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A work of faith and labour of love for the glory of Christ until he come.
As from September 1st 2001 we are working with Spanish Gospel Mission - see prayer page for up-to-date news on this.
Who are Spanish Gospel Mission?
What are they doing in Spain?
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History
The Spanish Gospel Mission came into being in England in 1913. Percy Buffard had gone to Spain to teach English to the Spaniards and was appalled by the widespread ignorance of the Gospel which he saw. He came back to England, trained as a missionary, and returned to Spain with the support of some English friends.
After some time spent in evangelism in northern Spain, he and his wife settled in Castellon de la Plana near Valencia. After some years the focus of the work moved to the provinces of Ciudad Real and Jaen and the headquarters was set up in Valdepenas.
After the hiatus of the Spanish Civil War and World War II the work began again with the return to Spain of only one of the pre-war missionaries, E Stuart Brown. In the early 1950's Percy's son, Frank, and his wife Margaret, began thirty years of service in Spain.
The work during this period (1946-67) was very hard. The outright persecution which had occurred during the Civil War eased, but still there were restrictions. Meetings for worship had to be strictly private, no signs were permitted on the outside of meeting places, children suffered at school and in places attempts were made to remove children from Protestant homes. Weddings and funerals met severe administrative difficulties.
Despite this the work continued, young people were taught the Bible, evangelists were trained and sent out and the churches were supported and cared for.
After 1967 there was much more freedom and opportunity for the preaching of the gospel, and in 1975 almost all the restrictions were abolished. Today there is complete freedom for gospel work.
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Current Work
Currently the work is focussed on the planting and building up of churches in the towns of the areas mentioned.
Two of the churches planted by the Mission are now completely independent, being able to support themselves fully, although they maintain close contact with the work of the Mission. There are currently 8 churches being supported by the Mission, 3 in the Ciudad Real province, 5 in the province of Jaen.
There are currently five couples working in Spain. Of these 3 are British and 2 are Spanish.
One British couple, Steve & Sue Storey from Emmanuel, Salisbury, are involved in the running and development of the Christian Fellowship Centre which is based in Valdepenas. The aim of this centre is to promote fellowship within and among the churches in Spain and also to provide training courses for Spanish Christians who desire to serve the Lord more effectively.
The other workers are based in the Mission churches and, by preaching, distribution of literature, open-air meetings, children's work and personal work, they are seeking to establish these groups into self-supporting, self-governing and self-propagating churches.
There have been blessings in recent years among these churches. Some people
have been converted, there have been baptisms and children's holiday Bible
clubs have been well attended.
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