Our First Church Plant in
Toulouse, France
Arena Church, Toulouse – or rather, Église Arena – is Arena’s first church plant in France. The campus is under the guidance of Patrick and Lucile Nana-Gassa-Gonga, two passionate leaders with a heart for church planting.
Patrick was born in Toulouse, the fourth-largest French city, often nicknamed the Pink City due to the prevalence of pink terracotta architecture. The eldest of five children, Patrick’s parents moved to Bordeaux when he was one year old. His church life began when he joined a church with his mother.
God helped him to grow spiritually, and Patrick became a worship leader in his church when he was 22. He became a youth pastor 4 years later. In 2013, he followed the call of God and went to bible school (IBTI) in England. God stirred his heart and gave him the desire to be involved with the ministry of church planting, and in 2015 God brought him back to his birth city to plant a church.
Patrick has been married to his lovely wife, Lucile, since 2016. Outside of church environment, you could find him supporting what he considers to be the best football club in the world – Manchester United – in an English pub in Toulouse, or reading a book about French lawyers. Patrick originally wanted to be a lawyer, but God had another plan for him.