Source: Pioneers Australia, December 2016
Lourdes is a Catholic town with a population of around 15,000 people. It hosts almost six million pilgrims every year who come seeking the Virgin Mary for healing. It was here in Lourdes in 1858 that 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous saw apparitions of a lady who declared herself to be the Immaculate Conception. Nearly 800 years before, the region had been given to the authority of the Virgin Mary. Today the town is filled with hotels and religious souvenir shops for pilgrims and the entire economy of Lourdes is dependent on the business of Mary-worship.
There hasn’t been a Protestant church in Lourdes for more than 35 years. In 2015, a Pioneers team moved into town. They have been laboring through prayer and relationship-building over many years towards the goal the Lord placed on their hearts: that Jesus would be worshiped by a body of believers in Lourdes. This has required a battle in the heavenly realms, as they are facing an opposition that is felt but often unseen. We are excited to share that on December 10 the new evangelical church was launched in Lourdes with a Christmas gathering. Official services will begin in 2017.