Originally, due to the pandemic, the tickets that I bought to visit Spain in 2020 have been suspended indefinitely. Praise God that this trip was able to finally take place at the end of January 2023. The purpose of the trip was to teach about the building up of the church, to visit the church services in Valencia, and to meet with the local church leaders.
Spain became a haven for many refugees from Ukraine, and in some cases, serves as a place “in between” where the families take their time to decide which country to go to that accept refugees. Many changes are happening in the life of the local church, including a change in the amount of church visitors. There is a constant rotation of families who are coming and going, and who recently arrived from Ukraine and other CIS countries.
Friday evening and the entire Saturday were dedicated to training, in which everyone participated. This training addressed the practical issues of building a new church as the best way to expand the kingdom of God. This was something that Apostle Paul and the other Gospel workers were working towards as well. Many immigrants who came to a new country are looking for fellowship, help, information about how to better settle in a country they are not familiar with. They are also looking for answers to so many spiritual questions which they are asking during the turbulent and difficult times of war. The local church became a place they can go to, even if they have never been to a Baptist church before. Through service to people, we open not only the doors of churches, but also our hearts to participate in the lives of those around us.
On Sunday, January 29, the church service was full of people, including those who came to the church for the first time. The service program included a wonderful worship group, a sermon for the children, and the final sermon was mine. After the service, there was a lot of time for mingling and fellowship in a relaxed atmosphere of drinking tea and coffee.
Valencia is still a strategic missionary location for the Pacific Coast Slavic Baptist Association of ECB of the US in ministering to the Slavic population. From here, we plan to extend the ministry to other cities in Spain. Vladimir Zelensky and the group of leaders from Barcelona also came to “The Basic Training” teaching session. We also support the ministry of the church in the city of Torrevieja, and are looking for a missionary for the city of Madrid. At the leaders' meeting, we discussed the issues of coordinating the development of missionary services in this country.
Alik Shipuk, together with his wife Olya and children, have been serving in this country for several years now. As time passes and the children grow up, we understand that without sacrifice and dedication there can be no fruit in the missions’ field. The meaning and purpose of a missionary's life is to devote himself to preaching the Gospel to others. I would also like to name some other fellow-ministers who serve in Spain. They are the families of: Vladimir Prizhbilov and his wife Ella, Dima Murkin, Viktor Kovba, Vladimir Zelensky, and others. Praise God for their sacrificial ministry!
May God bless us to take care of, pray for, and always remember those who are on the front line, who answered God's call and said - "Send me, I’ll go." They went, they devoted the best years of their lives to missionary service.
While on the plane coming back home, I remembered the words of an immigrant and a first-time visitor who approached me after the Sunday’s service said the following: “There has to be love in order to be able to live in Spain, and without love, you will not be able to survive in it.” I thought that without love for God and for the people, it is impossible to serve people anywhere since love is the basis of any ministry of a Christian. Love is the motivation for missionary service to people in any part of the world, including in Spain! Praise be to God!
President of PCSBA, Ivan Mileyev
