Alabama Baptist volunteers received high marks for their efforts during the Spain partnership, but missionaries and national pastors did point out areas that might be improved.
“The orientation, mutual support and cooperation was wonderful,” said Southern Baptist missionary and Alabamian Peggy Alums. The groups were respectful, patient and flexible when glitches occurred, she noted.
However, Alums, who assists her husband, Rusty, as volunteer coordinator for Spain, encouraged volunteers to “nourish the personal ties made between the churches and individuals by letting the Spanish church know what is happening in the Alabama church.”
She suggested mailing church bulletins, writing letters and e-mailing.
“Let the Spanish church know that the missions trip, and specifically the experience in their Spanish church, had an impact on individuals and/or Alabama churches,” Alums said. “Mail thank-you notes and notes of encouragement to the pastor and/or church leaders.”
Emmanuel Buch, pastor of First Baptist Church, Madrid, agreed.
“More relationships between people should be developed,” he said.
“There should also be someone who can identify with the church – one person as a contact,” he added.
Lorenzo Gonzalez, pastor of La Creu Alta Baptist Church, Sabadell, believes his partnership with Lebanon Baptist, Falkville, has worked so well because of the ongoing communication.
“We had contacts through e-mail, faxes and personal calls,” he said. “And we had a translator.”
Gonzalez also appointed a group to meet the needs of the volunteer team while they were in Spain.
Julio Diaz, pastor of Bilbao Baptist Church, encouraged teams to be flexible and to adjust to the needs of the host church where they serve.
Reggie Quimby, director of global partnerships for the State Board of Missions, said churches seeking church-to-church partnerships definitely need at least one person on staff who speaks the language of the other church.
In fact, that is one area Quimby is rethinking for the Alabama’s current partnership with Venezuela.
“Sometimes it does more harm than good for the community (if the churches cannot communicate),” said Quimby, who served as missionary in Denia, Spain for 12 years. “If a specific person is not working on the project, then it will not be a priority,” he said, noting a couple of Alabama churches that did not follow through with commitments.
Still, about 22 churches in Alabama had partnerships with churches in Spain, and most of the experiences were good.
Because of what he learned with the church-to-church relationships, Quimby said he is going to emphasize associational partnerships in the future.
Gary Powell, International Mission Board missionary in Bilbao, Spain, said, “It is very important for the volunteers to respect what the pastor and missionary say.”
He also noted that bringing in volunteers with experience and knowledge in a highly sought after field such as computers and science attracts people. Powell said it is also important to recruit volunteers who are well-versed in a particular area to lead conferences and teach classes.
“This will make a great impression and opens many doors then and in the future for missionaries and the nationals that live there.”
Robert Velert, pastor of the Bona Nova Baptist Church in Barcelona, agreed.
“For instance, Sammy Gilbreath (director of evangelism for Alabama Baptists) came and was ready to hit the streets,” Velert said. “But I felt (street evangelism) was not the best thing for him.
“Sammy is a preacher, a man of culture and well-prepared,” Velert said. “It was best to use him on the radio and as a teacher in various spots.”
Velert cited Gilbreath’s associate Max Croft as another example of using people in more appropriate areas.
“He is a former engineer from NASA,” Valert said. “So instead of sending him to the streets, it was better to prepare a conference and invite those interested in science and astronomy and let Max lead the conference.”
Valert said another good conference would be for a housewife who has children of various ages to lead a breakfast conference for women. She could teach women how a housewife in the United States deals with the same problems as women in Spain.
But for this to happen, there must be a planning stage, Velert said. “In the partnerships, the planning has been almost at the last moment.
“It is more logical to know who is coming and how we can best use them,” he said.
“People who come with a certain talent, something different, will help people turn out,” Gonzalez said. “It will capture the people’s attention, and they will want to participate.”
Gonzalez also said teams would do better to stay through two weekends, so they could participate in several church services.
“We can get more people in the church to participate because of their work schedules if we have activities planned on the weekends and during the midweek service,” Gonzalez said.
Diego Martinez, pastor of Barceloneta Baptist Church, Barcelona, suggested teams have several translators come with them.
Martinez said the teams should understand church life in Spain and the history of the Baptist church. They also need to realize there will not be thousands attending the events.
“I think every team should go through a one- or two- day seminar about the characteristics of the country where they are going,” Velert said.
“Spain is a very proud country,” he explained, adding that sending missionaries to Spain can be considered insulting. He said Spaniards are likely to questions why they should listen to someone from Alabama.
And with Spain being dominated by Catholicism, teams need to know how to present the gospel in a Catholic country. Catholicism is different in Europe than in the United States.
The volunteers also need to realize various areas of Spain are different from each other. He said the Catalan people are normally introverted and not friendly in the beginning.
Velert said people in the south will open their arms and be very welcoming. Then the next month they will forget you.
The Catalan people, however, will form strong bonds. They just need time to observe you and check you out. Once they decide to accept you as a friend, the relationship will grow, he said.
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