The city of Grenoble in the French Alps has seen remarkable church growth in recent years. Over the last two years, no less than five evangelical churches have found themselves looking for new worship spaces, three of them specifically to accommodate their growing congregations.
Another encouraging development is that recent church plants are already seeing full Sunday services. As building size becomes a constraint, the solution, in theory, seems simple enough: move to a larger space. Yet this is where the challenge comes in.
Grenoble has recently updated its Intercommunal Local Urban Development Plan (PLUi), which defines the rules for construction and land use for the next 15 years. Churches frequently face closed doors from the local government when they find suitable spaces, only to be denied zoning or construction permits.
