From June 22 to July 2, 2018, Frontline Missions had a wonderful opportunity to explore opportunities for missions in Barcelona, Spain. We held training in Bible storying and had several visionary meetings where we identified key areas for future ministry: children’s ministry, music outreach (concerts), and church planting training.
In addition to this, we spent a lot of our time on this trip ministering to children. Toward the end of the trip, we had a great breakthrough with some of our kids.
At the end of one day, one of our team members said, “OK children, we’ve had a great afternoon. Let us talk to God and give Him thanks before we leave.”
This is a routine approach for most of us, but not for Ashley, a 13-year-old girl with Middle East heritage. “Can we talk to God?” she asked with eyes wide open. We explained to her that we can, and told her how to do so.
Also, on the last day of our children’s outreach, two Hindu brothers asked their grandfather if they could start coming to church. The grandfather replied, “That is the time of the week that we go to the park or do other fun things. If we come to church, we won’t be able to do that anymore.”
“We like THIS better,” they exclaimed. “Please let us start coming here on weekends!” These may be little things to Americans, but for the churches we served in Barcelona, these remarks are giant breakthroughs. As in many other places around the world, people are tired of religion, and churches are looking for new ways to reach out to their communities. We not only did ministry with them, but our presence and service was a strong encouragement for them. We are looking forward to future trips there in 2019!