From March 13 to 20, a mission team comprised of churches from the Columbia Metro Baptist Association (CMBA) traveled to several cities in Spain, partnering with the International Mission Board (IMB) to work with native Spanish pastors in their missions efforts. 

Beginning three years ago, the partnership between the CMBA and the IMB team in Spain has flourished, with regular missions teams from South Carolina coming to serve each year. 

“With support from Janie Chapman and Cooperative Program, we sponsor short-term trips for pastors and missions leaders to go to places of great need like Madrid,” Tim Rice, Director of Missions Partnership at SCBaptist, said.  

The CMBA team, comprised of Rice, Travis Pruden, and CeCe Thorne of Alice Drive Baptist Church in Sumter, spent their time in Spain serving local churches, learning about the perspectives of the native Spaniards, and engaging in conversations with those in the communities they served. Centering their efforts around the capital city, Madrid, the team learned of the extreme lostness of the city. 

Connecting Abroad

“Madrid may be the most important Spanish-speaking city in the world. Only .5% of Spaniards have a relationship with Jesus, which means that 1 in 200 people you encounter may have a personal relationship with him. This is an important ministry opportunity for SCBaptists and for CMBA churches,” Jamie Rogers, Associational Missions Strategist at CMBA, said. 

Catholic churches in Spain outnumber evangelical churches by a large margin. For example, in Segovia, a Spanish city north of Madrid, there exists only one or two evangelical Christian churches for a population of over 57,000 people, emphasizing the importance and need for Gospel witness in Spain.  

Despite the lack of evangelical churches in Spain, some churches are taking steps of faith to reach the people in their communities.  

Under the leadership of native Spaniard Isaac and IMB missionary Steve, Communidad Moncloa, a 2-year-old church plant in Madrid, has made strides to significantly impact the local community.  

In 2024, the church was registered as a legal religious entity in Spain. This status allowed the church to open up their own personal bank account, increasing their opportunities to evangelize. Obtaining a church bank account paved the way for Communidad Moncloa to fund outreach events in their community. Additionally, after initially holding Sunday service in a hotel buffet room, Communidad Moncloa now rents a church facility. Pastor Isaac acknowledged that the generous giving of church members allowed them to make this move. Amazingly, Communidad Moncloa has outgrown the rented facility in recent months, a testament of the faithfulness and provision of the Lord. “We are praying that God would continue to do his work and provide a larger facility so that we can continue reaching new people,” Pastor Isaac said.

Intentional Engagement

Local believers in Spain are also taking bold–and unique–steps in sharing the Gospel. 

Josh Hill, the Emerging Innovation Strategist and Coach of the IMB, has been working on various projects that intentionally reach those in the space of digital communities and gaming, such as Discord, Twitch, and e-sports. 

“On average, a person spends 6.5 hours in a digital space every day–time that they are not engaged in a physical world–yet they are still building relationships. How do we connect these people to believers? We enter these spaces,” Hill said. 

In light of these encouraging events, the CMBA is offering words of encouragement and challenge to those considering missions in Spain.  

The Kershaw Baptist Association has joined with CMBA in this strategic partnership. Both associations encourage SCBaptists to consider missions in Spain. This includes giving to missions efforts as well as participating in a trip abroad with local churches.  

“We can serve people everywhere in the same way by being willing to connect,” Pruden, Missions Pastor of Alice Drive Baptist, said. “We have learned that all cultures that have the same overall need: knowing Jesus.”