Missionaries Spain

Sharing the Good News in Spain

Loria and Mercedes Hernandez, Cuban Free Will Baptists, settled in Spain after the communist takeover of their homeland. They started a Bible study group in the capital city of Madrid. Several people were saved through their efforts.

The Hernandez family asked Free Will Baptists to send missionaries to Spain. In May of 1971, in response to this plea, the Board of Foreign Missions decided to open the field of Spain.

One year later Dock and Norma Caton were appointed missionaries to Spain. In August of 1973 the Board of Foreign Missions approved the transfer of Lonnie and Anita Sparks to Spain. The Sparks had already served three terms in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Work was started in Alcala de Henares and Majadahonda.

Today, Free Will Baptists have five career missionary couples sharing the good news with those in Spain.

Geography and Climate

Spain lies just south of France across the Pyrenees Mountains. She shares the Iberian Peninsula of southwest Europe with Portugal. The country is virtually surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Population

Most of Spain's 44 million people are concentrated in urban centers. Over 4,200,000 people live in Madrid. Many of these are immigrants.

Traditionally, families in Spain had many children; however, recent trends show a movement to smaller families with an average of 1.3 children per family.

History

For much of its early history, the Romans and Visigoths ruled Spain. The country was the outermost territory of the Roman Empire with Roman outpost towns. Then the Moors, Muslims from North Africa, moved in and dominated the country for nearly 800 years.

In 1492 Spain became a world power. During the next three centuries the Spanish empire thrived with holdings in Central and South America, Africa, and the East Indies.

The past 200 years have been politically unstable. Invasions, revolts, and civil wars have characterized these centuries. From 1939 to 1975 Spain was a dictatorship ruled by General Franco.

Current Conditions

Spain is a constitutional monarchy with both a parliament (a Cortez) and a king, Juan Carlos I.

Spanish, the world's third most widely spoken language, is the official language. The nation boasts a literacy rate of 97 percent, and education is compulsory until age 14.

Approximately 94 percent of the population is nominally Roman Catholic, but only about 27 percent of the members practice their religion. Protestant Christianity makes up only about two-tenths of one percent of the population. Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons are busy in Spain, which makes it difficult for Spaniards to discern which is the cult–Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, or Evangelicals.

The constitution now guarantees the right of any person or group to profess any belief or ideology. Missionaries have noted a new spirit of openness emerging among disillusioned Catholics.

About 300 missionaries are working in Spain today, but over 15 million people live in areas without any evangelical witness. Over 7,000 pueblos (cities and towns) have no Evangelical church of any kind.

Although the Spanish churches are small and struggling to carry on the ministry, missionaries are helping them carry the load while continuing to reach out to new people and areas.

Free Will Baptist Ministries

Since our first Spanish mission work was started in 1976, we now have five churches. All these ministries are located near Madrid. Two churches are in Alcala de Henares, one is found in Villalba, one in Colmenar Vjejo, and one is located in Alpedrete.

Through the years, literature, home Bible studies, outdoor evangelistic campaigns and children's classes have been used to reach people with the gospel. More and more it seems that simply building friendships and getting involved in community affairs is more fruitful than organized evangelical campaigns.

Statistics gathered from The World Factbook and Joshua Project.