Introduction

Hi! I am Andrew McKinney and I a member of Ballymena Baptist Church. I have recently been accepted by Baptist Missions as an Associate Volunteer worker and will be going (D.V.) to Algeciras, southern Spain some time in August. I will be working alongside two missionary couples already working in the area, the Reids who work with the Cristo Viene (Christ is coming) church and the Elliotts who work with the Renacer (Rebirth) church.

My first exposure to outreach in Spain was back in 2001 in Palencia as part of a summer evangelism team. I was then invited by Andrew Reid to come to Algeciras in 2005 as part of the first team they had there. That summer I helped run the children´s outreach on the beach and the other evangelism efforts. I left that year thinking seriously about how I could prepare to come out on a longer basis. I always enjoyed languages at school, particularly Spanish, which I studied right up to A Level and that summer I felt God speaking to me about using that gift in some way for Him.

Having had a teaching background, I decided that the best way to combine my gifts and past experience would be to train to teach English as a foreign language. To enable me to do this, I spent 18 weeks from February to June 2007 at Belfast Institute and completed the CELTA course. (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults.)

I envisage myself in a sort of tentmaker role where I would be teaching English in one of the many private English academies in Algeciras. This would enable me to make contacts in the community but also would provide me with a level of income towards my overall support. I would also be helping in the life of the Cristo Viene church with music, outreach and possibly visitation. This means that there will be a small team in Algeciras with me meeting regularly with the Elliotts and the Reids.

Long-term the vision is to be able to offer cut-price homework clubs in needy
neighbourhoods. This will depend on how much my time is tied up with other teaching commitments.

Whilst I hope to be mainly self-supporting through my teaching I nevertheless will need to raise a degree of finance, especially for my first months and to tide me over the summers when I will probably earn less. Please also pray for me that I will be able to find a suitable job which will provide me with a reasonable income without impeding my service with the Reids and the Elliotts outside work hours.

I thank you for your interest and pray that God will bless you as you partner together with me in the work of taking God’s message to the land of Spain.