Alcora Prayer Update

Chapel 'El Calvario' that overlooks Alcora

As we start the Alcora Prayer Campaign, we want to give you a basic sketch of the pueblo and why we’re here.  Located just northwest of Castellón de la Plana, the capital city of the province of Castellón, Alcora has a population of about 11,000 (click here for a map).  The driving force of the economy here is the ceramic tile industry, but the industry is going nowhere at the moment due to the economic crisis that Spain continues to face.  We’ll hopefully give you a more detailed look at the economic problems of the area in a future update.

Religious Influences 

Spiritually, Alcora is known as a very traditional Catholic pueblo.  There are three main Catholic churches here, with some smaller chapels and hermitage sites scattered around the nearby countryside.  Even though there seems to be a deep-rooted Catholicism here, the vast majority of Alcorinos are very nominally Catholic, participating in the religious festivals once a year and going to church only to marry and to bury.  We have yet to meet the three priests here, so we can’t say if they know the Lord personally or not.  I went to mass once in December, and the priest’s homily was actually quite Christ-centered.

Aside from the Catholic Church, there is a Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and a Pentecostal Romanian church, whose obvious mission is to reach the 500 or so Romanians who live around here (and Spaniards, if they’re interested in learning Romanian).  The Assemblies of God in Castellón city had Alcora as a mission point until the end of 2010 but decided not to continue here for various reasons.  And, of course, we are here as an extension of Església Bona Nova (the Good News Church) in the neighboring town of Onda.  They’ve had Alcora on their hearts since 2008 or so, and we are working together with them to share Christ with Alcorinos, hopefully resulting in some sort of church plant.  What does that mean?  What will this church plant look like? 

That’s exactly what we’re asking you to pray with us about.  We don’t have it all figured out when it comes to sharing the Good News with Alcorinos or planting a church in this context.  We want God’s direction as we begin ministry here.  We know that only God can touch and change people’s hearts and that He has invited us to be a part of that here in Alcora.

A Few Brief Prayer Points:

• That God will give us guidance as we seek to expand His Kingdom here in Alcora.
• That God will protect us from the enemy as we live and minister here.
• That Alcorinos’ hearts will be softened to Jesus’ Good News.
• That we will have ears to hear and eyes to see the people He’s already working in.