Will and Joanna Cunningham-Batt
Church-planting in city-centre Bordeaux, France.
Bordeaux is France’s sixth largest city, yet there are only a tiny number of evangelical
churches within the city-centre committed to making disciples of Jesus Christ by proclaiming the gospel.
Whilst Bordeaux is often referred to as one of the most attractive cities in France, it has a significant need for healthy local churches, especially within the city-centre. Planted in October 2023, l’Église de la Communauté Urbaine de Bordeaux (ECUB) exists to enable the inhabitants of Bordeaux to experience reconcilitation with God. Our desire is that as we proclaim the good news of Jesus and live out our new life in Christ together, our church itself will be an attractive witness to the beauty of the gospel in a city that considers Christianity irrelevant, outdated and even offensive.
Calling
Will worked for five years at St Helen’s Bishopsgate, where he helped run an outreach ministry to French-speaking workers in the City of London. We then moved to Brussels for four years to train at the Institut Biblique de Bruxelles (Brussels Bible Institute) where we met Valentin and Myriam Allier, a couple from Toulouse with a heart for church planting in southwest France.
Together, we decided to start a new church in city-centre Bordeaux. Will and Valentin serve as co- pastors of l’ECUB, where Will is primarily responsible for training and discipleship, as well as preaching regularly and co-ordinating our home groups. He is eager to see young men and women serve Jesus Christ with their whole lives and is passionate about equipping future leaders to better understand and teach the Bible.
Joanna spends much of her time raising our four wonderful and very energetic kids. She also loves getting to know other parents from school and helping to disciple women in our church family, not to mention supporting Will in his responsibilites at church.
About us
Will and Joanna are both from the UK, although Joanna spent much of her childhood overseas. Will studied French and Italian at university, during which time he experienced life in different local churches in various European cities, from Brussels to Bologna. We are both convinced of the need to see more gospel-proclaiming, Bible-teaching churches established in cities across Europe, and Bordeaux is a fantastic opportunity to do this. We are conscious of how much we have received in God’s goodness through our own local churches over the past years and now we want to be able to play our part in serving those who have not experienced such blessings.