B a r c e l o n a – Jimmy Carter (Plains/Georgia), the former US-President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was awarded the International Prize of Catalonia in Spain on 1 July. Two days later, as an expression of his solidarity with Baptists, the 85-year-old leader dedicated a new Baptist church in the industrial city of Terrassa 28 kilometres north-west of Barcelona.

This prize is awarded annually by the regional government of Catalonia to an esteemed public figure. According to the jury, Carter was awarded the prize because of his courage and determination in the struggle for peace and human rights as well as for his efforts to improve the living conditions of the world’s poor. Carter received the prize in Barcelona from José Montilla, President of the autonomous government of Catalonia.

In a worship service dedicating the new church centre of the United Evangelical Church, Carter preached the sermon. In it, he reminded the congregation that love to God and humankind is the most important of all. The really important things in life are invisible, he stated, referring to peace, freedom, humility, equality and compassion. The world’s best-known, volunteer Baptist Sunday School teacher added: “You also cannot see love.”

The large, new church covering an area of 2.500 square metres was designed by the architects Carlos and Lucia Ferrater of Barcelona. The structure cost roughly three million euros. Pastor Andrei Dionis emphasised that the bright and sunlit structure would also be used by the local government for conferences and gatherings. In an agreement virtually unprecedented in this country, the congregation had been able to receive the 8.000-metre plot of land in exchange for an unused piece of church property.

This congregation originally began as a house group in 1918. It became the Ebenezer Baptist Church in 1924 and merged with two other congregations to form the United Evangelical Church in 1994. The congregation now has 250 members and an attendance of roughly 270. It belongs to the Union of Baptist Churches in Catalonia, which represents 30 congregations and a total membership of 3.000. A Vice-President of the Baptist World Alliance, the Spaniard Jorge Pastor (Denia), also attended the festivities. A total of 93 congregations with more than 10.000 members make up Spain’s Baptist Union.