As they recovered full recognition within French society, Protestants became engaged in very concrete fields at both local and national levels. Many such actions made it possible to organise and strengthen community life, whether through the building of Protestant churches, the training of pastors and concern about their living conditions or through financial efforts in favour of evangelisation.

However, many of these actions are motivated by concern of a national interest : involvement in public life, attention paid to current issues, to the destitute, to social changes. Some of them clearly aimed at gaining ground over the Roman Catholic Church, overwhelmingly present in the social arena.