Published on Operation World (http://www.operationworld.org)
Nov 03: Spain
Spain
Kingdom of Spain
Europe
See Prayer Information
Geography
Area: 504,783 sq kmThe major part of the Iberian peninsula and Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. Also included are the Canary Islands off northwest Africa and the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the North African coast.
Population: 45,450,497 Annual Growth: 1.02%
Capital: Madrid
Urbanites: 77.4%
HDI Rank: 15 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Peoples: 53 (11% unreached) All peoplesUnreached Peoples Prayer Card
Official language: Catalán, Galician and Basque are official languages in the respective autonomous regions. Castilian (Spanish) is the only official language for all the Spanish territory. Spanish is the first language of over 340 million people; the world’s third most widely used language Languages: 21 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Christian| Religion | Pop % | Ann Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 35,055,968 | 77.13 | 0.1 |
| Evangelicals | 461,998 | 1.0 | 3.4 |
Challenges for Prayer
The perception of evangelicals in Spain still needs to improve, as does the culture and forms that too many evangelicals tend to use. Pray for:a) Evangelical churches to lose their “foreign-ness”. While many of the older evangelical churches were planted by Spanish workers, many newer congregations imported Anglo-Saxon dynamics and structures. Many evangelicals are Gypsies, Latin Americans, Eastern Europeans, Africans and other foreigners who bring their own idiosyncrasies and styles with them.
b) Perceptions of Christianity by Spaniards. The media can be quite hostile. Pray for the effectiveness of the few opportunities that exist in national and regional media to project a positive image. Evangelical church culture can isolate congregations from relevance in modern-day society.
c) Discrimination still exists, even if outright persecution has faded. Preferential treatment of Catholics and restrictions on other religious groups have seen some congregations shut down by local authorities over issues of permits and licences.
Leadership training. Few churches can afford to pay for a full-time pastor, let alone a team of them. As a result, churches must use bivocational pastors or be entrusted to full-time foreign missionaries, who end up pastoring instead of church planting. There are at least 15 seminaries and Bible schools. IBSTE(GEM), UEBE Seminary, GU and CSTAD (all AoG), SEFOVAN(WorldLink), Seminario Teológico Al-Ándalus, CEIBI and SEUT (collaborative effort) are just a few of the notable seminaries. The Brethren have four Bible schools. The Escuela Evangélica de Teologí runs a rapidly growing online seminary. Some newer, larger churches provide in-house leadership and theological training. TEE is a significant need. Pray that these schools would be filled with young Spanish future leaders, shaped by solid instruction in the Word of God.
For an additional 11 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
