We trust that you are doing very well. Many things that have been on our heart for years are coming to pass. Thank you so much for helping us obey God!

“Write the Vision and Make It Plain” – Habakkuk 2:2 

As I was first preparing to go on the mission field, a missionary acquaintance generously made himself available to answer some of my questions. While we visited, he said something that surprised me. “In the beginning, you will not know what your vision is,” he commented.

The Lord first dealt with us about missions, later Spain, then Burgos, and afterwards, starting a church. That seemed like all the information that was needed. However, the Lord kept right on revealing different things, growing our vision more and more. It quickly became clear that our work was not going to fit easily into the mold of how people talk about missions. After years of slowly proving things out, much of what is on our heart is starting to happen. I can finally begin to share publicly about the more complete vision of this ministry.

Some parts of this world have very little Christian witness. It is difficult to measure, but the best statistics indicate that around 1 in 4 or 5 people in the USA are evangelical Christians. * In Spain and France, only about 1 in 100 people fall into that category. We all know that America has her challenges and desperately needs Jesus, but imagine ministering in a culture that has 1/20 of the gospel light that we have in America. It is probably impossible for me to describe it to you. You would have to come and see if for yourself. I’m not saying it is difficult in Europe; I’m saying it is different. Here is one interesting thought: if the above statistics hold true, a church of 10 in Spain is equivalent to a church of 200 in the USA!

In the last 300 years, the United States has experienced the First and Second Great Awakenings, the Pentecostal, healing, charismatic, and teaching revivals while Spain and the countries near us have seen only isolated touches from heaven in nearly 500 years. From the beginning of our work in Europe, the Lord has been dealing with me about how to minister in cultures that have virtually no gospel foundation. We believe that He has given us concrete steps to prepare for the desperately needed harvest of souls that is coming to Europe.

1. Recruit and train Americans and eventually European missionaries to assist in different aspects of ministry here. A good team is so vital.
2. Travel to various cities to research and prepare for future outreach and, possibly, churches. We need contacts and knowledge of a city before we can bring others there.
3. Develop online courses and paper resources for the evangelism, encouragement, and training of the people reached.
4. Implement strategies to minimize the challenges that arise from Europe’s multiple languages.  

Hopefully, this information gives you a clearer sense of the work we are involved in, and what many of you are faithfully supporting. This vision has made it necessary for us to travel, even to the USA, to connect with churches and recruit help. In fact, we have traveled less than we should have over the past years in order to make sure we were hearing and implementing the vision correctly. I could share many more details now, but since this newsletter is already long, stay tuned for more specifics in future e-mails. 

We love and appreciate you!
*Evangelical Christians believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, a personal relationship with God through Him, and that we are commissioned to share this gospel with the world.

Financial Update

And God is able to bestow every blessing on you in abundance, so that richly enjoying all sufficiency at all times, you may have amble means for all good works.

2 Corinthians 9:8 [Weymouth]

Because of God’s faithfulness and yours, we have not had to ask for finances in over 3 years. During that time, we have been able to live in Spain, fund the work here, and even support other great ministries. 

However, with new responsibilities, come many new expenses. We continue to maintain our home in Spain and the weekly meetings here, but we are adding more travel to other cities and training of missionaries. In fact, we will be in Italy for 10 days in May to prepare the ground for future work. We have recently added quality equipment to begin videoing our services and other lessons to post online in Spanish. This summer we have to report on our finances to the Spanish government and pay legal fees for our residency renewal.  

We know you tithe to your local church and generously support other great ministries. Thank you for your faithfulness! If you would like to support this ministry, you may use PayPal through the link below or mail support to Family Church, PO Box 179, Fredonia, NY 14063. Make the check payable to Family Church and put Rich Walker Ministries in the memo line. Please do what brings you joy, and God will meet our needs and yours (Philippians 4:19). Thank you so much!

Also, if you know of anyone that you believe would be interested in this ministry, pass along my e-mail (rich@richwalkerministries.org) to them. I would be happy to answer any of their questions.

A great harvest is coming, and we will be a part of it!