News, September 2009

News from the Churches

Sell-out for first Evangelical Communicators' Encounter. George Borrow Society meeting in Salamanca, 15th to 19th Sept. 2 Madrid churches granted city ground. Summer outreaches and camps again got the good news out of our buildings. This and more... Read on!

Amazing Grace, the film about William Wilberforce, was finally released in Spanish cinemas on 11th September. May it have a suitable impact!

The first Encounter of Evangelical Writers and Communicators is set for the weekend of 12th October, the national holiday. And it is already sold out! The weekend, mainly for people involved in the media, is the first of its kind and has drawn a lot of interest from many parts of Spain. Much of this interest is due to the great success of the Evangelical Alliance's communication branch, most notably the online news service Protestante Digital, which is also available in English.
However, while there are a growing number of communicators in general, Juan Antonio Monroy, the president of the writers' association ADECE, laments the lack of printed evangelical journals of quality. More than this, he is saddened by the lack of circulation of those published. Times are changing!

Nevertheless, for those concerned about the lack of publications, evangelical journalist Jordi Torrents, currently in Equatorial Guinea on an education project, is publishing two novels and a book on autism this autumn.

A meeting of the George Borrow Society took place in Salamanca, from 17th to 19th September. Borrow, most famous for his book The Bible in Spain, spent 4 years in the country during the 1830s, publishing his travelog in 1842 to great acclaim in Britain. It is still one of the finest ever books on travel anywhere, particularly concerning Spain. But what made it special was the fact, as Borrow himself admitted, that he did not primarily do it 'for fun', although he seems to have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. rather his objective was to print and distribute the Bible in Spain at a time in history when the country had been only a decade free of the Inquisition and well before freedom of religion was declared, in 1869.
During the encounter, the Society made a gift to the University of a painting by Miguel Elías of one of its most famous rectors, Miguel de Unamuno, together with George Borrow. Of course, Unamuno lived a century after Borrow and was famous for his friendship with protestants at a time, during the Spanish Civil War, when such a relationship was frowned on.
A press conference was held on 11th August to bring the meeting to the awareness of the public. National newspaper ABC was among those present. TVE is covering this event through Buenas Noticias TV, the evangelical progamme.

On 1st September the Madrid city council adjudicated two of five available plots to evangelical churches for their use to build places of worship. The remaining plots went to other religious groups. Both churches are in eastern Madrid, close to the airport: Alameda de Osuna and calle Talía Baptist churches. A pentecostal church, pastored by world renowned singer Marcos Vidal, lost out in an application in another district when the Orthodox church got the grant. For many years the government has provided the Catholic church land though local councils, but very few plots have been granted to other religious groups. A few examples of earlier cases can be found in our archives.

The summer outreach season is at a close, July and August were very busy. Here are a few bullets to resume:

A Puerto Rican team helped the Brethren Assemblies in Galicia. There were several events for children and a concert between 16th and 27th June.
In July Decision was in Baeza, Andalusia (1st to 14th), moving on to Daimiel, Castilla-La-Mancha in August (1st to 14th). Reports and press releases are avaiable on their web.
Pocket Testament League were in Huesca (Aragon) July 13th to 26th and then in Benicarló (Valencia) August 1st to 16th.
OM had two outreaches during July, first in Narón, Galicia, then in La Vera, Extremadura.
MEM, the Baptist churches' evangelistic arm, were in La Palma, Canaries, and also in Manlleu, Barcelona in July. They also supported 25 other local church based outreaches across the country.
King's Kids were in Extremadura 7th to 28th July, moving on to Iceland 28th July to 18th August.
Many other organisations and churches held outreach events and summer camps for their children and young people - or more seriously-minded adults. Schools closed from 19th June to the second or third week of September. High schools return a bit later and universities early October.
Proel Spanish branch of the Summer Institute of Translators, also held summer courses on NT Greek and Bible translation in the cool northern town of Villablino.

Future events

Clame '09, Building Bridges In November a major congress will take place in Malaga to gather Latins working among maily immigrants from a particular religious group in Europe. The congress is run under the auspices of COMIBAM (Latin missions association) and the Spanish and European Evangelical Alliances.

Earlier news in bullets:

CEDIB, the Evangelical Council of the churches in the Balearics, is now registered with the government and with FEREDE. The churches now plan a celebration on 17th September.
The Madrid pastors' fraternal, COMIMA, ran a Pro-Life publicity campaign in Madrid's Metro over the summer. In fact, during August it stepped up the campaign, begun in July. As the government moves closer to presenting its new freer abortion law in Congress, Pro-Life groups are busy campaigning in the streets and lobbying deputies. The main lobby group, HazteOir.org is mainly Roman Catholic, although other religious groups - and non-religious people- are also taking part in its campaign. But this is the first specifically evangelical campaign of which we have heard.
"FIRE" YOUTH WEEKEND – Operation Mobilisation, Valencia
Early this year, Christian, from Austria, was invited to organise a youth weekend. The theme of the weekend was "Fire", and 70 young people from 17 different churches attended.

(Click below to read this in full.)

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: (25th September)

Empty confessional boxes across the land
´Refusal of conscientious objection is backward step for democracy´
Citizen Cortés blog opens at Protestante Digital
Kaka makes most of trip to Brazil
First Moslem public holiday in Spain
Pastor for forty years dies in Canary Islands
Writing competition on Inquisition
Muslims want more R.E teachers

(18th)
Christ´s ambassador on the football field
Setting limits to liberty
Ten times more gay divorces than straight ones
Christian band perform as support group to Amaral
Give to César what is César´s
FEREDE tells religious groups to steer clear of political power
Borrow book launch
´Till the summer do us part´
Spain has highest abortion increase in European Union

(11th)
´Religious freedom does not mean people may break the law´
Spiritual maturity in the world of football
Armed Forces offer Protestant State funerals for fallen soldiers
Drink continues to kill drivers and pedestrians
Sixty cases of paralysis a year through diving accidents