From the September-December 2010 Issue
A NEW BEGINNING, A NEW OPPORTUNITY
Manuel and Krisztina Franco
In Almuñecar we were praying for more than two years about the possibility of moving to new premises. For the last eight years we were using a small garage and the Lord blessed us there. We saw his good hand in many ways and we saw people turned to the Lord. Three months ago, when preaching on the parable of the mites, I became convinced that we as a church should invest what the Lord had given us in order to extend his kingdom and proclaim his word. We didn’t have much to invest, almost like the widow who gave her last two mites in faith. However, at a meeting of the congregation it was decided to try to do everything we could to move, so we prayed and started to look for new premises.
THE NEW BUILDING
After having seen a few places, we finally found one that fulfilled all the requirements. The location was good and the size as well, but it was a new building and it was partly unfinished. It needed tiling and dividing the main part into two, so that there could be a place for the Sunday school; a new door needed fitting, the bathroom didn’t fulfil the legal requirements of size and structure for a public place and for disabled people, so that also needed changing. It was a considerable amount of work and of money – not a very large sum, relatively speaking, but for a little church like ours with minimum incomes, it was a considerable effort. Now we are about to finish and God willing we will be able to hold Sunday school in the new room. We have already had two Sunday services there and everybody considers that it is a very good place.
BUREACRATIC PROBLEMS
We are thankful to the Lord that he helped us and that we have been able to get the new premises ready, but it was quite a difficult task. It even seemed impossible at times, because it was not just the matter of money, but also all the problems that we had with the town hall and local authorities, that tried to hinder the work. From the very beginning we tried to fulfil every legal requirement, but we soon realized that there is a legal void in Spanish law and that it is applied in a discriminatory fashion. They didn’t use the same criteria for the Catholic Church and the rest of the church buildings in Spain. We were required to fulfil certain things that are only applied to pubs and restaurants.
...AND RESOLUTIONS
For this reason we started to be very doubtful about the opening of the new facilities, but with our eyes on the Lord and trusting in him and his promises, we didn’t give up. We tried to arrange a meeting with the Mayor, which also seemed to be an impossible mission until a lady in the church offered to talk to him. She knows the Mayor very well because her father used to be a representative of his party and always supported him. Surprisingly when this lady spoke to the Mayor, he immediately called to check the requirements for the Catholic Church and the mosque. He was told that there were none, so he said that the same criteria would be applied to us.
OFFICIAL OPENING
We are going to have the official opening service on 31st July, when Martin Leech will be the guest preacher. Also we expect to have with us other reformed pastors, brothers and friends from different parts of Spain, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Please pray for this new beginning and new opportunity for preaching the glorious gospel of our Lord in Almuñecar: “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes establish the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:17).