France (MNN) – France is bracing for another round of protests as schools reopened this week. Both students and labor unions have called for a general strike today on trains and public services.

Anna Mosimi with PHARE FM, a partner of Trans World Radio, says the unrest raises questions about France’s fading Christian identity.

Youth protests, Jules Ferry à Paris, October 2, 2026. (Photo courtesy of Guallendra/Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jules_Ferry_%C3%A0_Paris_manif_2_octobre_2026.jpg)

“People [are] like, ‘Who’s that Jesus? What are you talking about?’” says Mosimi. “We have cathedrals everywhere, churches everywhere, old buildings that are 500 years old, and people just pass by and don’t even realize what it is anymore.”

Fewer than half of French people now profess Christianity, largely Roman Catholicism. That number has been declining at least since 2010, according to Pew Research Center. Even then, many are Christian in name only; far from active in their faith. Evangelicals are only about 1% of the population.

PHARE FM shares the Gospel in France through Christian radio. Mosimi recalls a local woman who vehemently opposed Christianity – until she stumbled upon the station.

“She kept coming back to the radio, kept coming back until the Lord made the process [of softening] her heart with the content. At some point she was like, ‘Okay, I cannot just stand behind my radio station and just listen. I need now to find a community.’”

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France (Photo courtesy of Kevin Bessat/Unsplash)

Mosimi says, “She pushed the door of a church and then got baptized a few weeks later, and now she is a faithful Christian!”

As Christians consider France’s current spiritual state and its implications for the nation’s future, one pastor encourages believers to view the nation through a new spiritual lens.

“People try to say France is a post-Christian country,” explains Mosimi. “This pastor said the opposite. He was like, ‘We are a pre-revival country.”

Pray for true spiritual revival across France. Ask God to draw spiritually curious French people to Jesus, and for local churches to welcome and disciple new believers.

Mosimi encourages, “As we might see the darkness kind unfolding and getting darker in France, I think there is also the glory of God showing itself even brighter, and there is hope.”

Header photo: Église Saint-Merri, Rue de la Verrerie, Paris, France (Photo courtesy of Anis Coquelet/Unsplash)