News, March 2010

News from the Churches

Pastor Miguel Rueda with the Lord. 'Spain, we're praying for you' - thousands prayed for Spain. WEA leader visits Spain. New Bible presented. Church presentation on the issue of abortion broken up by women demonstrators. This and more... Read on!

Coming soon!

An upcoming open air event in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, is a celebration of the resurrection, on Easter day (4th April). On 13th March there was the public Bible reading in Alcalá - more below. Alcalá is famous as the home of Don Quixote's author, Miguel de Cervantes.
Chris Mathieson will be giving a workshop in Open Air evangelism in Terrassa, Barcelona on May 8th. On 14th March, Ken Barrett gave one in Valencia.
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 was presented officially on 17th February at SEUT Bible School, El Escorial, Madrid, although it will not be available in shops until June. Several other pre-showings have already taken place.
Protestante Digital is to get a major overhaul and update. The news service of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance had almost 2 million visits in 2009 and from about Easter 2010 will become a daily updated medium. We wish them well. Get a preview here! (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. From May 1st the same engine (but not content!) will be being used at St. Pixels.
CEDIB, the Evangelical Council of the churches in the Balearics, will be officially presented to society on 15th May. It is hoped local dignitaries will attend, as well as the regional press - not to mention a good number of local church members.
After a long, cold winter, Spring is finally here! On May 15th there will also be the start of the 'Evangelical Olympics' season, with the XII Madrid Evangelical Olympiad. Pocket Testament League is the motor behind this event, which brings children from many of the region's churches for a great day of sport and meeting new friends. Madrid will be followed by other cities, such as La Coruña (Galicia) and Málaga (Andalusia), ending in Barcelona in September.

Recent events

On 13th March there was another public Bible reading in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid. Alcalá is famous as the home of Don Quixote's author, Miguel de Cervantes. And last year it claimed fame as a city which won a court case over charging for the preaching of the gospel... or rather the provision of barriers and police protection. Councils, including Alcalá, usually provide these facilities for free to associations engaged in activities in public places. This year's reading went without problems. Another upcoming open air event in Alcalá is a celebration of the resurrection, on Easter day (4th April).

On 14th March, Ken Barrett gave an open air preaching workshop in Valencia.

We regret to announce the death of pastor Miguel Rueda, linked with Evangelism in Action in Málaga, who suffered a heart attack while preaching in his church on 14th March. He was a well respected and nationally recognised leader of the evangelical movement. He will be dearly missed.

Spain, we're praying for you' is an annual prayer rally held in Madrid since 2008 and again took place on 6th March between 7 and 9 p.m. This time there was a rally simultaneously in almost every region. The Evangelical Churches' Councils coordinated the event, which gathered people from across each region and denomination to pray for Spain. The promoters, based in the Canary islands, broadcast 30 minutes of prayer from the main centres, while some regions organised the events in their own way. For example in the Balearic islands, some 150 home groups involving up to 2000 people met in direct prayer for the nation.

Geoff Tunnicliffe, general secretary of the World Evangelical Alliance, met with the Justice Minister on 26th February as part of his visit to Spain. He was accompanied by the president of the Evangelical Federation and the general secretary of the Spanish EA. He also met with opposition leaders and attended the Unamuno friend of Protestants prize ceremony. The prize this year went to José Manuel Vidal, director of Religiondigital, the Spanish speaking world's top religious affairs agency, with over 650,000 unique users monthly.

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 affected. 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.

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:

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.
On 31st January, TVE's evangelical programme, Buenas Noticias TV, celebrated its 25th anniversary.
A conference given by a Brethren church on the subject of abortion was broken up by women 'pro-choice' demonstrators on 20th January. The conference was 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.
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.[Image 98???]
On Saturday 16th January a big evangelistic show took place in Burgos entitled 'The Meaning of Christmas'. A 60 voice choir travelled from Zaragoza 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.

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 March)

Violent confrontation in Ceuta mosque
600 billion Euros swindled over the Internet in 2009

(19th)
Government wants new Law of Religious Freedom this spring
Evangelical prison work is exemplary despite poor resources
Catalan First Minister defends Bible reading
Stop the Traffik highlights campaign against child trafficking
Spain, one of the most anti-Semitic countries in Europe

(12th)
Churches closed in Catalonia
Raising the profile of Evangelicals in Spain

(5th)
Successful visit of world Evangelical leader to Spain
A global agenda for Spanish Evangelicals
Unamuno prize goes to religious broadcaster
´We´re Catholics but we prefer to stay at home´