Praise, prayer, and the Word of God filled the streets of Paris this weekend as more than 25,000 people participated in the March For Jesus in France.
"If we want to touch the world, there is one condition: it is to love each other as Christ loved us," said Pastor Jean Luc Trachsel who delivered a message near the Eiffel Tower.
The massive gathering of believers across Paris on May 25th reportedly broke record participation when attendees gathered together to "bear witness publicly and in unity" about their faith in Jesus Christ.
A coalition of ministries organized the event which took place in Paris and four other cities including Lille, Nantes, Metz, and Strasbourg.
The organizers told EvangelicalFocus.com that the gathering "allowed Christians of all denominations to raise the name of Jesus above their theological differences."
"We opened ourselves to the entire evangelical Protestant spectrum thanks to the participation of several churches such as MLK, Hillsong, ICC, but also Baptist, charismatic, and more traditional Protestant churches. This is my role, as coordinator, to keep unity and unite around Jesus," Gilbert Léonian, the pastor in charge of the Paris march told the French outlet, InfoChretienne.com.
According to the "March For Jesus France" website, the first such march took place in Paris in 1991 and was later organized in smaller cities.
But this year's march in Paris broke its record with more than 25,000 participants, according to French authorities. Participation in the four other cities reached the thousands.
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"If we are here, it is not for a religion or to promote our church, but because there is someone who has touched us deeply - Jesus," Trachsel said.
Léonian told InfoChretienne.com that last year 15,000 believers gathered in Paris and about 3,000 gathered in other cities. He had hoped that this year's participation would reach 20,000.
"We must put Christ at the center of everything, he is the only one who brings us together, through whom we can be saved and the response to the needs of the French," he told the outlet a few days before the event.
And a few thousand more showed up.
"I met Catholic, Pentecostal, charismatic brothers and sisters. I saw Baptists, I even saw Orthodox!" he said, referring to the different denominations present at the march. "Thus, it is not 'a religion', nor even 'a church' that Christians have come to promote but a single name, that of Jesus," said Trachsel.
The march in Paris ended with a concert by Hillsong FR and the Catholic group Glorious, and Trachsel says many people were "saved, healed and baptized in the Holy Spirit."
"If God does this in France, He can and will do it throughout Europe and in the nations of the world. It is harvest time and revival has begun," said Trachsel. "In the midst of chaos, wars, opposition, and even persecution, the Glory of God arises as we arise to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a demonstration of power."
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