Today we’re going to focus our attention on Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar (Evangelical Church of Vilassar de Mar).

You can also read Part 1.

It was just a couple of weeks ago that Peter and June, Clare and I got the chance to meet Steve Phillips and his wife Naime, when they visited Grace Church.

Up to that point, Steve and I had been exchanging emails and phonecalls, getting to know one another a little bit. After some back and forth discussing all manner of church related things, Peter and I invited Steve and Naime to come and visit us, so we could develop our relationship further.

Steve is an American, originally from San Diego, California and has been married for 11 years to Naime, a Mexican lady of Lebanese decent! He graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary, in California in 2000 and took the call to pastor a small church in Catalonia shortly afterwards.

They moved to Spain with their oldest son, Sebastian, who was just 3 months old at the time. 3 further children (sadly, the picture of them doesn’t include the youngest addition) Stephen (7), Naime Elisa (5) and Sofia (6 months) we all born in Spain.

Steve pastors Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar along with 2 other gentleman: David Barcelo and Matt Leighton. David is currently overseeing a church plant into Barcelona and much of Matt’s time is spent teaching in a Spanish seminary close by. This means that Steve is the main pastor, responsible for the church in Vilassar.

I asked Steve to give us a bit of insight into the cultural context surrounding their church and also how we can pray effectively for them.

Nathan:
“Can you describe for us the general state of people towards church and towards the gospel in Vilassar?”

Steve:
As is the case in all towns and cities throughout Spain, Vilassar has a Roman Catholic church. I think if you take away attendance for baptisms, weddings, funeral and other cultural events, the Roman Catholic church probably has a core group no bigger than ours.

The town of Vilassar, like much of Catalonia, displays much religious indifference. Most people are either sceptical towards us or hostile towards organized religion in general.

Nathan:
“Can you tell us about a significant area in the life of Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar where you’ve seen God at work, for which we can rejoice in and give thanks for?”

Steve:
As a church, we are currently experiencing a season of unity, and renewed excitement about telling others about Jesus. The Lord is giving many among us great opportunities to share the gospel with people on a regular basis and this breathes life into a local church. We have also seen a number of people recently converted.

Nathan:
“Can you share with us three specific prayer requests for Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar?”

Steve:
Firstly, you can pray for our Alpha Course. This is our first go at it and the response has been excellent. We appreciate prayer in particular for conversions during the course, as well as for more team members to serve for the next course.

Secondly, we are hoping to bring on another man in a full-time position from September who would help us with the Alpha Course, lead worship and help recruit and train new worship team members. This young man’s name is Jesus Gonzalez.

Thirdly, we are in the process of “discovering” the spiritual gifts and how they are to be used in the life of a local church. We need much wisdom here as people are at different places regarding this issue.

We will be praying for Esglesia Evangelicade Vilassar de Mar this coming Sunday evening, 21st June 2009.