News, November 2007

News from the Churches

Catalan government to regulate 'Places of Worship', while churches elsewhere end up on the street. People Sans Frontieres. Countdown to Protestant Congress -minister to attend, but not Royal Family. Spanish EA leader, Jaume Llenas, gets spokesman post in European EA. Madrid Churches's Social Ministry recruit students of all persuasions in Alcala University. José Cardona's widow dies. Centennial church opens new building. Church closed by authorities... and then gets licence. Christian Motorcyclist Association starts in Spain. Vademecum goes online. This and more... Read on!

Recently Protestante Digital suffered a major hacker attack, which put the site off the internet for half an hour. It appears that someone is getting upset at the level of interest that webs like ours are producing in Spain. Thank you for praying for the ministries informing about the reality of God's People in Spain. For sure, Protestante Digital recently published its 200th weekly edition.

The Catalan Generalitat has announced it plans to regulate 'places of worship'. Although we are unsure quite what this entails, it is intended to provide guidelines on what kind of building can be used as a place of worship and to limit the powers of town halls to set their own standards. One of the problems is that evangelicals and muslims have found it very difficult to find suitable buildings at reasonable prices in many places and end up renting shop front 'locals' which are often barely suitable.
Meanwhile, some local authorities demand that the churches fulfil the requirements for a discotheque or theatre, providing all kinds of facilities and sound proofing which is rarely found in mediaval Catholic Church buildings! It remains to be seen whether this regulation will be a step forward or just force non-Catholics onto the streets. This is a situation which has happened all too frequently in the recent past. The most recent was that of the 'Good News' church in Aluche, Madrid. Despite having existed for some 25 years, the neighbours have grumbled and local authorities refused to give the place a licence. Indeed, early on they had to use a 'big top' tent on a piece of land temporarily granted by the authorities, but then had to leave when the council refused planning permission for the building. A licence for the current building has also never come, giving rise to the current expulsion.
Other recent cases involved a church with over a century of history in the north and that of Oleiros, in A Coruña, mentioned further down these lines. It is about time this discrimination came to a stop in a so-called democracy with freedom of religion.

Madrid's churches get together again on 24th November for 'Pueblos Sin Barreras', a cultural event bringing together God's People from across many frontiers. Unlike the TV game of a similar name, this includes games, but also concerts, workshops and other activities bringing together the resources of a regional churches' membership of thousands. In addition, the social work of groups from other parts of Spain will also be on show. But this time around the emphasis will be on Cooperation and Development, with World Vision playing a significant part, along with smaller Spanish NGOs. Meanwhile, in Barcelona there will be a missions event sponsored by YWAM and in Estepona, Costa del Sol Assemblies of God have a missions conference. A busy weekend, which we hope will bring the Gospel to millions.

[Image 60???]The 7th Spanish Protestant Congress will take place in Barcelona in December, 6th to 9th. This great event will draw leaders from all the protestant groups in Spain, to meet together and discuss matters of importance and immediate relevance to the movement. It is called by the churches' federation, FEREDE and coordinated by the Evangelical Council of Catalonia.
The Royal Family has been invited to attend, not having yet attended any evangelical event of this nature, but has again declined the invitation 'due to problems of the diary'. However, the Minister of Justice, responsible for relations with the religious 'confessions' will attend for the first time.

On 25th October the presidents and general secretaries of the Spanish Churches' Federation (FEREDE) and the Spanish Evangelical Alliance (AEE) met to discuss ways of better cooperating and understanding the differences in their roles as representatives of the Spanish evangelicals. On 14th november they published a brief statement saying this was a very successful encounter in which understanding and agreement was reached on the need to maintain a good and clear relationship. Some documents are now being produced which will guide the relationship in the future. These will be agreed with the boards of each organisation.
It is good news that the FEREDE and AEE are talking and working closely together. In past years there were some disagreements, most notably when a united press office (ICPress) came to grief and the AEE decided to go it alone with Protestante Digital. On the other hand, personal relationships between the leaders have always been good.
In a nutshell, FEREDE represents the churches, particularly the denominations, with a specific brief concerning relationships with the government. AEE is an alliance of individual believers and tends to represent the more conservative elements in the protestant-evangelical world.

Over the November 1st long weekend 400 people met to celebrate the 55th Baptist Convention. Over the same period, in various cities there was a celebration of the 490th anniversary of the Reformation. Other churches had a day out together in the country. Between one thing and another, there was little time in the churches for either Halloween or the Catholic tradition of visiting the dead at the cementery.

Jaume Llenas, general secretary of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance has been elected onto the European EA's executive board and appointed spokesman. The election took place at the EEA's annual assembly in Greece. lenas is the second Spaniard to be elected to the board, a privilege only previously enjoyed by José María Martínez, pastor and father of the current Spanish EA president, who held the EEA's presidency. Jaume was particularly pleased with the appointment because, as he said 'it is some time since southern Europe was represented on the board. In a sense it is a recognition of the work being done in the southern countries, which come from a strong Catholic background.'

Veteran Missionary couple, Jim and Caroline Fasold, are celebrating 40 years of service in Spain. Jim was for many years the director (and founder, in 1974) of the GEM inspired Bible School, IBSTE, in Castelldefels, Barcelona. A special act of recognition will take place on 9th November in Barcelona.

Home schoolers Ketty and Michael Branson are in trouble for doing things properly. They asked permission from the authorities not to send their children to school. The idea was, they wanted to send the children to take the Spanish exams, as well as having them take the American ones. They live in the Basque Country. Unfortunately for them Spanish law does not recognise the option of home schooling, so they are considered to be in default of their obligation to send the children to a recognised school. The authorities have taken them to court. in what is likely to be a test case.

Malaga has a new Christian Bookshop. CLC has opened the new store in Calle Lanuza, 8. If you are on the Costa del Sol don't miss the opportunity to call by.

Madrid's churches have a social ministries branch called Diakonía. On 25th October Diakonía held a recruiting day for volunteers from among the students at Alcalá de Henares University. Volunteers are trained for an official diploma by Diakonía and then are able to join teams and activities at home and abroad. IFES group GBU supports the event. As far as we know, this is a first for the evangelical churches to be attempting to recruit volunteers on this scale from beyond their membership.

José Cardona

On 27th October the Valdepeñas evangelical church opened their new building. The church, 90 years old, inaugurates the building which replaces the 'mission compound' based on a previous farm house, developed by Spanish Gospel Mission founder Percy Buffard. The mission was founded in 1913. Special events continue throughout October and November.

The evangelical church in Oleiros, Galicia, was closed by the authorities due to complaints from local residents, despite being located in an industrial estate. It appears the council believed that some kind of illegal show was going on on Sunday mornings, despite the noise level never exceeding the legal limits. The members took their right of legal assembly and worship out of doors and onto the street, showing they would not be hindered by issues of paperwork. In so doing, it could be appreciated what was actually going on - a simple church service. It seems that their determination -or perhaps just even more annoyance caused to neighbours and councillors alike- moved mountains. Within weeks they got a promise they will get their official licence to operate. This came at a meeting on 22nd October. They can now keep their noise to themselves!

In view of the imminent Evangelical Congress, 18 key leaders in Spain have signed a 'Manifesto' calling for a renewal of the prophetic voice of the evangelical churches in the face of the decline in moral and spiritual values, including in law, in Spanish society. Read the pdf in Spanish.

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 always has a selection of interesting news and opinion articles.