News, September 2007

News from the Churches

Mariano meet Mariano!

Evangelical Federation Secretary meets Minister. Open Doors day for churches' 'Integration' ministry in Madrid. The new Abba bookshop in Barcelona opens the 15th. [Remar} celebrates 25 years rescuing drug adicts. Summer activities coming to an end. Decision was able to hold a campaign after all, but without time to inform or recruit. Vademecum goes online. This and more... Read on!

FEREDE members and the minister

On 19th September, Mariano Blázquez, general secretary of the Evangelical Federation (FEREDE) met with Mariano Sanchez Bermejo, Minister of Justice and Religious Affairs, together with the Director of Religious Affairs, Mercedes Rico, in the ministry. Also present were members of the FEREDE's standing committee. The minister asked for the welfare of pastors who have not until now been able to make proper payments into the Social Security pension scheme and confirmed he will attend the opening of the 7th Evangelical Congress in Barcelona, to be held on 6th December. In all they spent some two hours discussing matters of common interest, such as the state of religious freedom and the development of the 1992 agreements between FEREDE and the state. More in Spanish. Photos from the Justice Ministry.

On 29th and 30th September the churches of Madrid and province are holding 'Open Doors Days for Integration' in Madrid's Plaza de España, one of the main squares. The objective is to share the gospel and inform about the humanitarian and social work the churches are doing. Each church or organisation gets a small tent in which to arrange its exhibition. In addition, there are programmes with artistic presentations with testimony 8 times each day.

The historic Iglesia Evangelica Española (Spanish Evangelical Church) is supporting a bill to 'right the memory' on the deeds of the Franco regime. Until 1936 the IEE and its Episcopal counterpart IERE were among the largest denominations in Spain, but their presence in the education system brought the fury of the Catholic church and thus of the dictatorship. Many pastors were killed, their buildings confiscated or at least closed and the congregations scatered. The bill, put forward by the socialists, aims to reinstate all who were unjustly condemned. Democracy was restored in 1978, after Franco's death.

A new evangelical bookshop, Abba, opened in Barcelona on 15th September. Abba includes an electronic store, so if you are looking for Spanish or Catalan language books, this could be your next click!

Football legend Donato played a special game with evangelicals against Olivenza FC on 6th September. Now aged 45, Donato was born in Brazil and played for Atlético de Madrid and Deportivo de La Coruña, winning a couple of handfulls of titles along the way. Since his arrival in Spain he has been constantly sharing his faith with people around him, the famous and less well-known - such as the team at Olivenza, near Badajoz. He has been a Spanish national for a number of years and also represented Spain on several occasions. In a country where few evangelicals are well-known, sports personalities from Brazil are particularly welcome in the evangelical community.

Remar a ministry to drug and other substance adicts is celebrating its 25th anniversary. It began as a number of individual centres began to recognise the need for coordinating the immense work which was developing among these needy people and their families. Rehabilitation centres sprung up all over the country and later all over the world, making use of rehabilitated people to spread the good news to those who knew all too well the bad news. Over the years Remar has developed its own denomination, as those rehabilitated and their families gathered together to worship the Lord. It was often hard to integrate these people into more 'middle class' type churches. Other well-known evangelical rehab groups are Betel (WEC) and Reto (Teen Challenge), as well as several individual centres.

Decision was able to hold a campaign after all, but without time to inform or recruit. It had to cancel the planned outreaches due to a lack of permissions, which had been requested well before the May municipal elections, but which got stuck in post-electoral disarray. Finally, an outreach in the Ojos del Guadiana area of Ciudad Real prove a great blessing.

Summer activities are now nearing their end, including Operation Transit, summer camp programmes and other activities. Decision and Pocket Testament League had to cancel their outreach plans, but others continued. News on the Answers page.

The Vademecum, Spain's oldest and most revered directory of churches has gone online. To find a church or other evangelical outfit near you click here!

For earlier news from the churches, click here!
For other news from the churches we remind you that Protestante Digital is likely to keep going until late July, when they will take their turn for a summer break.