Ben and Laurel Woodward-Breckbill serve as directors of the Paris Mennonite Center, one of Mennonite Mission Network’s longest-running placements and a vital connecting point between U.S. Mennonites and the Mennonite church in France and across Europe.
Regional Director for Africa and Europe Lane Miller describes the relationship as ” a storied history of NGO formation after World War II, church planting through the 80s and 90s, and theological education that has reverberated across Europe in a variety of ways.”
From hospitality house to theological hub
The center’s story stretches back to the mid-1970s, when French and North American Mennonites purchased a house on the southeastern edge of Paris. What began as a response to housing discrimination against African students grew into a community living space, then a congregation, and eventually a theological and relational hub. For decades it has offered hospitality, study space and a place for encounter. Neil and Janie Blough helped shape the work from the 1970s until their retirement in 2020. Tony and Matthew Krabill followed until 2024. Ben and Laurel arrived in August 2024 with their two children, Auden (now 7) and Ludo (now 5), and have just completed a two-year term and begun a second two-year term.
Learning a ministry of presence
They describe their first term as a “ministry of presence.” Intensive language study, getting to know the neighborhood of Saint-Maurice, meeting local volunteers, and slowly building relationships with the two Mennonite congregations in the Paris region took priority over rapid productivity. Typical fast-paced culture challenged relationship building “by the reality of working, listening, observing and dreaming together,” Laurel shared. In that slower pace they discovered deep support from the local community and the center’s board.
Hospitality became central. The center regularly welcomes peace workers, scholars, missionaries, travelers, association meetings, retreats, and young adults. During the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism celebrations, the house was especially full — sometimes tripping circuit breakers, but always full of life. Monthly young adult gatherings, begun with the help of a resident named Benoît, now offer shared meals and conversation for students and young professionals in Paris.
Ben and Laurel have also maintained the garden, the façade, and roof, while making plans for more interior improvements this autumn.
“We are so grateful to provide a meeting place for so many people bearing witness to God’s work in the world,” Laurel shared enthusiastically, “and we’re excited to continue to make the space welcoming and practical for all who come.”
Connecting peace and theology across Europe
Beyond the house itself, Ben and Laurel contribute to the magazine Christ Seul and the European Ecumenical Peace Church Network newsletter Church and Peace. Ben co-edits the book series Anabaptist Perspectives. In addition, Ben participates in the peace commission and the theology commission of the Association of Mennonite Evangelical Churches in France
In May, Ben and Laurel attended the Mennonite World Conference European Mennonite Conference in the Netherlands with more than 600 people from Europe and other regions. There, Ben facilitated a workshop on the future of North American-European Mennonite relationships. The center recently hosted a Mennonite Central Committee European Peace Builders Roundtable that gathered participants from nine countries. They hope the center will continue to be a relational node for encouragement, resourcing and hope across the continent.
Looking ahead to their second year, they anticipate deeper involvement with French Mennonite churches in the east of the country, expanded theological resourcing, peace-building training, and stronger partnerships, including with the Peace and Conflict Transformation Center in Brussels. The calendar for autumn already includes hosting:
- a Christian podcast research team
- a Swedish Bible school group
- an Israeli settler violence press tour
- the annual European Mennonite theology students meeting
- the MCC European Advisory Council
Paris’s central location and the center’s modest facilities continue to meet a real need for accessible gathering space.
Life in the neighborhood
Laurel learned French when she was young; Ben has learned the language through study and daily life in Paris. Their children are now bilingual. In quieter moments they have come to love the ordinary gifts of their neighborhood — the bakers and shopkeepers, the short walk to school, the families of their children’s classmates, and even the simple ritual of a proper espresso.
“The center feels like a home for us,” said Laurel.
The Paris Mennonite Center remains, in the words of its mission, “a house in service to the church, witness to Anabaptist Christianity, peace, justice, reconciliation, and welcoming the other in an urban, multicultural context, open to interreligious and ecumenical dialogue.”
An invitation
Churches and individuals are invited to pray, join their mailing list, give financially, or consider short-term volunteer service — landscaping, carpentry, or simply helping with the many practical needs of an aging but well-loved house.
The work continues, one relationship, one gathering, and one act of presence at a time.
