News, March 2007

News from the Churches

José Cardona

Easter activities are upon us! Many churches are holding special activities, guest services, camps, etc.. Among the most significant events are an Easter outreach by the Brethren Assembly at Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), including a British team from GLO, 30th March to 8th april; Mission possible, a national youth missions congress in Huesca; and another youth congress in the Canaries.

A new online bookshop has opened its virtual doors. Llibreria Cristiana is the first online bookshop in Spain and will be a great blessing to many believers who find it difficult to get to the existing 'physical' shops in Madrid, Barcelona and a few smaller cities. It opened early March.

A new survey shows that one in four places of worship in Catalonia is not Roman Catholic. In fact, of the 3449 places of worship 453 are evangelical and a similar number are also non-Catholic, including mosques, synagogues, other kinds of temples and so on. The number of evangelical churches is particularly growing, having been only 341 in 2004.

On 3rd March the Bible Society opened it's new Spanish headquarters in las Rozas, near Madrid.

The Brethren Assembly in Marin, Galicia, is celebrating its 125th anniversary. Few evangelical churches in Spain date from earlier! This Assembly was planted by British missionaries and for many years has counted on the support of British workers -most recently, Timothy Glascock. For many years considered the largest evangelical church in Spain, it continues to be one of Spain's largest conservative churches.

One of Spain's most influential and beloved evangelicals over the past 50 years died on Wednesday 21st February. He was 87 years old. He had been ill off and on the the past months, due to developments in his diabetes. José Cardona was a Baptist pastor and for many years General Secretary of the Evangelical Defence Commission, which later became FEREDE. His death comes shortly after that of his former Defence Commission and FEREDE assistant Juan Lopez (see below). The national press echoed his importance with their own obituaries.Here is the one from El Mundo. More links at the FEREDE article (cut and paste): http://www.ferede.org/general.php?pag=vernoticia&cod=316

León church gets council land to build! The city council gave the Brethren Assembly, which dates back to the 19th century, 3000 sqaure metres to build a new church and other facilities. This is an amazing feat.
In a recent statement to El Mundo, Juan Ferreiro, Subdirector of Coordination and Promotion of Religious Liberty at the Justice Ministry said (in relation to the need for Muslim cemetries) "The reservation of space to build 'temples' and cemeteries is one aspect of the right to religious freedom. All the religious confessions have the right to be given plots by local authorities. The denial by a city hall to such a request must be 'motivated' (reasoned)." The fact is, however, that it is almost impossible for any religious group, other than the Catholic church, to get land for any purpose.

In the second round of aid given to religious groups other than the Catholic Church, through a special foundation, evangelicals get 970,000 Euros this year. Muslim groups get 1.6 million, reflecting the need and size of the muslim community. The much smaller Jewish community gets 252,000. In addition, the foundation has seen fit this year to award funds to the 3 federations for their 'insitutional strengthening, in the case of the FEREDE amounting to 675,000.

Feb. 16th. Catalan health services temporarily closed theatres at the Evangelical Hospital in Barcelona, one of the oldest in the city, due to two deaths in a week following plastic surgery. Both were carried out by visiting surgeons (who rented the theatres) and in different theatres, giving rises to deaths from dissimilar causes, but the authorities were concerend by this succession of events. In the entire region only 18 deaths have ocurred in similar circumstances in 6 years. Health authorities, however, have stated that they see no signs of negligence by the hospital.
The Evangelical Hospital has cared for believers in the city for over a century and was one of the first evangelical works of its kind, remaining to this day the only evangelical hospital in Spain. During the Franco era the hospital was protected in a role as the hospital of the foreign (British and German) communities. It returned under the direction of evangelicals in the late 1970s.
In recent times it has been feared that deteriorating buildings are leading to a lowering in the quality of care. But staff are fully professional. Staff are hired on their professional qualifications more than on faith grounds.

The Betel (WEC) church in Zaragoza has been meeting for 3 years in rented accommodation in the old station building, El Portillo. As from 28th February they are litterally on the street, as the station will be adapted for new rail use. The city authorities had promised to find new accommodation or at least some ground to build, but have not produced. Over 1200 members are affected, 3 times the number that moved in 3 years ago. Half seriously, they asked permission -and it has been granted- to meet in the El Pilar square in front of the cathedral, which marks the spot where the Virgin is supposed to have met St. James!

Carlos Anacondia preached in an evangelistic campaign in Córdoba, 8th to 10th February. Report available on answers page.