News, February 2010
News from the Churches
 Gospel Choir in Burgos Coming soon!
- A new home-grown Spanish Bible translation, La Palabra (The Word), will be with us very soon! The new translation, made by the Spanish Bible Society, claims to use almost twice as many words as most current versions, increasing both accuracy and beauty. La Palabra is to be presented officially on 17th February at SEUT Bible School, El Escorial, Madrid. That said, several pre-showings have already taken place.
- Protestante Digital is to get a major overhaul and update. The news service of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance expects to have had over 2 million visits in 2009 and from February '10 will become a daily updated medium. We wish them well. (To read the latest from PD scroll down.)
Meanwhile, our P4S renewal continues gradually as decisions are taken about the new look on the one hand and the underlying 'engine' continues to develop on the other.
- Spain, we're praying for you' is an annual prayer rally held in Madrid since 2008 and will again take place in 2010 - on 6th March between 7 and 9 p.m. This time it is hoped to hold the rally simultaneously in each region. The Evangelical Churches' Councils will coordinate the event, which will gather people from across each region and denomination to pray for Spain.
- CEDIB, the Evangelical Council of the churches in the Balearics, will be officially presented to society in May. The date had tobe postponed, but is now set for the 15th and it is hoped local dignitaries will attend, as well as the regional press - not to mention a good number of local church members.
Recent events
Among buildings affected by the tropical storm which hit Tenerife during the first days of February was the Free Evangelical church in Santa Cruz. The 50 year-old building is seriously afffected. See the YouTube video!
Spanish evangelicals were among many calling recently for amendments to the Sexual Orientation document before the Council of Europe, so much so that it will be April before the Council is able to consider it - and then there could be more amendments proposed.
The Navarre government has approved the cession of 3000m2 to the (gypsy) Filadelfia church for new buildings in Tudela. This is a region where there are few evangelical churches of any sort and this is a very welcome move. The Filadelfia church is made up of mostly poor and less well-educated people who find it hard to raise money both to buy and build churches suited to their rather noisy worship style. Rented accommodation at the bottom of blocks of flats has often caused alarm among neighbours, even though church timetables are far less bothering than bars or discotheques!
On 31st January, TVE's evangelical programme, Buenas Noticias TV, celebrated its 25th anniversary. The programme, together with similar ones for the Muslim and Jewish communities, was ground-breaking in being the first time a state broadcaster had allowed non-Roman Catholic religious views to be officially given on public service broadcast. This programme has now been followed by a radio broadcast on Radio Nacional and other broadcasts on regional public stations.
A conference given by a Brethren church on the subject of abortion was broken up by women 'pro-choice' demonstrators on 20th January. The church had been invited to give the conference as part of the Saint Anthony festivities in the district of Barcelona, where the Avenida Mistral church is based. Dr Gerard Urrutia was speaking on the subject 'Abortion, solution or problem?' at the local Civic Centre. This was just one of a number of activities in which the church has collaborated in the district festivities. Several more activities remain to take place, a children's programme on Sunday, 24th in the morning, with a puppet group and participation in a concert of Choirs on Sunday evening. The church is 75 years old and well respected, generally, in the district.
Meanwhile, we have heard that a specifically evangelical lobby group has been set up by pastors in the Madrid area. In Mallorca we hope to set up a ministry with a more compassionate approach to reach out to women facing an unexpected pregnancy or coping with the after-effects of an abortion.
On Saturday 16th January a big evangelistic show took place in Burgos entitled 'The Meaning of Christmas'. Due to particularly bad wintry weather this had to be postponed from the 9th at the last minute, but finally went on successfully. A 60 voice choir travelled from Zaragoza and the main speaker from Madrid, both cities over 200km away. 240 people attended, about 100 of these not previously linked to the churches. Some of these are people who made contact at the 2008 World Expo. Thanks to those who prayed. Please pray now for the follow up of these contacts.
Spreading the Word! Recent news from The Gideons shows that the organisation is growing and spreading the Word effectively across Spain. In the autumn a special effort between the local 'camp' and German brethren saw hotels in Fuerteventura (Canaries) receiving scriptures. Another team is busy covering the Santiago pilgrims' road. So far they have got from the French frontier to León. This year they hope to cover the remainder of the route, a popular holiday route for people who don't just want to soak up the sun. About half the hotels and pilgrims' hostels along the way were open to receiving scriptures, while many of the others were found to have no one in sufficient authority to take them.
Earlier news in bullets:
- 275,000 are believed to have watched the 5th evangelical Christmas Service televised on TVE2. Now you can see it on eMision.
- Operation Christmas Child has come to Spain. For the first time churches in Madrid and Barcelona collected 4880 shoe boxes, which were sent to children in Western Sahara with small Christmas presents and literature telling the Christmas story.
- Forum 2009, a gathering of people involved in IFES related GBU and daughter organisations, took place over the long weekend of December 5th to 8th. Over 500 students, parents, graduates, professionals and others involved in university and intellectual life gathered to consider the call of Christ on their lives.
- December 9th is Evangelical Social Action day. Among the organisations given an award is Betel, the ministry born out of WEC which began as a drug rehabilitation ministry and has spread both objectives and locations to cover 19 countries, helping more than 120,000 people over the past 25+ years.
- On 23rd November the evangelical Independent Civic Observatory published its annual report, concentrating on 'white slavery' in Spain, the exploitation of women in the sex trade.
- The 'red box' team from Kilómetro Cero in Madrid's Puerta del Sol and other central points held a preachathon day on November 7th. Ken Barrett writes: "About 200 believers maintained preaching and personal evangelism around 7 red boxes throughout the day.
- Clame '09, Building Bridges In November a major congress took place in Malaga to gather Latins working among mainly immigrants from a particular religious group in Europe. The congress was run under the auspices of COMIBAM and the Spanish and European Evangelical Alliances. It was indeed a worthwhile and effective event.
For earlier news from the churches, click here!
Finally, more news from the churches is always available at the Protestante Digital site.
You can also listen to some reports and comment.
This week on Protestante Digital: (26th February)
Zapatero falls short at American Prayer Breakfast
The importance of Jesus today
Evangelical Alliance opposes European move on abortion
Royal journalism award goes to piece which highlights Islam over Evangelicals
Christians in Europe have to face an anti-christian society
(19th)
World Evangelical Alliance leader in Madrid
Tunnicliffe to address Evangelical Alliance meetings
Pro-abortion group break up Evangelical meeting
Regional government of Andalusia meets Evangelicals about agreement
Keeping the aid flowing to Haiti
Denomination campaigns for ministers´ pensions
(12th)
One-way ecumenism only, please
Working women enjoy better health than housewives
Zapatero attends his first Evangelical event....in the USA
Holocaust memorial at Madrid University
Socially active church given large plot of land
Digital but traditional teenagers
Evangelical anti-abortion group formed
(5th)
Romanian Christians have their children ´kidnapped´ by the State
“No room for nostalgia: The best is to come”
Muslim calls for greater representation in Islamic Commission
´Religious freedom law will be passed before the summer´
Kaká states he would never sell his faith for money or fame
Evangelical floats in Epiphany parades
Half State grant to Evangelicals swallowed by headquarters
Gay group awarded public money by religious pluralism trust
Catholicism in Catalonia in freefall
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