Spain
The Land and the
People
The modern Kingdom of Spain is a mixture of diverse historical, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds: Castilian-speaking Spaniards, Basques, Catalonians, Valencians, Galicians, and Andalusians. As the Madre Patria (mother country) of the former Spanish empire, Spain is the cultural fountainhead for some 300 million people in well over 20 countries worldwide. Her participation in the European community has created an economic boom that is attracting unprecedented immigration from Latin America and the Eastern block countries. Her social entitlement programs and labor opportunities are the envy of many developing countries in the Latin world.
Religion
Since the days of the Inquisition, Spain has been considered the special territory of the Roman Catholic Church, though only about 15 percent of the population would consider themselves active. Religious freedom was granted in the Constitution of 1978, but it has taken many years for this new religious freedom to find acceptance and practical enforcement. The cults are very active in Spain, the Jehovah's Witnesses being the largest single cult. Secular humanism, materialism, and moral relativism, however, are the greatest obstacles to gospel ministry. Evangelical Christians account for only about 0.7 percent of the people.
Past and Current
Work
Spain became a new field for Baptist Mid-Missions in the late 1970s, as a result of the initiative of veteran Africa missionaries, J.T. & Janet Lyons. Through their ministry, the now-nationalized church in Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) was founded, along with the current Bible Baptist Seminary of Spain, now located in Azuqueca de Henares (Guadalajara).
Through the efforts of other missionaries arriving in subsequent years, new churches were started in Madrid and other provinces. Currently, church plants are in progress in Azuqueca (adjacent to the Seminary) and Santa Marta de Tormes (Salamanca), with new works projected for Segovia and Avila. Three families form the present ministry team that are working on a five-year strategic plan to train new leaders and to establish a network of new and existing church plants.
Goals
Of the 8,000 cities, towns and villages in Spain, only about 600 have a gospel-preaching church. In modest response to this great need, the Spain ministry team’s strategic objectives call for graduating one church and launching another by 2010; ordaining three national pastors; and recruiting one church-planting missionary family, one new seminary professor, and one university campus worker. A new program to host summer interns is now in place to allow young people the experience of cross-cultural missionary work.
Spain remains the least-evangelized of all Spanish-speaking countries in the world. Pray that God would send forth laborers into His Harvest field. Forty-four million souls are waiting to hear the Good News of hope in Christ.