We are pleased to welcome Jim Winkler, President and General Secretary of the U.S. National Council of Churches to the pulpit this Sunday. Jim will also be leading a Thurber Conversation next Tuesday on The Post-Pandemic Church. Learn more and register here.

Jim is well-known among United Methodists for his nearly 30 years of service at the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church. At the Board of Church and Society, he held the position of seminar designer, director of annual conference relations, and assistant general secretary of resourcing congregational life, before his election as general secretary in 2000. As top executive of the board, Winkler focused on the implementation of the United Methodist Social Principles through education, witness, and advocacy.

In 2013, Winkler was elected as president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the United States. The NCC is an ecumenical partnership of 38 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member denominations, churches, conventions, and archdioceses include Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African-American, and Living Peace traditions, in a common commitment to advocate and represent God’s love and promise of unity in our public square.

As president and general secretary, Winkler is the public voice of the NCC and represents the Council as it addresses its major priorities: mass incarceration and interreligious relationships with a focus on peace. In 2019 the Council officially added the priority of ending racism. Winkler studied African history at the University of Illinois, received a master’s degree in American history at George Mason University, and was granted an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Claremont School of Theology. He attends Fairlington United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, where his wife, Michelle Tello, is the office manager. Jim has three children. 

Children's Worship Service

Previous Children's Worship Online Services are available here.

Featuring Jim Winkler- President and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in the United States
Tuesday 21 September 19h30-21h in person and via Zoom.

Register here to attend this Thurber conversation in person or via Zoom.

It's been 18 months since churches across the globe began to reinvent/restructure their ministries in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. We're continuing to meet and function differently here at ACP. The questions many ask concerning our future are these:

What will the Church look like when the pandemic abates?

What will we have learned, and how will we function differently?

What new visions for the Church is God seeking to inspire within us, post-pandemic?

Join us live/in person at ACP, or online via Zoom as we hear from and interact with Jim Winkler.  Jim is a whimsically wise church leader who will be sharing some of the insights and reflections he has gleaned through his consistent engagement with pastors and churches across the globe.

As president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches, Jim oversees an ecumenical partnership of thirty-eight Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member denominations, churches, conventions, and archdioceses include Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African-American, and Living Peace traditions – in a common commitment to advocate and represent God’s love and promise of unity in our public square.

Thurber Conversations are an adult community gathering and growth time that is open to all.

Video recordings of selected past Thurber Lectures and Conversations here

Worship+2 is our formula for spiritual health! Whether you are in Paris or traveling, you can join God's people for corporate worship every week on Sunday.

During the week, make sure you are feeding your heart, mind, and soul with life-giving encouragement and inspiration through a small group, prayer, or Bible study group. The plus 1!

Then, make sure that you are exercising your gifts with life-giving service, for example, by singing in the choir, playing in the band, teaching a class, helping out with Children's Worship, serving as an usher or welcome host, scripture reader, or communion server on Sundays, preparing food for Thurber Lectures or the Friday Mission Lunch, or taking food out to people experiencing homelessness. The plus 2!

Explore the many Worship+2 opportunities here.

Everybody Always! Becoming love in a world full of setbacks and difficult people.
Wednesdays 19h30-21h via Zoom (15 September through 20 October).

Register here to receive Zoom link.

As we learn and grow together at ACP this autumn we're going to stretch ourselves and challenge one another to deepen our love for the people God loves. Let's face it...it's easy to love kind, lovely, humble people, but we'll need to tackle our fear in order to love people who are difficult for us to handle. Perhaps we'll learn to love them without seeking to handle them.

Using curriculum based on Bob Goff's New York Times best seller Everybody Always- each week we'll hear from our Christian brother Bob and then discuss and discern the ways Jesus might be prompting us to learn, grow, and change.

Join us for a 6 week large group exploration of learning to love extravagantly, and then get to know others who are making the journey of faith with you through regular small group breakout sessions.

September 15 Love People Where You Are

September 22 Catch People on the Bounce

September 29 Don't Play It Safe

October 6 Look at What's in Your Bucket

October 13 Love Even the Difficult People

October 20 Loving Others Live! (A live pot-luck canape party at the Fondell's home located at ACP- with Zoom participation for those who cannot gather live.)

Bob Goff says, “Following Christ means more than just putting a toe in the water when it comes to loving others. It means grabbing your knees and doing a cannonball!” And, as Jesus revealed in the Gospels, it means learning to love even the ones who are difficult to love. Our Everybody Always journey will provide practical steps to help us make that cannonball leap of faith.

Register here to receive Zoom link.

Welcome and Inclusion at the American Church in Paris
Every Second Thursday beginning 23 September 19h30-21h via Zoom.

Register here to receive Zoom link.

Join us for a 5 week study of 7 key Bible texts that stir the hearts and minds of Christians across the globe, and unfortunately, too often leave the church divided. Some may believe an exploration of the Biblical texts relating to same sex-relationship too big of a hot-button issue, one that will only lead to more division. Yet here at ACP we believe a study such as this is not about an issue... it's about a face, a person, a family member, a friend, a colleague, a child of God.

Each week one of your ACP pastors will guide the study and discussion of the key texts, in the hope that our time together in study will enrich our understanding of what it means for us to be a welcoming/inclusive church.

Whether you have strong views, confused views, or unexamined views on same sex-relationships you're welcome to join us every other Thursday this autumn via Zoom. Please register for this Bible Study that begins on 23 September.

September 23 - Noah and Ham- Genesis 9 and Sodom and Gomorrah- Genesis 19

October 7 - The Holiness Codes- Leviticus 18 and 20

October 21 - The Roman Context- Romans 1

November 4 - The Great Debate- I Corinthians 6 and I Timothy 1

November 18 - A Constructive Conversation about what we've learned.

Register here to receive Zoom link.

Online Course beginning Monday 27 September 20h30 to 22h

11-week course

Got questions about life? Try the Alpha Course

Ever wanted to explore the meaning of life or ask challenging questions about the Christian faith? Do you have a family member, friend, neighbor, or colleague who is asking questions about life? If you've answered "yes" then the Alpha Course is for you!

Alpha is an opportunity for anyone to explore the Christian faith in a relaxed, informal, and friendly way. It welcomes all those big questions – and it's free!

For more information, and to register for the Alpha course, please feel free to contact the Alpha team here. Once you’ve registered you’ll receive an email from the Alpha team shortly before the first session on 27 September with all the information about how to connect.

We are now making preparations to relaunch in-person Children's Worship!

On Sunday 5 September, we will once again be welcoming children into our Children's Worship spaces during the 11h and 14h services. On that same day, we will be having a kick-off party for families following the 11h service! We hope to see you there for this special day. As we get ready, there are a few important changes regarding child safety policies and practices that we would like all of our parents and caretakers to be aware of.

Please note that beginning this autumn:

1) All children who attend Children's Worship must be registered for the CW program. Please fill out the ACP Children's Worship 2021-2022 Registration form!

2) Each Sunday, all children who plan on attending Children's Worship must be checked in at our Children's Check-in desk prior to the service. To facilitate this, it would be best if you and your family could plan on arriving at the church 10-15 minutes prior to your service (10h45 or 13h45) in order to allow for plenty of time to complete this crucial step. After you've checked in, you can proceed to the sanctuary with your family, and children will be dismissed to Children's Worship partway through the service as they have in the past.

More details will be forthcoming as we get closer to the rentrée.  For further information, contact Allison Wheeler, Director of Children's Ministry.

The Rev. Dr. Paul Thomas Rock grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, Springfield, Virginia, and Stillwater, Minnesota. Paul has been engaged in mission and pastoral work for 25 years, beginning with a three-year stint as a tent-maker missionary in Budapest, Hungary. He served as an associate pastor in Santa Clarita, CA (Los Angeles area) and at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian in New York City before coming to Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, Missouri. He received his Doctor of Ministry in 2011 from Drew University. He earned his Master of Divinity with honors from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1998. Paul has two books published by Westminster John Knox Press.

Paul is a disciple of Jesus Christ for many reasons. He has always been spiritually inclined and curious and was raised in a loving family where Christian faith and practice shaped routines and formed character. Through three years of mission work and three years of seminary, God’s Spirit lovingly helped Paul reconstruct his young adult faith and he fell in love with the Jesus of his Reformed heritage.  He is tremendously thankful that, throughout his life-long faith journey, he has never felt separated from God’s immense and encompassing love for him. Therefore, he is, and continues to be, a thankful and committed follower of Jesus Christ. In Paul’s own words, “Jesus’s love claims me and gives my life hope, sustaining strength and purpose. In response, I try to know, love, serve and follow Christ each day.”

Paul’s understanding of the Church is that it is a diverse community composed of imperfect people, filled with the Spirit, through whom God continues Christ’s work of reconciliation and healing in the world. As a part of this community, we are all invited to embrace our priestly calling and grow in knowledge, faith and skill so that each of us can be actively engaged in the furtherance of God’s Kingdom. As a pastor, Paul understands he is not the shepherd, Christ is. 

A Future with Hope – Strengthened through Generosity!

Jeremiah reminds of us of God's plans for a future with hope.

“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

The act of generosity is an integral part, along with faith, love, and kindness, of this plan; it inspires hope.

Your generosity in 2021 enables ACP to provide that hope to hundreds of people each day through our online Worship services, traditional and contemporary music, and the many missions and ministries and outreach activities. Our ministries – our congregation – YOU are making a difference in the lives of individuals. Your generosity is the source of so much good news in this time of uncertainty.

In 2021, as in 2020, ACP is counting on your generosity to allow us to maintain and grow our mission and ministries and to reach a growing community on-line. The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has caused dramatic decreases in our wedding revenues and certain rentals as a result of limits on gatherings. It is for each of us to look at our financial situations, and to prayerfully reflect on how we can provide our church with the resources it needs to be the Beacon on the Seine, and a sustaining force in the lives of its members and the broader community.

You can pledge your support to ACP by any amount – small or large as your spirit guides you. If you would like to pledge you can do so here:

Generosity Pledge

For surely, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Learn about ACP's 2021 worship services, Bible studies, small group studies and prayer, educational events, music ministries, family sharing groups and resources, youth and young adults, and fellowship initiatives below.

Click the slides or links below for more information.

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Worship

Worship in the Sanctuary at 11h and 14h.

The 11h service will be livestreamed on this website, our YouTube video channel and our Facebook page.

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Adult Ministries

Sunday Evening Adult Bible Study   Register here

African Fellowship Online   Register here

Tuesday Morning Women's Bible Study

Women's Monthly Bible Study: Women in Parables, 26 September   Join the Women's Monthly Bible Study

Men's Ministry at ACP   Register to join the Men's Ministry

Silent Prayer Thursdays   Register for Silent Prayer Thursdays

All Church Fellowship Group   Join the All Church Fellowship Group

Get involved at the American Church in Paris.
Learn about ACP’s groups, Bible studies, fellowships, and activities.

Get involved here.

Get involved here.

ACP is committed to moving forward with in-sanctuary worship services as Covid-19 protocols allow, and also providing a quality online experience for those not able to return to church for live worship. But in order to accomplish these two things, we need people to usher and work with livestreaming.

Ushering: Volunteers are needed for each service to welcome and seat worshipers in a safe and efficient manner. Training is available and the commitment is for about 2.5 hours on a Sunday. If we have a large enough team, ushers will need to serve only once a month.

Live-streaming: Volunteers will be trained to use the cameras and software systems that ACP is putting into place. We need two people for each worship service and would hope to build a team of 6-10 people for each service. You don't have to be technically inclined as we will train you, but if you have an interest in video and sound, please offer your services.

Please do prayerfully consider how you could help out as we continue to adjust to worshiping in new and different ways. ACP's sanctuary worship services depend on volunteers.

Interested? Please contact us here.

The American Church in Paris (ACP) welcomes you to worship each Sunday at one of our three services. The 09h00 service is a weekly communion service; the 11h00 service is a traditional service with special music from one of our guest soloists or various choirs; the 13h30 service is a contemporary service with weekly communion.

Our congregation is an interdenominational and international Christian community whose mission is to bear witness by word and deed to the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, to provide a place of English language worship in the American Protestant tradition, and to engage in ministries and services that enrich the lives of residents and visitors in Paris.

The ACP is the first American church established outside of the United States. Begun in 1814, its official charter and first sanctuary were established in 1857. We have been located on the quai d’Orsay since 1931.

Stewardship plays an important role in enabling ACP to continue being an Embassy for the Kingdom of God and in furthering our individual paths of discipleship. We invite you to pray about the role of giving in your spiritual growth and to join us dedicating our pledges on Sunday. You can find our pledge forms for printing here or on-line version here.