October 30, 2000
TEXAS PARTNERSHIPS:
It's Spain to see
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___Ancient castles stand guard over heights no longer threatened. Elegant cathedrals pronounce an old and established Catholic faith. Stone walls and terraces built yearsago lace the landscape. Museums display the collected masterworks of centuries now past.
SPANISH BAPTIST Jorge Pastor carries two of the children at the Baptist school he directs in Denia. It is the only school of its kind in Spain. The children call him "Uncle" Jorge. (Photos by Ferrell Foster)
___Spain is a place with a past. Reminders are scattered here and there throughout the land, which is two-thirds the size of Texas.
___But Spain also is a new place, with a people whose spiritual eyes have been blinded by a post-Christian secular society.
___Seventeen Texas Baptists visited Spain Sept. 14-22 to launch a three-year partnership between Baptists in Spain and Texas. The Texans went to learn and to pray.
___They discovered a land of almost 40 million people, but only 8,000 Baptists and less than 300,000 evangelicals altogether, according to Joel Matheny, volunteer coordinator in Spain for the Southern Baptist International Mission Board.
___"For every 1,000 Spaniards, only four know Jesus as Savior," said Dwight Williams, IMB's cluster coordinator for the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Spain and Portugal. "Out of 8,000 towns and cities, 7,000 have no evangelical witness."
___Spain, he said, is a "spiritual wasteland."
___Catholicism dominates the religiouslandscape, but secular culture seems to have as much or more impact on many people's daily lives.
IGLESIA EVANGELICA in Zaragoza, Spain, is erecting a free-standing structure to house the growing congregation. The new building will hold about 900 people.
___"It's a postmodern society," Williams said. The typical view of the Bible would be, "big deal," it was written by men. A recent survey indicated 40 percent of Spaniards have a negative attitude toward God, he noted.
___Manuel Sarrias, general secretary of the Baptist Evangelical Union of Spain, said Texas Baptists must understand the "basic character of the normal Spaniard is a spiritual indifference."
___Many Spaniards, it seems, like many Americans, have become distracted by economic prosperity and materialism.
___General Francisco Franco ruled Spain as dictator from 1939 to 1975. The nation enjoyed some prosperity in the 1960s, Matheny said; but it was not until the '90s, when the post-Franco government deregulated state-owned monopolies, that the current boom got rolling. The Seville World's Fair and Barcelona Summer Olympics in 1992 provided another boost.
___The new prosperity is being felt throughout the country, Matheny said, noting that the middle class is growing. But Spain has the highest unemployment of nations in the European Union--16 percent. People are able to get employment, but many jobs are contract employment that last for three months to a year, he said. The prosperity, therefore, is seen as "very precarious."
___However stable or unstable, money is flowing to the pocketbooks of many Spaniards, and that has created challenges for the churches.
___Madrid pastor Emmanuel Buch said the biggest problem his church faces is the economic prosperity of church members. "There are a lot of attractions out there," he said. "Our biggest enemy inside and outside the church is comfort."
___The IMB's Matheny noted that "as the economy has prospered, the believers have become apathetic."
IN BARCELONA, the crucifixion of Christ is depicted on the west façade of the Templo de la Sagrada Familia, while a construction crane towers above.
___"At times," said Sarrias, "it seems the society influences the church more than the church influences the society." The union's general secretary said his biggest concern as the Spain-Texas partnership begins is for believers to "rediscover what it really means to be a Christian in a materialist society. What does it mean to function as a church?"
___Another challenge facing Spain is the growth of Islam. In the last 10 years, the Muslim faith has been growing 10 times faster than evangelical churches, including Baptists, Buch said. Many Muslims are emigrating, primarily from North Africa, but Spaniards also are turning to Islam. Buch cited it as an example of the "phenomenon of the European conversion" to Islam. The Saudi Arabia government recently built a $40 million mosque north of Madrid, he noted.
___The Catholic Church, however, has held sway over Spain for centuries. Under Franco, the church received special protection; and that resulted in state persecution of evangelicals.
___Pressure exerted by the United States made it possible for existing churches to remain open during the dictatorship, Buch said, "but witnessing was outlawed." He remembered police standing at the church's door and writing down names of those who entered. Members were not allowed to sing, so they read their hymns.
___"It wasn't as much a physical persecution," Buch said, "but laws werepassed to limit you, to keep you from being seen."
CARS, motorcycles and pedestrians clog the streets of Barcelona on a Friday evening. Spain has experienced economic growth since a democratic monarchy has been installed in the wake of the Franco dictatorship.
___In today's Spain, there is official religious freedom. There are instances of "foot dragging to get permits" to build evangelical church buildings, Matheny said. The bureaucracy is sometimes slowed by traditionalists who have been baptized in the Catholic Church but are not practicing Catholics.
___As for Baptists, many people consider them to be "a dangerous sect," Sarrias explained. "Many think if you're not Catholic, you're part of a cult."
___Pastor Jose Zamora in Zaragoza noted another perception Baptists face. "The image Spaniards have of us is that we're poor. We'd rather not give that image."
___His church is seeking to change it. Many Baptist congregations in Spanish cities are located on the bottom floor or floors of multi-story buildings. The Zaragoza church is constructing a free-standing structure that looks like many new church buildings in the United States.
___"The press speaks badly of us," Zamora said. "They call us a cult. But there are a lot of possibilities for us to do God's work. ... Right now, we are very excited. We are ready to work."
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