Originally from Brazil, Heldarfabalin is the director of the Global Youth and Young Adult Initiatives at Community Bible Study International and is the evangelist, missionary, author and co-founding pastor of C29 Granada Church, Spain. He spoke at the European Evangelism Conference, hosted by the Billy Graham Evangellik Association in Berlin, Germany, last Thursday (May 29) European Conference on Evangelism, about the topic “We must prepare to preach the gospel.”
After his speech, Fabarin conducted an exclusive interview with Christian Daily International, where he highlighted the spiritual challenges facing Spain there, reflecting the important themes of his speech. He emphasized the importance of evangelicals preparing for evangelicals, as the apostle Paul once did, by hearing God’s word and “subjugating our will, seeking our hearts, and (shaping our hearts)”. He emphasized that this preparation also requires a deeper awareness of cultural characteristics among different groups of people.
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“Spain needs more churches. There are hundreds of towns and cities that do not have Protestant or evangelical churches,” says Fabalin on the broader challenges facing evangelical witnesses in the country, who are only 1.61% evangelical, according to the Joshua Project. Statista focused on 4,455 evangelical churches in Spain in January 2025.
In Spain, Fabalin says that there is a strong Catholic background, and that “many people explain it as post-secular.”
“Both secularization and spirituality are growing, but the true gospel has a great deal of ignorance,” says Fabalin of the Spanish spiritual landscape. “And there are a lot of preconceived notions from people.”
These preconceptions stem from the persistent tropes that portray evangelical churches as denominations, particularly common in Spain. Such recognition overshadows people in view of their true commitment to Christ and involvement in evangelical congregations.
“Reforms never reached Spain, like all parts of Southern Europe,” Fabalin notes. “And I think it’s a challenge in multiplying the local church and some social aspects.”
However, Fabalin recognizes the growing interest in spirituality across the country, and believes that evangelical churches must respond in a different way than their past approaches to evangelical outreach. He emphasizes the need for a new attitude about how Spanish evangelicals engage with fellow citizens.
“We have to make the most of this unique time,” urges Fabalin. “Secularization and spirituality are both growing, so I will say once again that we need to mobilize the whole church.
“We need to help everyone realize that they are part of the team. It’s not just the work of our pastors and evangelists. It’s a daily job wherever we are.”
“I connect with people, live in all areas of banking, university and society,” he adds, listing examples of how evangelicals can strengthen relationships with non-Christians in their everyday environments.
Fabalin believes it could potentially build a bridge with the Catholic Church in areas where they share concerns and collaboration. However, he is cautious about how closely Protestants and Catholics can work together. “It’s a broad topic, so I’ll be careful about how I answer this,” he says, acknowledging the historical complexity surrounding the relationship.
“I think we can work together, but I’m hesitant. I don’t want to generalize. There are a lot of bridges going on. And yes, as long as we declare the gospel together and live it, I understand that there is sensitivity there.
“In places like Spain, for example, they live differently from Northern Europe. But we welcome our intimacy and potential in Jesus’ name.”
The Berlin Conference provided a unique opportunity for leaders to come together and connect with a focus on both Europe and evangelism. “I think it’s a gift for us and the continent,” Fabalin said of the experience.
During Thursday’s main session, Fabalin explored the example of the apostle Paul as a model for effective evangelism in Europe. He emphasized how Paul’s approach was rooted in a deep understanding of local culture and led by the application of God’s Word by the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 16, Paul was given the vision of a man in Macedonia, “standing” for help. The apostle responded in verse 10, “ready to leave for Macedonia,” and concluded, “God called us to preach the gospel to them.” In Fabalin’s view, this is the opening from an evangelical vision that encompasses the wider continent.
“Divine’s guidance has led him to Europe,” says Fabalin. “That’s the key point of history and biblical stories.”
“Of course Macedonia is Europe, and Paul’s vision led to the first evangelistic mission for this continent. But it was Paul’s idea to preach in Europe. It was God’s idea. God confused everything and the plans of his team.” “These men submitted to God’s will.
“They made changes to their itinerary and traveled to Europe. The single act of surrendering to God’s leadership would change the course of European history forever. This was not Paul’s mission. It was God’s mission. It was not Paul’s plan.”
But before the apostles could actually preach, Fabalin wanted to “camp and observe” with the Berlin Congress audience.
Thus, Fabalin sees “God-given ideas,” or rather “policy strategies.” This is what his Lord calls Paul to Macedonia and calls him “come to Europe.” He meditates on the spiritual reality of the continent, drawing parallel lines with evangelicals preparing themselves to evangelicalize Europeans about 2000 years after Paul.
“God disrupts his plans through the vision he calls Europe,” says Fabalin, as he said in an interview. “And they call us to pray to us for those we want to reach, when we look around, when we prepare, when we prepare, when we are preparing, when we are preparing, when we are praying for them.
“What does it mean to us to surrender completely to Christ, go wherever he calls us, and say what he says to us?”
Fabalin’s second intention was to invite representatives of Congress to “review the reasons why we do what we are doing.”
This introspection is also related to Paul’s dealings with Europe. This time at Acts 17:16, the apostle arrives in Athens and feels provoked in his spirit by the idolatry seen in Athens.
“It’s the same word that Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, uses to talk about how God felt about idolatry in his people,” Fabalin points out.
“So Luke connects what Paul felt with what God felt and says there is an internal reaction to that idolatry.
“We were claiming that we in Europe now live in a very idolatry society, with different gods. We still build the largest buildings in the gods: stadiums, online platforms, shopping centres.
God may move in the minds of evangelicals and evangelicals and give them a sense of “what he feels for those we want to reach,” adds Fabalin.
“And I talked more about shaping the mind into sensations, and invited us to really go deeper into the Bible and get to know God’s Word well,” Favorin said, summarizing his story at the Berlin Congress. “So Paul was challenged in that respect, as evangelists and leaders preach the gospel and allow God to help us think biblically about everything. Paul told Timothy, “You should handle the truthful words well.” ”
At the same time, Fabalin sees the general need for evangelicals or evangelicals to “know the culture we want to reach.”
Fabalin refers to what the late British pastor and theologian John Stott once called “double listening.”
According to Fabalin, Paul’s mind was “in the Bible” in Chapter 17, but “can be associated with the culture that he wants to reach the message. For example, he quotes a Greek poet, so he contextualizes a message that is very different from what he does in Acts 13 or 14 when talking to other types of audiences.
European society today is more like Acts 17 than Acts 13 Society, Fabalin says, adding, “Our evangelistic approach is more often than Acts 13 than Acts 17’s approach.”
The challenge is to recognize that evangelicals and evangelicals are called to “contextualize the proclamation” of the gospel. This includes accustoming to the identity traits of people reaching European culture and the love of God.
“And evangelism, it’s the gospel, but our way of doing things must vary depending on the context,” Fabalin writes the challenge.
Due to the different contexts, Fabaline suggests some practical steps to consider. He believes these ideas are particularly useful for pastors of evangelical churches. The foundation of these ideas actually came from his own university doctorate degree on sermons.
“We feel that local churches need not only to be strong in evangelism, but also to consider themselves a missionary community,” Fabalin says. “So I really want to invite our audience to see our church as a missionary community, a missionary community, and to always talk to both Christians and non-Christians.
“Deep, but related. Apply Christ-centric hermeneutics. So we don’t preach the Bible or Christ. We always preach.”
Fabalin also emphasizes the contextualization of Sunday’s message with an apology in the calling of the people to Christ.
“So we always communicate with non-Christians, give context, define the vocabulary of the Bible. Otherwise, we know that it will happen all over the world, but in Europe, our churches can feel very foreign and non-Christians.
Prayer supports all such activities, and for Fabalin, prayer is a top priority and must be intentional.
“All of these aspects shape the way we prepare ourselves when we come together,” Fabalin notes a simple yet profound call to welcome, understand and lead others to Jesus.
Paul roamed around and talked daily at both Jewish synagogues and at the market. Fabalin interprets this as an apostle as “hearing culture.” He saw the altar as an “unknown God,” so his evangelistic message “does not begin with Jesus’ love for you, because these people do not have a Bible framework.”
“He’s back even more, he’s the creator, so again, he’s picking them up and carrying them all the way,” Fabalin said.
