Prayer Requests, second half year 2011

Thank you for your interest in praying for Spain!

Sorry, this page is not being kept up to date at present, due to other pressures of work, but for all the latest news you can follow us on Facebook!

Recent news

The announcement of the cessation of ETA's reign of terror, made on 20th October, overshadows many other events as a moment for thanksgiving at the end of this scourge. Although it will be months, if not years, before it is clear that this has really been the group's final announcement or act, it is evident that the terror group had lost the support of those politically close to it.

Persecution - church building closures.

Over the course of this year a tendency already noted has become a flood, as local and regional authorities have begun to make life increasingly difficult for churches. In Madrid and Catalonia especially, authorities have exceeded their remits to close buildings on whim. Now in Catalonia the regional government is working to change a law which will give local city councils even more powers to establish how and where believers may meet to worship. The governments are thus riding roughshod over the constitutional guarantees of freedom of worship.

As a result of the difficulties and despite the occasions when church leaders have been able to meet with political leaders, things have come to such a head that in May Madrid's evangelicals held the first ever demonstrations of Spanish evangelicals. This autumn things have only worsened, so the FEREDE (Federation of Spanish Evangelical Churches) has called all evangelicals to demonstrate on 'Reformation Day, 31st October, day of the commemoration of Martin Luther's publication of the famous Theses at Wittenberg in 1517. A major demonstration will be held in Madrid on that date and at regional capitals around Spain. On 5th November it will be the turn of the Catalan believers - perhaps remembering the 1605 'gunpowder plot'! Evangelicals will want to be less murderous, but in a 'virtual' way 'put a bomb under politicians' on the first day of the November 20th general election campaign.

Upcoming events

Mi Esperanza

Under the title Mi Esperanza, a major outreach is being prepared for the pre-Christmas period (Advent). My Hope Spain will be three nights of TV shows on a national channel broadcast into homes across Spain where hosts will have invited family, friends and neighbours. After the programme, the host or another believer will share his/her testimony and invite people to respond to Christ. Decision Spain, together with many local organisations is coordinating this event, which is preparing people across the country to take advantage and share Christ in their localities. Over 1100 churches have signed up and it is expected that 11,000 evangelical hosts will invite family, friends and neighbours into their houses to watch the programme, share their testimony and receive Christ as Lord.

Regular Outreach Activities

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 held its first 'European Open Air Preachers' Conference' last September. Now it has opened a fantastic new facility with prayer room, cafe and offices overlooking the plaza.

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.

Since July it has been possible to follow us on Facebook!

Last year we hoped to move to a new CMS, xcruciate, but due to the loss of a key member of the development team the project went on hold. It is still hoped that we will move to a new CMS this year, but we do not hold our breath. Should such occur, we would like to add several thigs to the service:

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, which took place early 2011. PD has changed from being a weekly, each section coming out on particular days, to being a daily paper. It is also getting more staff. However, at the time of writing the English language section was still not back.

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!

Old Prayer bulletins

There is now a new Prayer News archive bringing together previous editions of this bulletin.

In addition, you can refer to the previous Arise archive with past numbers of the bulletin for your interest.

To access Arise: click here

If you want to read our newsletters in the original Spanish, you can read this one here. As for previous numbers, they are now available on the sister site

Spanish sister site now in English!

Our Spanish language sister site has recently been completely renewed - again, also in English! This is the official site of the Spanish Evangelists' Conference. It is hoped that the site will complete its renewal well in time for the 8th Conference, to be held in autumn, 2012.