Young Believers Find Spiritual Oasis

by Raymond Ebbett, Alliance worker serving in Spain

During the month of August, some 50 young people gathered at Bethany House in Alicante, Spain, for an intensive four-week school of discipleship and missions. Most of the participants were from Alliance churches in Spain, but others came from England, France, and Italy.

God met these young people in remarkable ways, with moving testimonies of deep repentance and transformed lives.

More Alive than Ever

A girl from an Alliance church in Italy was deeply impacted by her stay at Bethany. Leaders described how she wept upon meeting God in a profound way. One week after Bethany concluded she wrote, “I learned so much from the Word of God. I learned to pray and to love my neighbor. The last day I could not believe it was all over!”

Two weeks after Bethany, this same young lady had enrolled in our Bible Institute (for training pastors and church leaders) and was taking an online seminary-level class on Romans.

Another 2016 participant wrote:

Bethany is one of those places where at first you are not sure if are going to get out alive. But then after one month you realize that, in fact, you are leaving more alive than ever. I will miss the peaceful afternoons marked by smiles and laughter and the classes which give you another way of seeing life and the evening worship times which made me weep.

What Is Bethany?

Bethany School is much more than a summer camp. It started in August 2015 and was held again this past August.

Classes are offered every morning and most afternoons, with a worship service and testimony times in the evenings. Topics include a wide range of subjects, such as how to study the Bible, how to pray, how to share your faith with those of the majority religion, the history of revivals, and how to walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Professors include Alliance pastors and missionaries from Spain as well as guest teachers and pastors from North America and Europe. The first three weeks are more teaching oriented, and the final week focuses on hands-on ministry.

One of the highlights in both 2015 and 2016 was a College of Prayer module in which the manifest presence of God touched the young people in tremendous ways.

How Did Bethany Begin?

The vision for Bethany School was born in the hearts of Pastor Juan Zúñiga and his wife, Patty, missionary church planters from the C&MA in Peru who have served in Spain for nearly 10 years. They have observed firsthand in Spain with their own teenage children the huge challenges faced by Christian teenagers and young adults in the secular, “anything goes” context of modern Europe.

Morals are loose, and values are anything but Christian. With barely 1 percent of Spaniards identified as evangelical believers, there are few other teenage believers in our small churches and even fewer in the public schools and universities. Most admit to surviving in the public school system by having a “hunker down and try not to attract attention” attitude. As Christians they face bullying and huge problems.

Thriving in Christ

Bethany School has proved to be a wonderful spiritual oasis and a place “where we can breathe,” as some have put it. Bethany provides opportunity for healing, spiritual growth, and practical discipleship to prepare our young people not just to survive but to thrive.

There is a strong emphasis on holy living and consecration to Jesus. One night this year at Bethany, just as the lights were being turned out after a long day, one young man shared his heart with the other guys. His courageous confession led others to follow his example.

With no monitors or teachers present, these young men spontaneously began to confess sin and pray for each other. As they met the Lord in a profound way, some spent the entire night reading the Bible and praying.

These are just a few of the stories of how Bethany has impacted the youth who have attended. We are thrilled with what has already happened through Bethany 2015 and 2016. We believe God wants to do much more in the years to come.