said that in most evangelical churches in France the tithe is a suggestion and is not imposed.

The report notes that public authorities are concerned about some of these churches. Sectarian drift, as the report describes it, occurs when a person suffers moral, physical or financial harm after being manipulated and placed under mental control, and cuts ties with relatives or former life. Audrey Foulon, president of the National Centre for Family Support Facing Sectarian Control (Caffes), said such situations involve “a leader who uses a doctrine” and, under its cover, “compels the person to act in his own interest.” Fath said that in evangelical churches the strong commitment asked of members, including in worship attendance, financial support and proselytizing, can sometimes come with increased control. The report also says that Fath cautioned against judging practices from the outside without understanding them. He described the festive offering in many sub-Saharan churches as a different expression of devotion that is not necessarily sectarian in itself.

The report cites remarks by Alain Patrick Tsengue, who calls himself an apostle, in a “masterclass” given on November 9, 2021, to young leaders of his church, the Christian Assembly for Evangelization and Revival (Acer). In the recording, he tells the audience that “the culture of obedience” must be taught, and that a new convert must be made to understand that they must obey. When he referred to people who criticized his methods within the church, he said: “But you’ve just converted… Your brain, it must be washed! There’s still too much dirt inside.”

Impact Centre Chrétien (ICC) is another megachurch in the report. Its building, “Cité Royale,” is in Croissy-Beaubourg in Seine-et-Marne, and thousands gather there each Sunday. Pastor Yvan Castanou founded the church in 2002 with his twin brother, Yves. The report says it has 15,000 followers in France, 50,000 worldwide, and 119 churches in 30 countries.

The report describes a father, identified as Jean, whose wife joined ICC several years ago. He said that at first he saw no harm, but that over time his wife and children spent more and more time at the church, and that sermon videos by the pastor were played at home “24 hours a day,” according to Jean. He also said that his wife, a healthcare worker, became increasingly skeptical about vaccines during the Covid-19 period, which he attributed to Castanou’s sermons. In particular, he pointed to a sermon delivered on March 8, 2020, in which the pastor said the virus “will do no harm” to his faithful and that they would not contaminate others, even by touch. Questioned about that sermon, Castanou invoked a “language of faith” not to be taken literally, and said he had himself been vaccinated against Covid-19.

ICC promotes what it calls “divine healings” in its outreach. A podcast series titled “Visitations Divines” features testimonies of supposed miraculous healings, and a site called “Osez Jésus” published testimonies that the report says go further. One woman, Ange, 53, wrote that she had been prescribed lifelong treatment for osteoarthritis and decided to stop her medication and injections, trusting that Jesus had already healed her. Foulon said that publishing such testimonies is dangerous because others may think, “Why not me?” Castanou told the report that this was not the message he wished to convey, but that he considered such testimonies useful in building up faith. After Radio France’s questions, he shut down the sites. In an email, he said the osezjesus.com site was taken down for maintenance, “the time to clearly indicate on the platform that it is strongly discouraged and extremely dangerous to stop any treatment without medical advice.” The report cites a concern for protecting people who are vulnerable (Psalm 82:3) as it describes these testimonies reaching people facing serious illness.

Judith, a former ICC member, told the investigation unit and Mediapart that between 2019 and 2021 she tried to recruit new members using this kind of messaging about an alleged healing. She now says she was under mental control. She said that, from her arrival, she was placed under the responsibility of a female mentor who allegedly intruded into her private life little by little. “We had to say everything we did, including whether we were talking with boys,” she said.

Source: Read the original report (translated from French)