A
Christian at the champions´ heart
VIENNA, 07/03/08
While
Spain celebrates their triumph at the recent European
Football Championships in Austria and Switzerland, mention
should be made of one of their midfield maestros, Marcos
Senna. He is an Evangelical Christian.
Senna
was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, but recently took Spanish
nationality. He has played for the Spanish club,
Villarreal, for several seasons. He has often spoken of his
Christian faith, and how the Bible is his guide and
faithful companion. They are not just of symbolic value for
him; his behaviour both on and off the pitch has been
impeccable.
Tele 5, a Spanish TV station, says of Senna: “His
less well-known side shows a humble character, who brings a
Brazilian beat to the Spanish changing-room, and who
prefers to read the Bible in his spare time than play on a
Play Station.” Senna himself says he has a bit of
everything on his iPod, but “what I most listen to
are Evangelical songs.”
(Source: El País
/ ACPress.net)
Pioneer work remains hard and unpopular
MADRID - July 3,
2008
Information collated at the
recent Evangelical Congress included data from 46 different
ministries: 19 denominations, 15 missionary societies, six
local churches, and six national para-church groups.
So to
what extent has Evangelical Christianity reached Spain? The
information gained is incomplete, and does not come from
rigorous and detailed research done on the ground. What the
report does show is the difficulty of doing pioneer
evangelism. The two main problems are lack of workers, and
lack of funds. A new work usually begins when a group of
people request that a meeting be held in their home. Other
factors include the presence or otherwise of other
Evangelical groups in the area, and the importance of the
town or village in question.
Currently, there are 101 Evangelical Churches in what one
might call ´the consolidation phase´, of which 20 are
recently started works. There are also 58 pioneer projects
at the planning stage. Spain has a population of 46 million
people, and there are still 7,200 towns and villages with
no Evangelical witness. Spain remains one of the countries
with the lowest percentage of Evangelicals.
In 1968 there were 300 Evangelical Churches. By 2007, this
number had risen to 2,630 (including 276 ´ethnic´
churches). Such growth is considerable, but the
proportionate impact on society has been relatively small.
A regional breakdown offers the following picture: in
Navarre there is one believer per every 1,218 inhabitants,
in Catalonia 1 in every 341, in Madrid 1 in 350, in Soria 1
in 1,850, and in Valladolid 1 in 326. It should also be
borne in mind that most workers doing pioneer work are
missionaries.
(Source:
ACPress.net)
Postcard from Paul?
TARRAGONA - July
3, 2008
How
many theologians does it take to determine whether the
apostle Paul visited Spain? No postcards have been found as
yet with pictures of a Costa on, and signed by Paul, but no
fewer than 31 theologians held a Congress recently to
debate, among other things, whether Paul visited the
north-eastern Spanish city of Tarragona.
It´s
not quite ´how many angels can dance on the head of a pin´
level, but experts from France, Germany, Italy,
Switzerland, USA, England, Rumania and Spain spent time
studying historical documents to see if they could find out
if Paul had got to Tarragona before they had (for this
Congress). Their conclusion? That he did, probably.
Their hypothesis is based on the premise that Paul was
exiled from Rome. The Emperor could use one of two formulae
for this, deportatio
or
relegatio,
and the person thus sentenced would lose their possessions,
and - if a Roman citizen - possibly their citizenship too.
The first letter of Clement mentions a journey by Paul
“to
the far west”, which would be
Hispania, and adds that Paul was indeed exiled. Paul
himself, in letters which form part of the New Testament,
spoke of his desire to visit Hispania (Spain).
Two of Herod´s sons were also exiled, one of them to
Hispania, and if Paul suffered a similar fate, Tarragona
would have been a natural destination, as the main port in
the region for traffic from Rome.
The more serious side to the Congress is the fact that it
comes within the year in which a group of Christian martyrs
are being specially remembered. The modern city of
Tarragona is built on the site of the Roman city of Tarraco
where, in its amphitheatre, a group of Christians were
murdered in April 259 AD.
(Source: EFE /
ACPress.net)
Spectacular growth in Evangelical R.E. pupil numbers
SANTIAGO DE
COMPOSTELA - June 29, 2008
In the
north-west region of Galicia in 2000 there were only three
Evangelical R.E. teachers. Today there are 34, teaching 831
pupils who have opted to take this subject. In just the
last two years, pupil numbers have seen a 33% rise, while
at the same time demand for Roman Catholic R.E. classes has
fallen by 5.5%.
Religious Education continues
to be the focus of fierce debate. Currently, parents may
choose to send their children to classes in any of the
recognised religions (including Evangelical Christianity),
or to a non-confessional alternative. There is a notable
trend towards opting for this alternative to traditional
R.E. classes, particularly as pupils get older. At Primary
School level, only 13% of pupils opt out of religious
classes, while this increases to 35% at Secondary School.
Yet Evangelical R.E. is bucking the trend, and increasing
in both pupil numbers and teachers.
However, religious minorities such as Evangelicals still
face a disadvantage when compared with Catholic pupils, as
there has to be a minimum number of ten pupils who request
their classes for a school to contract a teacher. If this
number is not reached, pupils who requested, say,
Evangelical R.E. have to take the non-confessional
alternative. At least this is better than a few years ago,
when either they were forced to sit at the back of Catholic
classes, or out in the corridor.
(Source: La Voz
de Galicia / ACPress.net)
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