News from the Barretts, November 2011

Dear Friends who pray,

Alcalá de Henares, Spain, 27th November 2011

Dear Prayer Partners for Spain and the Barretts

Summary

In this letter we´ll be asking you to pray for:

1. A lady making a determined break with her past in order to follow Jesus Christ.
2. Our church´s continued evangelism through the “Coffee House”; the “My Hope” campaign in December; and our use of the “Christianity Explored” materials.
3. Positive outcomes in the few moves open to us in Alcalá leadership development. Protection against grudges. Thanks for completion of the autonomy of the Azuqueca de Henares congregation.
4. The Bible Teaching Centre´s latest book, the films that are just about to be dubbed and the next Saturday Bible course.

Results?

Our Lord prayed for his disciples: “Sanctify them by the truth; your Word is truth”. The steps by which those coming to faith in Christ let the Word of Christ change them do not always follow the same path, especially where people come from outside a Bible focused church culture. An example has been a lady and her long term partner who have been contacts of the Alcalá church on and off over 7 or 8 years. She became more serious about attending when her teenage daughter joined her from their home country. A time off work due to injury meant that she came increasingly under the teaching of the Word and began to talk about getting her life “right”. Although her partner did come to church occasionally, it became apparent that he would not allow what the Lord says to change him. Finally that lady decided to make the break with him after considerable discussion with her partner. Her money was tied up in debts that they had acquired in order to have a roof over their heads. She found herself on the street because she was convicted that what she had been living was wrong before the Lord. The way the situation has evolved gave us more confidence that God´s Word was at work, without our reproaches or exhortations. For the time being she and her daughter are being put up by a saintly widow in our congregation, who has some experience of handling this kind of situation. The congregation is trying to cover the costs and expenses and “buy” time to find a longer term solution. Please pray that the sister would be able to stand firm for the Lord´s truth in her life.

Please pray for us, the people we have just described, our role as pastors of “young Christians” (and I´m not even sure that the daughter has yet come to Christ) and for the local congregation. After the “messy divorce” over the last two years of a couple who were contacts of the congregation, one becomes fearful about wanting to stand by people, made vulnerable by previous choices and their lack of material resources. But what would our Lord do, if His word has brought this result? A recent application for funding for the “Kofi Jaus” project from an urban mission agency in another continent received the response that it appeared that we were not “doing evangelism” but taking on the role of a social agency. We can understand that agency´s need for accountability within their Trust rules, but they seemed blinkered as to how the Lord works by his Word to draw people to love what He loves and turn their back on lives dominated by sin and the practical consequences of such steps.

Evangelism still the priority

The beginning of the autumn in church was discouraging, with plenty of space to fill on a Sunday morning. As we have commented in another letter, certain folks in the congregation have not grown up into responsibility. Unfortunately the size of the congregation makes it fairly obvious who those are who want to “ride” but don´t want to consider themselves “part of the crew”. However, on a couple of Sundays, an influx of interested visitors has meant such “passengers” have not had the casting vote. Also the launch of the “Coffee House” project in early November sent the clear signal that our commitment together is still to move out from our comfort zone to the neighbourhood beyond. Next week is the “Solidarity Fair” staged in the “Kofi Jaus”, during five complete days, to raise funds for the “Alianza Solaridad” projects in Huaraz, Peru, which Alison and I visited back in 2008. Coffee will be part of the welcome we can now give to visitors.

In three weeks time, (15th, 16th & 17th December) there is a national televised evangelistic campaign called “My Hope”. Although organised by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, it is focused on inviting friends and contacts to homes of believers to see one of three programmes. Several families have offered their homes and are now inviting contacts, and have taken the preparation sessions seriously. Please pray for fruit from this testimony.

Last Sunday (20th), we changed the format of our morning meeting to start the “Christianity Explored” material, partly to involve the congregation in a more pro-active engagement with the Word and how to explain their faith, and also to respond to the need of several unsaved people who have been attending the meetings. We have mentioned Carlos before. Please go on praying for him, as light begins to dawn about what it means to be justified by Christ´s work and to love His person. Another neighbourhood family has rejoined us and we still seem to attract the occasional student, despite Alison not being directly involved with student work since 2010. A Christmas dinner on 10th December and other seasonal events give opportunities for witness.

Leadership Development

Our concern for Ken´s fellow elder, José Manuel´s future employment from next March has been answered in part by a job offer from the Spanish Bible Society. However it is likely to be a job under pressure from the start and it remains to be seen what time it leaves José to lead the church. Please pray for him and his wife, “Mili”, and their two adolescents, who give their joys and concerns...

David and Ana, our youth leaders, are expecting a baby in February, adding to the pressures of David´s studies and Ana being the principal bread winner. (She´s one of our Evangelical Religious Education teachers in 5 local schools). Wisely they are giving time to the two most responsible young men in the reduced youth group, Sergio and Michel, who have both begun to serve in a more public way within the church family.

Ken´s absence to teach in Peru and the Dominican Republic, God willing, between the 5th January and the 13th February, leaves the Alcalá congregation vulnerable. Please pray for a resolution of the situation of the person with a grudge, which caused discouragement during our absence in the summer.

A further milestone of the “church extension” to Azuqueca de Henares, is that the congregation´s legal autonomy has now been recognised by the Spanish Ministry of Justice. Within ten days the Alcalá congregation will formally renounce its property rights in the Azuqueca premises so that they can be ceded to the name of the new congregation. Please remember the Azuqueca eldership, Alberto and Santi.

Publications, film dubbing and the next Bible course

Archivist Ken with Rodolfo González

The definitive translation of the film scripts about George Muller and Anthony Norris Groves was passed on by Alison to the studios and will be being recorded at the beginning of December. Please give thanks for more funding which has come in, leaving us with some 50% of the budget to cover. Alison is trying to keep up to date with other translation work, particularly on “Generations: The influence of British missionaries in Spanish Brethren assemblies 1834 – 1990”, due out in early 2012.

The next Saturday course which the Centre is to stage on 21st January is called “Harvesting in freedom – the worker and the work of the Gospel”. Timothy Glasscock, a fellow missionary from Salamanca, is again the teacher. Through an examination of the Pastoral epistles, the course seeks to retrace the essential outline of both those called to Gospel work and the space they need to be allowed by the churches. Ken will be away in Peru, God willing, but please pray that students who sign up would include those who hear God´s call to His work, according to His terms!

As a country

Politically, Spain went through national elections on the 20th November, with a crushing defeat for the socialists. A new government is in the process of being formed. The cure of the economic ills now being proposed, with the dismantling of public and welfare finance, will probably cause a great deal more civil unrest than we have yet seen. The “Coffee House” work could yet become more of a “soup kitchen” work, because material necessity is gathering pace here, something you´ve probably been aware of in the UK. Madrid no longer has sufficient hostels to cope with the “homeless” population living in the capital.

Family

We are grateful to those who have provided for us to go away to rest for three days at the beginning of December. Timothy and Esther will be joining us at Christmas, for which we´re grateful.

With our love and thanks in the Lord,

Ken and Alison Barrett

P.S. You can follow more of our weekly and daily activities for prayer by becoming a friend of “Ken Barrett” on Facebook or asking echoes@echoes.org.uk to send you their weekly update for prayer which includes our requests. Ken is also an editor of the Pray4Spain Facebook page.