A congregation in France is recovering after their church building was vandalised in what is thought to be an anti-Christian attack.

The pastor of the Philadelphia evangelical church in the city of Marseille found doors had been broken and windows shattered when he arrived at their premises last week.

The attackers also left anti-Christian messages such as “Jesus is not God” and “The last prophet was Mohamed”.

The communications director of the National Council of Evangelicals in France, Romain Choisnet, tweeted his support for the pastor, his wife and the congregation who “feel devastated by this attack”.

The attack has been reported to the police.

Although unclear if linked to the current unrest in the country, the attack comes amid a week of riots nationwide protesting against the death of a 17-year-old in the suburbs of Paris after he was shot by a police officer who tried to arrest him.

Anti-Christian attacks in Europe have risen in the last few years, with 500 crimes recorded in the continent last year.

The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe’s 2022 report found church grafitti with offensive messages and thefts were amongst the most common crimes recorded.

It also found France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the UK suffered the highest number of anti-Christian hate crimes.