Church Plant and Camino Guesthouse Team Members in Basque Country

In 2017, ECM set up a team of missionaries in the Basque Country of Spain to begin a pioneering church planting ministry. It is a mountainous area with a rich culture and unique language called Euskera. Traditionally Catholic, many people are now agnostic or atheist like in many parts of Europe. There is a huge need for the Gospel here in the Basque Country where only 0.67% of people here are evangelical Christians.

In 2020 they planted a small church (Comunidad Camino Antiguo)  in the town of Zalla, which up until now has not had an established evangelical church. They meet together to encourage one another in faith, to be and make disciples of Jesus in this place. They aim to reach out to their local community with the Gospel.

In 2024 they opened a Camino guesthouse (Casa Camino Antiguo) for pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago, one of the oldest pilgrimages in Europe. Their town is along the Camino Olvidado and provides a perfect opportunity to serve pilgrims by offering them hospitality and showing them the love of Christ. Last year they welcomed many pilgrims to the Casa and had volunteers and short-term teams come to serve with them.

They are looking for more team members to serve in the two main ministries of the church plant and pilgrim guesthouse which work together hand in hand to be a presence of Christ in this area.

Requirements

• One or two missionary couples or single men as the majority of pilgrims are male.
• Would need a very competent to fluent level of Spanish (B2-C2).
• Competent in English
• Team Members would be expected to be involved in all aspects of the ministries outlined below, though within the team there are some divided responsibilities.

Church Responsibilities include:

• Leading and growing a small church plant in a semi-rural area with very few evangelical Christians.
• Preaching and Bible study leading
• Music ministry
• Youth and children’s ministry
• Discipleship and pastoral care
• Evangelism and outreach activities

Camino Guesthouse Responsibilities include:

• Management of guesthouse (admin, finance, practical, cleaning, promotion)
• Ministering to pilgrims, meeting their needs
• Managing and nurturing volunteers
• Managing short-term teams

Required gifts/competencies/experience:

• A heart for pioneering church planting (evangelism and discipleship)
• Have theological education
• Love for hospitality and passion for people and building relationships
• Leadership and vision planning skills
• Strong management and organisational skills
• Flexibility and high emotional intelligence
• Creative, self-starters, take initiative
• Ability to work well in a team
• Humility, heart to serve and willingness to learn
• Mature in own spiritual formation
• Interest in outdoor activity, hiking and walking, nature.