Hello Friends,
September is a month of new beginnings in France. It’s the rentrée de l’école and everyone get’s back to work and la vie associative after having changer l’aire for a couple of weeks or so in August. It is, practically speaking, the “new year” of our ministry and family life. Because of this, September is one of our busiest months. With our recent new beginning only a month old we were feeling a little daunted about the big restart. Augmenting that feeling of trepidation were our memories of last September in which Silas broke his arm just before starting at a new school and Reuben began his long and difficult experience of migraines.
Much to our joy, this year’s rentrée has gone so much better! Life has been full, and not without challenges, but we are so grateful for good health at the beginning of this school year and for strong starts for each of our kids. It has also been a month in which I (Tom) have been able to share the gospel in conversation with neighbors and friends more than usual. One reason for this is our wonderful blessing, Aaron. In the many re-connecting moments of September/October, I’ve been asked over and again about how I’m doing having a baby in my 40s. I can’t help but respond that my heart is so full of love for this little guy, even though he hasn’t done anything yet but arrive. I’ve felt a strong nudge from the Holy Spirit in nearly all of these moments to go on and speak about how being a new Dad again is reminding me of my Heavenly Father’s impossibly big love for me. God is working in these conversations and I’m so grateful to be part of it. Thank you so very much for praying with us and for your partnership with our family as we seek to love our French neighbors with a fraction of the love God has for us.
Not only has Aaron been a catalyst for evangelism, he’s also a fun baby and we are enjoying watching him grow. Joanna and Aaron are both doing well, though still not getting very long stretches of sleep. Here are a few pictures:
Along with baby pictures, in this newsletter we want to share with you several elements of our ministry work here in Caen which we are excited about for this coming “new year”. Thank you for praying with us about these dreams and opportunities.
Art Expo in Caen
Joanna won a grant last year from the GEM’s EBI fund to put on an art exposition in Caen. Her vision for this project is to provide an interactive art space as an outreach for not-yet believers in our city. She has invited three local artist friends to collaborate with her on this expo and the painting work has begun! The theme for the expo is ‘transformation’ and they will be creating works of art which evoke and proclaim the sort of transformations or divine exchanges the Bible speaks about as the work of God in our lives (beauty for ashes, heart of flesh for a heart of stone). Please hold this exciting outreach in prayer as the artists work together and on their preparations. This exposition will take place in February 2026 .
Hosting + Community
Last year, our health challenges and the arrival of our 5th child limited our ability to host larger events in our home as has been our custom. Instead, we’ve been having smaller gatherings or simply hosting one person or family at a time and it has been great! We are beginning to sense a pull to host some sort of Bible study group in our home this year. Please pray with us about what this might look like, who we might invite, and about timing. We have lots of ideas, but want to move a good pace and hear the Lord with this. Also, we are looking ahead to thanksgiving next month and are hoping to host a reasonable size gathering in our home as is our custom. Please pray as we prepare for this event.
Sports Outreach
Friendship in France grows slowly. This is a cross-cultural reality that we found frustrating in our early years here. However, friendship in France also grows deep; and this cultural value is now bearing fruit, especailly for Tom, in his relationships with other men through sport. Over the past year, Tom’s role in his badminton club has become something like a chaplaincy. He is invited to mediate conflict, has been asked to participate in baptisms and weddings, friends confide in him and he offers prayer, and he is able to proclaim the gospel regularly. This year there are new opportunities opening up for Tom to play sports with groups of not-yet-believing men. Please pray for wisdom in what to pick up and what to lay down, and for how and when to proclaim the gospel with these friends.
Church Planting
It’s been encouraging to see our three oldest sons helping lead worship on consistent basis with me at our church plant, Bon Berger. I’m excited about a weekly outreach that has begun out of Bon Berger: prayer walking with a view to speak with people we meet about Jesus in a neighborhood in Caen called Grâce de Dieu. Hoping to help boost this effort, we’re thrilled to have a missions team from Fairview Church in Lebanon, TN coming to join us for an outreach event in this neighborhood in March 2026. Please pray that we would keep in step with how God is leading, for growth in church, and for our community outreaches.
Catholic Connections
Perhaps the ministry work that I’ve been most encouraged by in the past couple of years has been my involvement with the Alpha course run by our local Catholic church. I’ve gotten to know the team that leads Alpha regionally and it’s been a joy to work together with them and see several people come to faith. There is more to write about this than will fit in this short update, but I love the way God seems to be building unity in this and the moments of healing that have come for many of my french Catholic friends who have been hurt by the evangelical church in the past. We are praying now about whether we might be able to run a combined catholic and evangelical Alpha course! Please cover these relationships in prayer, particularly my friendships with the Alpha leadership and with the parish priests.
Onelife Conference and Travel
Tom will be traveling with his three oldest sons to the UK later this month for the Onelife conference. Reuben and Eli had their first experience at Onelife about 18 months ago and it was a huge encouragement in their faith. This year Silas will be joining us.
Please pray for encouragement and growth as the boys get to gather with around 100 other young leaders (11-18) from across the UK who are full of faith and passionate about seeing God’s kingdom come in their lives.
Please pray for a good Sunday of connection at Christ Church on October 26.
Please pray for a smooth ferry crossing as Tom had a tough time with seasickness on his last crossing.
Thank you as always for your partnership in gospel, for you care and support of our family, and for your prayers with us. May you know deeply the peace of Jesus and His sustaining presence as you walk with Him.
Every Blessing,
The Appels
