September Update

Greetings from Vilassar de Mar!

Summer
We had a wonderful summer. It wasn’t very eventful, but that is what we were looking forward to. I got the permission of the church leaders here in Vilassar to spend a couple hours a day in the mornings to help Naíme “homeschool” them. Mom was in charge of Math and Spelling and I was in charge of English, Catalán and a bit of History. It was a great experience and we hope to be able to do something similar from now on during the summer months. Perhaps more than anything else it helped to give the family some structure without which summers can be trying.

I almost forgot...We had a very pleasant time with the John's (from Grace Bible Church) who visited us for about a week. It was great seeing them again. Hopefully others of you will follow their example and come out for a visit :)

School
September is here and our children are back to school. Naíme, who just turned four is attending her second year of preschool, Stephen is in first grade and Sebastian in second. Both Sebastian and Naíme have the same teacher as last year. I think Naíme is more excited about that than Sebastian.

I need to share a rather funny anecdote concerning some counsel Stephen got from his older brother. We were sitting around the table having lunch and we asked Stephen about his new English teacher (he has one hour a week). Sebastian advised him not to let his teacher know about his prior knowledge of the language so that she would constantly be impressed by his progress and congratulate him frequently J

Regarding our children’s school you all might pray about my involvement in the school’s PTA. This week I’ll be going to my first meeting and I am praying that the Lord would show me if this might be a way to meet new people with a view to sharing Christ as well as of having some influence in the school arena. My hopes lie more in the former than the latter.

Church
Things are pretty much back to full swing at church. In our ladies Bible study this year we will be studying the book of Proverbs. I will be receiving some help from Naíme and some of the other ladies in teaching this series. This is probably our strongest mid-week ministry and it is a joy. I (Stephen) am trying to work myself out of my job as regular teacher in this group. The group has a number of very gifted women and so this year we are going to working on plan to train work with some of the women in order to help them become better teachers and gruadually turn the teaching over to them. Thanks for your prayers regarding this.

I am continuing to preach through the gospel of Mark with some interruptions. I would say that the series is going well. Starting two weeks ago we also started up our adult Sunday school classes again and we started by tackling the issue of manhood and womanhood in the Bible. This has been and continues to be somewhat of a heated topic so we appreciate your prayers. Apart from the studies we hope to have good discussion times so that folks can voice their opinions and concerns. Ultimately we trust that the Lord will bless these times and that the end result would be greater unity, a clearer understanding of what Scripture teaches and mutual respect especially regarding those areas and nuances where there are differences.

An important even we have coming up is our church retreat. David Barceló and I will be the speakers. David will speak about “A Passion for the Church” and I will speak about what it means to be the church all week long. We are concerned for low views of the church that we perceive in Evangelicalism in general and also with a version of being the church which focuses too exclusively on our Sunday gathering. Please join us in prayer regarding this retreat not only for the messages, but also for the discussion groups we’ll have after the messages, as well as for the fellowship and children’s ministry.

Thanks again for all your prayers and your support,
The Phillips’

August Update

Greetings from Alcázar de San Juan!In August I had the privilege of participating in an evangelistic campaign in Alcázar de San Juan, in the heart of La Mancha. A good friend of mine by the name of José Moreno is the pastor there and they dedicate a week every summer to “doubling up” their evangelism efforts. I have been wanting to join him and his church now for a couple of years but until this past summer it hasn’t been possible.

The campaign lasted from the 30th of July to the 5th of August. On a typical day we would visit one of the nearby towns and pass out tracts near the open markets in the hopes that along with the tracts we might engage folks in conversation. In the evenings we would set up a book table in the center of Alcázar in an area which had lots of pedestrian traffic. The table featured different tracts and booklets that were free as well as a good assortment of books and some films which people could take on loan. So every evening a few people would man the table and a few of us would pass out tracts and strike up conversations with those who were willing.

A number of things caused quite an impression on me. The first was how difficult an experience it was for me to pass out my first tract. Because it has been some time since I have passed out tracts like that it was quite the butterfly-in-the-stomach experience. The second thing I observed was how much more Roman Catholicism is entrenched in this part of Spain. Whereas in Catalonia we face mainly atheism and agnosticism, in deep Spain there is still a very strong Catholic mentality and everything else is a cult. I found it quite challenging as I was quite unprepared for the responses we received.

I failed to mention earlier that I went down with Samuel Barceló, one of David’s younger brothers. We both came away with the sense of thankfulness to the Lord for the experience. We were able to talk with many people and it helped me think a lot about our own context here in Catalonia and what things we might start doing in order to more effectively share the Gospel with folks in Vilassar.

I’ll be sharing more about that in future updates...

Thanks again for your prayers and support,
Steve

April Update

Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

We are having a lovely spring time here in our part of the world. Leaves are budding and flowers are blossoming and the temperature is just where I like it—not too cold and not too hot. If you ever want to come for a visit you should think about coming at this time of the year!

The Phillips’ Family
We are doing well as a family. I (Steve) have been struggling with some kind of flu bug or something, but I am now much better. It takes being uncomfortably sick once in a while in order to really appreciate the gift of health.

Naíme and I are enjoying the children more than ever. Because they are so close in age there was a time when parenting seemed more like drudgery than enjoyment. Endless diaper-changing, double strollers that didn’t fit in elevators—and as they say in Spanish “a long etc.” were some of the factors that tempted us to keep our eyes more on the challenges of parenting than on the rewards. Now that they can talk, reason, barter and try to be humorous we find ourselves laughing at least as much as sighing, and thanking God more than complaining.

As most of you know, our children attend the local public school. It is only about a two-minute walk from our house which is quite nice. At our school they have a “split” schedule meaning that the children go to school from 9:00 to 1:00, have a two hour break, and go back at 3:00 and finish and 5:00. Most children just stay at school during the midday break and pay for a school-provided lunch. Living so close to the school makes it very easy to pick our children up and spend those 2 hours at home. This has turned out to be a special time for us as a family. I (Stephen) try to take this time off to be with the children and this is when we have family devotions and do quite a bit of reading.

My wife has been staying busy as always. She is now our Sunday school coordinator at church. Needless to say I make it a top priority in ministry to meet with my Sunday school coordinator now J. It is really great to see how the Lord has prospered her in a ministry that she began more out moral obligation than out of a conviction that she would do a good job, and least of all that she would enjoy it. Apart from coordinating the ministry, she helps teach our adolescents a long with a few other great teachers. We thank the Lord that this ministry is going well.

The Life of the Body
I am thankful to be able to share with you that the church is showing signs of a renewed vitality. We have gone through some painful and discouraging times as a body. But it is becoming evident that the Lord is beginning to turn our lament into encouragement, and we are seeing a renewal of expectation on the part of most folks that God has good things in store for us as a church.

In particular, I have been very encouraged to see a growing number of people seeking to be active in different ministries. I could list many examples of this, but perhaps 2 might suffice. Rubén Isern is a young husband and father who puts in long days in order to support his family. Rubén, in the midst of his busyness, will be helping start a new home fellowship group to encourage other young married couples in our church. It looks like it might be very well attended. Claudia Fernández is a young, single girl from Uruguay. She did a spiritual “rumplestilskin” and came back to the Lord after many years of rebellion. Claudia has been a huge help in our Sunday school ministry and also coordinates a ministry geared toward praying for the persecuted church. These are just two of many examples of people that are joyfully serving the Lord.

Our Second Gospel Concert
On the 31st of March we organized a second Gospel concert here in a public theater. There were probably around 300 people in attendance if not more. We invited a group of singers from a coral in Barcelona to come and sing as well as a young Christian singer and songwriter. I should say that many Spaniards have a special appreciation for black spirituals and are familiar with songs like “Swing Low Sweet Chariot”, “Happy Day”, “Standing in the Need of Prayer”, etc. So when we hold these concerts it is only natural for the singers to introduce the songs by explaining gospel themes. We praise the Lord for the good turn out and the clear way that the singers were able to share the Gospel in between songs.

Once again we want to thank you all for your faithful prayers and support!
Steve Phillips