On the 7th of December, the city of Palma saw the inauguration of a “new home” for the Iglesia Centre Cristià de Mallorca (Church Christian Centre of Mallorca), made up of around 1,500 members.

The event has its historical importance in the largest of the Balearic Islands. Few churches in the islands have a building built expressly for their use, most of the premises being adapted to the ground floor of residential buildings or in some cases on an industrial estate.

In Mallorca, there is a small congregation that still meets in a building that predates the Civil War, another has a building that was used as a factory built during Franco’s dictatorship. Another congregation constructed with its own hands in the 1960s.

The Centre Cristià de Mallorca, a member of the Assemblies of God network, has struggled to build premises capable of accommodating slightly less than half of the 1,500 members. With the new premises it will still be necessary to divide the congregation into two worship services on Sundays.

A versatile venue

The building has 4 floors, with a garage and storerooms both for the needs of the building and its social work; in the second basement, classrooms; kitchen and dining room in the first basement; and the main hall occupies the ground floor and a good part of the first floor. The building also has rooms for administration and the pastoral office.

For a decade, the church began to dream and pray for a solution to its need for space. “Thanks to the Lord and many donors, both local and from other parts of the peninsula and from all over the world, the necessary funds for its construction came in”, they say.

Excitement and future

For the inauguration, a weekend of events were organised, with the inauguration itself on Thursday evening, 7 December. In attendance were a representative of the regional Balearic government, a member of the Palma City Council, together with the Ombudsman of Palma. Also present were the architect and pastors and representatives of the evangelical federations of Spain and the Balearic Islands.

The ceremony, which began with the singing of the hymn “Sublime Gracia” (Amazing Grace), was presided over by Jonatán Rodríguez, who stressed that this ‘new home’ for the congregation is intended to be a house open to the community. Miguel Navarro, president of the Consell Evangèlic de les Illes Balears, gave a brief summary of the history of evangelicals on the islands, from the founding of the first congregations in Mahó and Sa Pobla. His desire was that it would be a place to talk about Christ, that its members would be agents of change in the community and that this new house would be a place to meet with the Creator.

Juan Carlos Escobar, head of the Assemblies of God Spain, highlighted the great sacrifice made by the members and others to make this place a reality, which, however, is but a step towards the future. Looking back, he highlighted the impact of evangelicals in society since the 16th century Protestant Reformation on issues such as democracy, education and helping the needy.

On behalf of Evangelical Federation of Religious Entities (Ferede), its executive secretary Carolina Bueno reminded the audience that the Spanish Constitution grants every citizen freedom of worship. She encouraged the church members to use this freedom for the good of society and the advancement of the Gospel.

Anna Moilanen, Ombudsperson for Citizenship, has done much to help the project. She was especially thankful for the show of the church’s commitment to the vulnerable in society. Juan Manuel Lafuente, Minister of the Balearic Government, acknowledged that the building was open to society in general.

John 3:16

Finally, Senior Pastor Daniel Rodriguez shared a simple but profound message from John 3:16. He made special reference to the story of the slave owner John Newton who, after his conversion, wrote the hymn that opened the event.

He also mentioned the most renowned Mallorcan to this day, Ramon Llull, who after his conversion in the 12^th century wanted to conquer the non-Christian world by love and persuasion, apologetics, rather than by force. “The Word of God has power to persuade when we present it in love, as Jesus did in the conversation we find in the Gospel of John chapter 3”, he said.

The following days there have also been a number of activities to open this building to the community: breakfast for church leaders from the island along with invited guests; worship together; special youth programmes, workshops, etc.