Arise, August 2005

"JESUS, tired of the way..."

Bulletin nº22 (August 05)

The Bulletin of the Prayer Network for the Evangelisation of Spain

"He sat by Jacob's well" (John 4)

MANY OF THE SAMARITANS BELIEVED due to the testimony of the woman, "the Samaritan woman". This month of august, many of us, tired of the way, like Jesus in this story, will sit down by a well, or our village spring, wherever we are spending our holidays, for a rest and a refreshing drink. May the Lord give us there and in other places, divine encounters - the most natural of encounters, but in a way enabling us to share our testimony with friends, neighbours, family members or those as yet unknown to us, be they Spaniards or foreigners; natural and spontaneous encounters, but ones planted in eternity; encounters in which without great effort we may be able to share those spiritual things which mean so much to us in a way which is understandable, relevant and interesting to 'normal Samaritans'; topics which may lead us to uncover deep needs; needs which perhaps the Lord has planted so that they may come to understand him as Messiah, saviour from their sin, their fears and suffering.

Let's pray: Dear Lord Jesus, untiring traveller along the way, we ask you that this summer you would lead us to those people to whom you wish us to testify. Lord, whether it be in our evangelistic campaigns or in our rest, give us divine encounters. Grant us a natural manner in which to speak to them together with understanding of their personal needs. Place on our lips the right word to supply their need, to encourage their faith in you and to bring them to repentance of their sin. Divine Master, make us meet people like the Samaritan woman, mature fruit, ready to be picked.

Sitting by the well, let's pray and witness:

SENTADOS JUNTO AL POZO, ORAMOS Y TESTIFICAMOS:

§ OM in Western Spain: Arenas de San Pedro, 6th to 21st August. pray for this outreach and missions experience involving a church from Britain.

§ Pocket Testament League (Liga de Testamento de Bolsillo LTB), Lugones, Asturias, 24th July to 14th August and Palamós, Costa Brava, Cataluña, 29th August to 10th September. "The LTB team need your prayer", writes leader Esther Rodríguez. "Don't forget to pray for us daily We need you! Prayer updates and photos: http://www.prayforspain.com/palamos/index.html

§ Decisión in L'Alfás del Pí (Benidorm-Alicante), 1-15 August: "Lord, give our brothers and sisters divine encounters in this town of 14 thousand inhabitants and with no church yet." Over half the population are northern Europeans, many of them retired. Photo report: http://www.e-decision.org/English/Campaigns-Photos.htm

§ Evangelism Summer School, Evangelism in Depth and Spanish Evangelists' Conference, in Seville 15th to 21st August

§ Titiriteros para Cristo Puppetteers for Christ, 17th to 28th August in the Basque Country. Volunteers are helping from all over Spain. Outreach is taking place in many coastal towns between San Sebastián and Bilbao, in places where no evangelical church yet exists.

§ Burgos, Evangelical church 'Serás Más' is training 15 teams to reach out to the region this month. Literature distribution is a key element of the outreach.

§ Summer with the King's Kids: working in Málaga, Granada and Wales. http://www.la-lanzadera.com

§ Operation Transit (all summer): While some ports have been closed to distributors, due to concerns about terrorism, other ports and locations for reaching north Africans crossing Spain remain open. praise the Lord for these opportunities. Madrid is one of the new locations. Many literature and video packages are being distributed. Praise the Lord for the many who have come to know Him through this ministry.

§ Alpha Courses: these are working particularly well among young people. Pray for those who are attending the many courses being run, not forgetting the leaders and good preparation and delivery, adapting materials to the specific audiences in a way which best allows the Holy Spirit to speak to them. Six teenagers are training to teach the course themselves in the Barcelona area. 5 churches want to hold teen courses soon. Pray for open doors in high schools and universities. http://www.alphaespana.org

Motive for gratitude and praise (Message from FestiMadrid)

"Thousands of brothers and sisters prayed for their friends and family during the weeks leading up to Festimadrid. Hundreds of pastors united to work together. An unprecedented budget was raised. National and local media coverage was also unprecedented. The city authorities granted, for the first time ever, a significant location in which to hold the 2 day street festival. Publicity (3 million leaflets) was distributed house to house by church members (from 230 churches), who also contributed financially, in prayer and in many other practical ways. 15 months of preparations led to an amazing event. Read the results here: http://www.prayforspain.com/projects/index8.html In a nutshell: over 70,000 heard the Gospel on two nights, many coming to a decision to commit their life to the Lord.

"Continue in prayer for the follow-up to this great event, both in Madrid and across Spain. There are already invitations arriving from other cities to hold future Luís Palau street festivals in the future. Is this a new moment for the country? Keep this in prayer as we look to the Lord for direction concerning the future. " Greetings in the name of Christ, Rubén Proietti, Director of Festivals for the Luís Palau Association and, y Cristian Franco, of the Coordinating Team http://www.luispalau.org

Dear Prayer Partners, we wish you the Lord's blessing for this holiday month, whatever you are doing. May you be able to recover spiritual resources for the future. Thank you for joining us in prayer for all these topics and for Spain in general! Pass on this url, or print it out, so that others can also pray.