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News, January 2009News from the ChurchesEva Díaz wins 'Unamuno Friends of Protesstants' prize. MCO present Spain-2009-365-prayer year of prayer. Carlos Martínez to perfom at Mission-net. New regional law against 'publicity' could go against freedom of speech (and preaching) in Madrid. Spanish Evangelists' Conference early December - blessing for those who attended. B. Manley Pippert speaks in Barcelona. This and more... Read on! Evangelical programme Nacer de Novo, which goes out on the regional radio station Radio Galega, celebrates its 1,000th broadcast on 31st January. Congratulations! This is the longest lasting programme of its kind in Spain. A big party is planned in Santiago. An agreement between the Catalan Generalitat (regional government) and the regional Evangelical Council means the churches will receive over 400,000 Euros of support over the coming 4 years. On 25th January a TV programme replayed the tragedy of Mari Luz Cortés, just over a year after she went missing. Antena 3 TV made this film, which tells the story of the search and questions asked by the Cortés family. Her father, Juan José is a pastor of the gypsy evangelical church. The film retells the emotions and search in a sensitive way, although the evangelical dimension, while being clear, is rather played down (or perhaps misunderstood) by the film's makers. For more about the affair, see the separate article. 19th January. Protestante Digital, the electronic magazine has awarded its annual 'Unamuno, Friend of Protestants' prize to Eva Díaz, for her novel 'Memoria de Cenizas' and other contributions to spreading understanding of protestantism in Spain. The novel evokes the time when numerous people had to flee or were burnt at the stake in Seville for their faith, during the reign of Philip II (in the years following Bloody Mary's reign of terror in England). Battle for the Air takes to Space. Evangelical radio stations have tried against all the odds to get licensed air time on the spectrum. Severl firms have gone ahead anyway - like many other broadcasters, but now the biggest, RKM, has moved its broadcasting into space. From January you can watch or hear RKM TV and radio by tuning into Hispasat at 12705 / 2222. Their second channel, SolidariaTV is also available there. But the 15,000 Euro monthly fee is a matter of urgent prayer.. and giving by God's people. Another evangelical radio station, Radio Encuentro, is available for listening on Internet. 60% of religious places of worship in Barcelona are now not Roman catholic. Indeed, the second largest number of religious buildings is that of the evangelicals, 119 as against 141. The state has for several years been providing grants for the social work of the major religious groups, including evangelicals. The Pluralism and Living together Foundation has now published its grants. The protestants get about 760,000€ for a number of projects. Spain-2009-365-prayer With this title, a coordinating group (MCO), including Intercessors for Spain, Global day of Prayer, Open Doors, AoG, etc., are working towards recruiting 365 churches across the country to cover Spain in prayer. More info from their site (in Spanish). If you prefer to get in touch through us, please feel free to use the form on our contact page. The year of prayer will be kicked off with the Universal Week of Prayer of the Evangelical Alliance (from 12th January) and 40 days of prayer (from 11th January) coordinated by Intercessors for Spain.  Photo from Protestante Digital  Gospel Bus in Madrid (Oscar Monzón for El Mundo) Hope for Europe has awarded the Evangelical Hospital in Barcelona its annual Hope prize. HfE is a project of the European Evangelical Alliance and the Lausanne Movement. The European EA will also be holding their 2009 assembly in Spain, after Easter, with the title "Are Evangelicals 'Good News' people?" The government, in its budget proposal for 2009, aims to maintain the 5 million Euros dedicated in 2008 to religious minorities. Carlos Martínez, one of Europe's top mime artists, is to perform at next Easter's European missions conference Mission-Net. More here! A Spanish contingent will be there, seeking out opportunities to be involved around the world in missions. And don't miss us training sketchboard evangelism and at the OACI stand in the missions exhibition! A Spanish group will be attending the conference and you will find us (P4S) on the OAC stand at the missions exhibition. Is the end nigh? The Madrid regional assembly has recently passed a new law to be active from January 1st against the use of bill-board-bearing men and handing out of publicity, which might be understood by police constables as the duty to arrest preachers of the gospel. The evangelical outreach Kilómetro Zero has a regular preaching activity each weekday evening in the central Puerta del Sol and now fears that use of visual aids such as the sketchboard and the distribution of literature even to those who specifically request it could now be deemed illegal activities. The fine for this might be 1,500 Euros. Lawyers of the evangelical federation are aware of the situation and ready to reply if necessary. On Christmas Eve the evangelical programme Buenas Noticias TV on Spanish national channel TVE once again televised a Christmas service. This was the fourth year that the service has gone out. Pastor and BNTV anchorman Jose Pablo Sánchez preached a clear Gospel message. From 5th to 8th December, the Conference for the Evangelisation of Spain took place in El Escorial, close to Madrid. This important event was clouded by the recession, causing many to change plans to attend, then even more by the death, although long expected, of the spouses of two of the committee members. But the conference, which was attended by some 150 people , a third as day visitors, was a great blessing to all who got there. The conferences were both informative and challenging; the fellowship with smaller numbers was, if anything, far better than in previous larger events. All left the conference more committed than ever to reach Spain with the Gospel. Becky Manley Pippert came back to Barcelona, where her book 'Out of the salt shaker' began. She gave a series of conferences between 28th November and 4th December, mainly at Verdi Baptist church, challenging believers to put their belief into action. Several talks were also evangelistic. The talks led up to the GBG (IFES) conference which took place from 5th to 8th December. Also at the GBG (IFES) meeting early December, a new Alliance of Evangelical Writers and Communicators (ADECE) was launched. At the first meeting, PrayforSpain's Chris Mathieson was admitted to membership, along with most of the writers for Protestante Digital, among others. 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: (30th January)Credit crunch makes people more moral (23rd): (16th) (9th): |