Lydia Langner

My work in Marseille:

In early 2024, while praying, Jesus showed me the city of Marseille in France, a place that hadn’t really meant much to me before. God confirmed this calling in many ways over the next two and a half years. I have now been working there since September 2026 with a team and in collaboration with local churches and organisations, reaching out to young people in the ghettoised housing estates – known as the ‘Cités’ – in the northern districts (Quartiers Nord) of Marseille. They all come from unreached Muslim nations, primarily from North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia). It is very difficult to reach them there, whilst it is easier to introduce them to Jesus here in France. However, there has been virtually no youth social work or long-term missionary work in the Cités to date, and some Cités are closed off to the outside world by the drug clans that call the shots there.

The long-term vision is for my team and I to introduce young people from the most isolated housing estates in Marseille’s northern districts – who come from unreached Muslim communities and are unable to fulfil their potential due to growing up in poverty, crime and social exclusion – to Jesus. This will be achieved by creating a safe space where, through Jesus, they can experience dignity and freedom and be empowered to bring about lasting change in their own communities. In particular, projects in the fields of art, culture, sport and education are intended to build bridges to the young people and their families.