Interview with Ken Barrett 1st October 2011

... carried out by Jacqueline Alencar on behalf of P & D Imagen, a column within the Spanish Evangelical Alliance News Service.

Qu. How did you arrive in Spain, with a situation so totally different from that of England?

Ans. We got here in November 1985. We were prepared for change because our original target destination was South America. On finding ourselves in Madrid the most obvious shocks came from not knowing the language, on finding an urban culture which was arid and strange to us and on engaging in the struggle with public officialdom who´d never heard of the idea of being there to serve the public. They thought it was the other way round!

Qu. Even having a missionary calling, I understand that it´s not easy to change context. Why do you think that so many go home because they don´t adapt to new situations?

Ans. Suffice it to say that a person with a missionary calling has to adapt within a double context. There´s both the general culture of living and also their religious context. Many go home because they don´t adapt, for the same reasons as many in an immigrant population in general – discouragement, a sense of uselessness and isolation etc. Speaking plainly some of the agencies involved in preparing (missionaries) elsewhere share part of the blame because they haven´t assessed their language learning aptitude or their psychological profile, when confronted with the tough reality of a society in fast reverse gear from God and churches on the ground not very prepared for them.

Qu. Do we really feel responsible for the 377 cities and towns of more than 5000 inhabitants in Spain which have no evangelical testimony?

Ans. Show me the evidence that national brethren are acting responsibly about the parts of Spain still without the true Gospel. I´m the first to rejoice that today there are well grounded advances which have arisen out of a necessary symbiosis of strong outside impulses, not well adapted to Spanish territory and a handful of Spanish people who have taken on a real burden as far as the spiritual necessities of our country. But there are also other paper projects which we fear we must call purely “speculative”, either to bring in money or justify the viability of denominational or para-church institutions.

Qu. Do the methods of evangelism need renewal? Or is it that we have lost the passion? When we do evangelize, have we lost sight of the wholeness of the person?

Ans. It´s true that many of our evangelistic methods have come about through a particular vision of how to approach the needs of the human race and they have got stuck in unhelpful and outdated stereotypes of what is social and spiritual need. On choosing how to evangelize we need to seek from God the creativity, the freshness and the perception which His missionary Spirit gives in abundance to those who ask it. Our vision of the wholeness of the people we want to reach comes from the compassion of Christ which flows from people transformed by him. It is neither an intellectual equation, nor is it produced by working up an atmosphere in interminable sessions of entertainment/praise which has replaced agonized prayer. Fear of God comes from what He says, and we evangelize because we are persuaded that the tough love of Christ that there is no alternative. We do it from a heart which only desires His glory. If God´s word has that focus, do you understand why our so-called “passion” looks a trifle “wet”?

Qu. Are young people a priority in evangelization? After all they do represent 40% of the Spanish population.

Ans. It´s very orthodox to say “But of course!” They tell us that not only are they an important part of the population but that most testimonies of conversion come from those of under 25 years old. But to affirm such a priority should not make us childish in the message we preach, because we are doing young people a disservice when they have to live out the Gospel as “salt” in a complicated world and not slink off to a religious ghetto.

Qu. For a missionary is it important to be sensitive to context, to culture and to change...?

Ans. It´s part of his work, always as long as other believers understand that, as they are part of the same enterprise, they also need to practice sensitivity. It doesn´t come automatically to anyone, because today in a plural society each one of us has to wake up to the microcosms alongside. Sometimes in an urban context with so many cultures jostling along together, we choose to ignore what´s not so easy to cope with, when our obedience in love to Christ should make us sensitive to the voice of the Spirit who still speaks, as he did to Phillip in Acts 8. 29 “Catch up and stay close to that chariot”. Of course it might involve a little more running than some are used to...?

Qu. Can we talk about “Kilometre Zero/on the Red Box”, this way of evangelizing in which you also take part to proclaim the message of salvation in the middle of the Puerta del Sol in Madrid? Some would consider it an outmoded way of going about things...

Ans. Everyone´s entitled to their opinion, although we listen more to those critics who speak from a practical involvement with evangelism. The public proclamation of the Gospel on the streets, when it is well done, is one of the glories, not only of the evangelicals, but of any society which says that it recognises religious liberty. It´s imaginative use speaks volumes about the spiritual temperature of the church of the Lord – and many times the reactions of our hearers are a barometer also of the public´s. I wouldn´t wish to place an absolute value on any series of evangelistic practices which, as I happen to believe, still reflect the priorities and contents of the proclamation of the message of Jesus Christ; but in the midst of the gathering spiritual night which I see both in the “Christian” church as well as society, I will not put it aside whilst the Lord gives me strength.

Qu. For some while now you´ve been “Atlantic hopping” to visit countries like Peru, Brazil, and the Dominican Rep. What is the purpose of your presence there?

Ans. Solidarity and fellowship in those things related to the Cross of Jesus Christ which have made us joyfully together heirs of the Father. I hope and prepare myself to preach and to teach most of the days of these visits. But it is also my privilege to stand amazed at how God, through different instruments and rhythms, has raised up local churches with faithfulness to His word and the same desire to extend the Good News.

Qu. What importance does the promotion of the Brethren Historical Archive hold for the Spanish evangelical world? Who forms part of this team?

Ans. In Spain, partly because of the special circumstances which shut evangelicals out from society and civil life repeatedly in modern times, there has come down to us a very good resource in photos and documents. We have not just one archive in Madrid, but in several points around Spain. These points coincide with centres of activity still linked to Brethren history, in which different groups have taken on themselves the task of cherishing their history. Having different teams of people from the local churches, instead of putting everything under the control of qualified “historians”, watches over the patrimony better and multiplies the viewpoints and questions with which this block of historical material is to be approached. To hear the voices of men and women who were faithful in their generation is a way of extending our own experience and it makes us more humble when faced with their sacrifice and what they got right; and more dependent on God when seeing their failures and what was left undone.

Qu. You´ve spent several years behind projects of the George Borrow Society in Spain, through publications, meetings, travels... Does this Society follow the trail blazed by the English Bible seller?

Ans. I entered the field of George Borrow studies a long time after other more distinguished Spaniards, attracted or provoked by that man that Miguel Unamuno described as someone who knew the Spanish well. Really the Society reflects a secular interest, both in the history of Borrow as well as his literature ¡and a lot more details that bore all but the most dedicated! In my own case it puts me in touch with people from many different walks of life who don´t necessarily share my faith in Jesus. Borrow would have loved all the interest that he continues to provoke because he himself dramatized his own role in Spain. As far as the practice of selling Bibles, times have changed, although I still see the need of distribution as equally valid, alongside the living witness of those who follow Christ. But I would focus the true significance of Borrow in Spain in the close identification by his public of his person with the free access to a version of the Holy Scripture, not controlled by any religious power structure. No doubt it was a passing identification, and quite likely the perception was more absolute in Borrow´s mind that in that of the public, but it held within it the hope of real change in Spain. Such change has been the dream of many, but it was Borrow who hit the nail on the head by insisting that it would only come by knowing the Saviour just as he revealed himself in the Scriptures. The George Borrow Society does not follow that trail...but do we?