In the French Riviera, Both Arab Immigrants and Their Secular Neighbors Need Jesus

By amazon Thursday, November 21, 2019 Comment Edit

A missionary couple shares the fragrance of Christ in the perfume capital of the world.

When Nicole Derieux committed her life to Christ as a teenager, she imagined leaving her Scottish home to become a missionary in some far off land. Today, sitting on her terrace overlooking the French Riviera, Nicole laughs. “This isn’t what I could have ever imagined,” she says, “but it’s exactly where God wants me to be.”

Nicole and her husband, Vincent, head a ministry called Parfums de Vie (“fragrance of life” in French) in Grasse, a picturesque French city known as the perfume capital of the world. Located a few miles up the hillside from Cannes, the region attracts billionaires, movie stars, and royalty. But behind all the glitz and glamour are vulnerable foreign workers, most from North Africa, who struggle to survive while doing the menial work for the rich. The Derieuxs minister to that population.

“Many of the workers only speak Arabic, live with their families in terrible conditions, and struggle to have a decent life,” says Nicole. “Some have work visas but others are undocumented, making them even more vulnerable.”

When the Derieuxs first moved to the region they asked, “Who would Jesus befriend?” Instead of the rich and famous, they sought out those who are largely invisible: the workers who clean the hotel rooms, haul the garbage, and sweep the streets. “Jesus spent his life living among the marginalized and the poor,” says Vincent, whose own grandparents were evangelized by American missionaries who came to France after World War II.

As the Derieuxs began to learn more about the lives of the mostly Muslim workers, they sensed a great need among their children, in particular. “Although they attend French schools, ...