Summer and Autumn Prayer requests, 2010

Thank you for your interest in praying for Spain!

The 2010 Sexual Reproduction and Abortion Law

On 5th July, after a long process of white paper discussions and due parliamentary process, the new abortion law went into effect. From this date abortions up to 14 weeks are no longer a crime, but the right of any pregnant woman who does not want the baby. Girls may abort from 14 years old and without parental permission from 16. In addition, medical approval, if there is any threat to foetus or the mother may allow abortions up to 5 months and even later in prescribed circumstances. Abortions are now fully covered by the Social Security.

As can be imagined, the vast majority of the evangelical movement is highly concerned at this situation. Several specifically evangelical lobby groups were established, in addition to many who joined the larger Catholic inspired groups.

A last ditch effort by the conservative Partido Popular to have the Constitutional Court stop the law going into effect was partially successful, in that the court agreed to look at the law. nevertheless, it is basically not the prerogative of this court to presume the laws passed in Congress and Senate are illegal before examination. Thus most regions are now putting the law into full effect. On the other hand, at least in the first days we can report that Navarre and Murcia were making attempts to refuse to comply. Navarre was saying it would refer all petitions to neighbouring regions, such as the Basque Country.

Alternatives

In Mallorca, the medical ministry MasQueSalud is hoping to set up a counselling service offering to discuss the alternatives with girls surprised with a pregnancy. In addition, counselling will be offered to women coming to terms with past abortions. PrayforSpain is fully involved in this. The aim is to raise a team and some finance to produce hand out and other publicity for the service, together with a call-in point of contact. We have also been in preliminary contact with rehab ministries, such as Betel, with a view to providing possible safe accommodation for girls during pregnancy.

Looking back

Spain we're praying for you in 2010 went to the regions. You may remember that over the past 2 years it brought people together in central Madrid to pray together for two hours. While it was possible to gather over a thousand from all over Spain at each of the events, in 2010 there were concurrent activities in regional capitals. Evangelical Councils and other committees organised the meetings on March 6th from 7 to 9 p.m. In Madrid over 600 met, while elsewhere arrangements were differing. For example in the Balearics home groups met, allowing participation to be above 1000.

After a particularly cold and 'wintry' winter, Easter will see a renewal in many activities, such as conferences, camps, open air evangelism and so on.

Ken Barrett led evangelism in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) on March 14th - a Bible reading by the churches- and will do so again on Easter Sunday and is giving a seminar in Valencia on March 28th. Chris Mathieson had a seminar in Terrassa (Barcelona) on 8th May.

The Spanish Evangelists' Conference had a regional presentation weekend in Valladolid, capital of Castille-León, on 9th to 11th April, to raise awareness of its activities and the materials available for evangelism. See the photos here! (Spanish page.) Meanwhile, in Salamanca, the George Borrow Evangelical Cultural Association was awarding its very first 'George Borrow Biblical diffusion prize'.

Upcoming events

The summer is full of diverse outreach and camp activities. Many churches, denominations and support ministries are reaching out in different ways across Spain, while camp ministry draws children and young people in particular.

The Pocket Testament League are in Guadalajara in July and Catalonia in August.

Operation Mobilisation is in El Ferrol, Galicia, from 25th July to 7th August.

Decision is holding an outreach in Fuengirola, on the Costa del Sol from 1st to 12th August.

The Brethren in Galicia are holding the Revive Moaña outreach in Marín and Seixo from 3rd to 15th August.

Meanwhile, there are some on-going regular activities. For example, the KM0 'Red Box' team continues to be out daily at Madrid's Puerta del Sol. KM0 is also planning its first 'European Open Air Preachers'Conference' to be held 24th to 26th September.

In Mallorca the Methodist church has a weekly open air on Sunday evenings in the 'Parque del Mar', below the famous cathedral, while the reformed Baptist church continues monthly outreach in Palma's Plaza España and fortnightly book stalls at Sunday markets in Santa María and Sa Pobla.

For a relatively complete list of activities where outsiders are being recruited, take a look at the diary published by Protestante Digital (in Spanish).

The web

For those of you who are regular visitors to PrayforSpain, we appreciate any feedback on the usefulness of the very varies information which is included on the web, together with comments of any improvements which you would like to see.

During the coming months - possibly in the summer- there will be major changes in this web. As we move over to a new CMS (data entry system), called xcruciate, we hope your experience will be enhanced. This will enable new developments in the future, such as:

Blogs We hope that over the coming months we will also be able to involve a few more English-speaking people from around Spain who would like to contribute a blog to the site. If you are somewhere around Spain and fancy joining, do let us know.

Coincidentally, a similar change of appearance is also taking place at Protestante Digital, due for renewal at Easter, but now expected in September. PD will change from being a weekly, each section coming out on particular days, to being a daily paper. It is also getting more staff.

If you would like to comment, please use the email form at the bottom of this page. Thank you!

Many thanks again for your commitment to pray for Spain. We would love to hear from you, so please if you are praying regularly for Spain let us know by sending us an email. If you have any queries or contributions, don't hesitate to get in touch!