On 22 April, more than 60 leaders of churches and missionary organisations in Spain took part in a day of dialogue in the city of Valencia.

‘Misión Exprés’, the meeting promoted by the Spanish Evangelical Alliance’s Missions Working Group, travels to different cities to “ask what is needed for mission and to offer tools”, explained the group’s coordinator, Rosa Barrachina.

The aim was to connect people already working on the ground. Most participants came from the Valencian region, but some from other areas such as Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque Country.

The intense day (at the offices of Ágape Spain) was structured around 4 main presentations, testimonies and examples of good practice, and breaks and lunch to allow for personal connections.

Ideas and debates around thematic tables

The programme began with an intervention by long-time pastor in Turkey, Carlos Madrigal, who is the catalyst of the mobilisation table. He introduced the context of the New Testament, where Jesus took his disciples outside the protected and safe territory of Israel to ask them. “Who do men say that I am? It is in that context that Peter answers that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God”. The Church was also taken to contexts outside its secure environment, Madrigal explained, to make it understand that God’s focus was the nations.

Máximo Álvarez, from the research desk, remarked how difficult it is to obtain data from churches and denominations on missionaries sent and supported from Spain. However, there are already a significant number of cross-cultural missionaries sent out by the churches in Spain. The current situation is no longer that of a country that only receives missionaries, it was emphasised, “there are a good number of missionaries sent out from Spain”. But while many churches are committed to sending, many others do not consider the possibility.

The strategic fields panel discussed two of the fields they are focusing on: the persecuted church and the refugees in Spain, especially those from Ukraine. A Ukrainian missionary told her testimony about how they approach refugees in Spain.

Guille Eddy spoke of the need for us to be mindful of the holistic care of the missionaries we send. At the origin of the abandonment of many missionaries is a “defective care” on the part of those who sent them. The concrete needs of the children and adolescents of the missionary families who are sent out, including the children of the so-called ‘third culture’, were also discussed.

How to support missionaries financially?

In the afternoon, the topic of missionary sustainability was discussed. Ted Blake spoke about the biblical principles to be applied in the financing of missionary activity. Mauricio Álvarez raised the concept of “business as mission” (BAM), to show that in many places the only alternative is to be a person who sets up his or her own business, thus blessing with business production and creating close personal relationships that allow the gospel to be shared.

Nacho Marqués explained the principles of missionary fundraising. Missionaries who build their own support team, third parties who accompany them in prayer and make it possible for them to dedicate themselves fully to spreading the gospel.

The training table opened the doors to different possibilities of training missionaries in Spain to send them to other places. The conclusion is that “it is possible to support and train missionaries in Spain. We have all the necessary structures to make it possible to send missionaries. Cross-cultural mission is necessary, possible and urgent”.

Next destination: Bilbao

The day concluded with a time of prayer for themes such as “a renewed desire to live the missio dei”.

For the Spanish Missions Platform, the aim is to “give value to the missions from and in Spain”. 

In Valencia, the place that will host the next edition of ‘Misión Exprés’ has already been announced: it will be Bilbao, on 16 September 2023.