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By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged
MARSEILLE, France — God and Google can bring people together in any language.
Melanie van der Vorst, a social worker from the Netherlands, speaks Dutch, English and a bit of German.
But not French.
That language barrier presented a slight challenge as van der Vorst, a Christian, looked for a place to worship during a recent trip to this Western European nation.
The challenge was one, though, that she overcame.
A little internet searching and a phone call preceded van der Vorst’s visit to the Chapelle de Fuveau Church of Christ, the Marseille congregation where I met her on a Sunday morning.
“I work with children with severe behavioral problems and trauma,” she told me, explaining the circumstances that brought her to France. “And one client, she is cycling up a mountain with a team, and I wanted to come to support her.”
Van der Vorst stayed in Mollans-sur-Ouvèze, a village about 90 miles north of Marseille, a seaside port that is France’s second-largest city.
“While being here, I thought, ‘Let’s explore the south of France,’ and I wanted to go to church,” van der Vorst said as we talked at a fellowship meal after worship
A member of the Eindhoven Church of Christ at home — nearly 700 miles north of Marseille — she was pleased to find a sister congregation in this Mediterranean melting pot.
This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.
Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.
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