About El Faro, Valencia

Who are we?

We are a group of people from Newfrontiers churches who feel called by God to plant a church in Valencia.

The vision is to build a strong, vibrant, Spirit-filled international church offering services in both Spanish and English. Our desire is to establish a family-oriented community, committed to the Lord Jesus, the Bible and to one another; a strong church from which we can send out teams to build and strengthen other churches in Spain and beyond.

• We are charismatic and believe in the use of charismatic gifts both corporately and individually.
• We believe that the Ephesians 4 ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are for today, to build up the church and present it as a 'mature man' (Eph 4:13).
• In our corporate times of worship we are open to God speaking through prophetic words or tongues and interpretation, and to healings and where necessary deliverance.
• We believe that meeting together in small groups is essential for the mutual growth and encouragement of each person. For this reason we are a cell church where the identity of church is seen firstly in the small group and secondly in the Sunday celebration.
• We believe in a restored church - New Testament churches that are genuinely Biblically based and are authentically open to the Spirit.
• We believe water baptism and baptism in the Holy Spirit are for all believers and we encourage fellowship, the breaking of bread and praying together regularly.

Newfrontiers is a family of churches that have chosen to work together under apostolic ministry. In this sense we work relationally with churches that hold the same vision and values.

We believe the most effective way of evangelising a new area is to plant a church. The Gospel needs not only to be proclaimed but also to be demonstrated in tangible ways, and the best way is through Christians living out the Gospel together in a locality. In this way new communities are established, often in places that have not seen authentic Christianity outworked through the church.

Call and vision… by Paul Godfrey.

When my wife Susanna and I were asked whether we would consider moving to Valencia to plant an international church to form a hub around which we could move into the rest of Spain, we had to seek God’s face and consider whether all our life experience and training was God’s call at this time or it was simply a carnal ‘fit’. From the age of eleven I used to play with the missionary children near my home and I began to get to know missionaries as friends who travelled the continents. Many at that time were being sent into Spain which had recently opened up after the death of Franco. One of them, Paco Garcia first became my best friend and later my brother in law as we both married daughters of a church pastor in Sicily- but that is another story. Over the years God has drawn me to the Latin world. I am learning to see things from their world view as our extended family (two Spanish brother in laws and one American brother in law) served in Spain for a number of years and my father in law currently ministers in Italy. I have always been drawn to Southern Europe and all things Latin, which was rather handy when I met my Italian wife- Susanna! I have always felt a strong call to cities and have a real heart for church planting.

We believe that God has spoken to us in many ways though there is not the space to write it all here. However, soon after we had decided to commit to Valencia we received a significant prophecy during a leaders gathering from Julian Adams, a prophet from Cape Town. God met with us in a powerful way and without prior knowledge Julian prophesied that “we would go to a European country in the next year to plant a church and that it was on God’s agenda.”

And so what to plant?

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Psalm 97:1

Our vision is to plant a Spanish- and English-speaking international “look and see” church in the heart of Valencia. We want to draw such disparate strands as Evangelical Latin newcomers, students, Spanish locals and expats into a church which embodies our vision and values. From what we have witnessed, God is on the move in Spain today in a new way unthought-of of only a decade ago, giving every encouragement that now is the time for Newfrontiers to enter into this mission field. Universities provide the education for tomorrow’s leaders and shapers of society. Valencia’s institutions are amongst the most prestigious in the country and therefore draw some of the best students of Spain and the Latin world. If we can see some of them come to the gospel then given time we can help influence the future direction of Spain. Valencia is ideally located at the head of the Costas where many expats have made home. Many Evangelicals have moved into these communities and set up or would like to set up churches to reach out to the English speaking populations of the coast. A large Newfrontiers hub church in a major world city like Valencia could help to significantly strengthen and resource such churches. We anticipate God to burst a church in Valencia for His glory and take the gospel to the nations.