STORIES FROM
EUROPE

Can I ask you a question? What do you think of first when you think of Spain? Tapas? Wine? Sun? Beaches? Retirement paradise? Holidays? Football?

Those are all very fun and sunny. But the church is not having such a bright time in Spain. Although historically a Catholic country, today less than 17% of Spaniards say they practice their faith. Or if you’d rather hear about how many Spaniards are evangelical Christians, then that would only be 1 person out of every 100.

Like the rest of Europe, Spain is a place where fewer and fewer people know about or, more importantly, care about God.

But let me tell you about two British people who live in Spain – Terry and Christine. They live there because in the old city centre
of Córdoba there isn’t a single evangelical church, and Terry and Christine think that the people there deserve the chance to get
to know Jesus.

In order to meet people they do lots of social activities, such as Terry playing in a jazz band in a local bar and Christine holding English conversation classes. As they build up relationships with people, they invite the ones ready to think about spiritual things to something they call the Story of God.

Recently, Terry and Christine invited some of these people to a Story of God introductory evening at their home, and 26 people showed up! Here’s how they describe it:

“The evening went really well and people loved the dynamic. The people who we asked to share from the previous course talked about how God had moved them on in their thinking and each one shared how they felt they were closer to God now than when they started. They shared their love of the atmosphere and that people were welcome from all backgrounds without feeling judged. They loved the sense of family as people felt they were able to share honestly where they were at. They shared how they often came with one perspective and went home challenged often seeing things differently.

Given the number of people who were coming we had decided not to give time to a “taster” of what we usually do but just let people share about their experiences. However, there was a large group of the people who pleaded that we give them a taster, so somewhat on the fly we looked at the story of the lost sheep. To our surprise the comments and questions went very deep very quickly and there was a very real gospel challenge evident. So it was another late night with people not leaving till 1am! Everyone who came said they wish to start the Story of God course in October!

And just to give an update, their Story of God course has begun and is progressing well.

Discover more about Terry & Christine Miller, ECM workers in Spain