Interdenominational Prayer meeting with Pastors from the Bologna area

Tonight at 6 pm Stefano will participate at the
Bologna Evangelica Prayer Meeting,
an interdenominational prayer meeting for
church and mission leaders from the Bologna Area

12/05/2012 Series on the Parables of our Lord – 34 “Serving a God of Grace” Luke 17:1-10

Tomorrow is Reformation Sunday and Stefano will preach on Luke 17:1-10

continuing the series on the Parables taught by our Lord: "Serving a God of Grace"

 

"And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. 

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, 

and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 

And the Lord said, "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 

'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. "Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'? Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'" 

Luke 17:1-10 (ESV)
 

I.  What kind of God is represented by the figure of the Master?

II. What kind of faith is taught by the figure of the Servant?

III. Am I a servant who ploughs, keeps sheep and serve at table?  

Now, enough has been said to show our works of no value in God's sight, and ourselves unable to fulfil the least of his commands, to perform a single work...  Even though we were able to keep all his commandments and to make full satisfaction to his justice, yet we would not for that reason be worthy of his grace and of salvation... 
Whatever he grants is of pure grace and mercy.
This Christ clearly taught in the parable in Luke 17, 7-10:

Martin Luther

Deputation 2012 - Bridgend

Today we'll travel to Wales to visit our friends from Freeschool Court Evangelical Church in Bridgend.


We were temporary members of FSC Church while we were studying at the WEST Bible College in Wales and we really enjoyed their warm fellowship and friendship and the possibility to be involved with their Young People work.

It will be very nice for us to spend some time with them and to have the opportunity tomorrow evening to participate at their monthly home groups prayer meeting and Bible study, sharing a bit about our ministry in the Bologna Area.

Deputation 2012 - Hinckley

Yesterday evening we had a really lovely time with some friends from Mount Road Baptist Church. It was really nice to catch up with them and to hear all the exciting news about the outreach in the Asian community.


On Sunday, Martin Leech from the EMF will preach at both morning and evening services.

After the evening service we have been asked to give a presentation and update of our work and ministry in the Bologna Area.

It is always good to be with our friends from Mount Road since right from the beginning of our ministry they have been so involved in praying and encouraging us!

Introducing the European Missionary Fellowship EMF

 

The EMF (European Missionary Fellowship) is relaunching in these days its website and preparing a new video.

This is a preview of: "Introducing the EMF"

From 1935 to 1940, a young Scots evangelist, James Stewart, labored for the sake of the Gospel in several countries in Eastern Europe. This led to the formation of the European Evangelistic Crusade, and EMF was established as a mission in its own right in 1959. 

Martin Leech - EMF Director

The continent of Europe comprises of about 13% of the world’s population eight hundred million people living in over thirty countries. All have a Christian tradition of sorts – Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant – but know very little of evangelical truth. Over the past half a century or so atheism, humanism, secularism and materialism have eroded these traditions. The over-riding aim of EMF is to establish Biblical Christianity throughout Europe. This embraces the work of evangelism, church-planting and supporting Gospel churches, at the same time encouraging them to become self-governing and self-supporting. EMF works closely with churches both at home and abroad in a constant desire to further the spread of the gospel.

Deputation 2012 - Bulkington

Tonight at 7,30 pm we'll be at Bulkington Congregational Chuch for their weekly Midweek Prayer & Bible Study and this week the meeting will include The Lord's Supper.
It will be an opportunity for us to share about our work in Italy and to strengthen our fellowship with this church. 

Deputation 2012 - Hinckley

Yesterday we arrived in Hinckley and Stefano had the privilege to lead the weekly prayer meeting at Mount Road Baptist Church with a reflection from Hebrews 12:1-3.


It is always so encouraging to see Christians so committed to bring everything to the Lord in prayer and to see the way in which they faithfully pray for us and that they are still remembering some specific matters that we shared with them even more than a year ago.

Tonight Jenny's parents organized an informal "Open House" evening for everyone in the church. This will give us the opportunity to spend some time catching up with the many friends from Mount Road Baptist Church.

Mount Road is the church where Jenny is from, and from the beginning of our ministry in Bologna they have prayerfully and faithfully partnered with us for the cause of the Gospel in Italy.

Deputation 2012 - York

Yesterday evening we participated at the missionary prayer meeting of York Evangelical Church
where we shared about our work in Italy.

We had a really lovely meeting and we felt a passion for the Lord and His Kingdom.

Tomorrow we'll be with them for the morning and evening services. In the morning we'll be interviewed by pastor Mark Troughton about our ministry in the Bologna Area.

Deputation 2012 - EMF & Welwyn

Today we are at the European Missionary Fellowship headquarters.

It's really nice to see everyone and have fresh updates about how the work is progressing in Europe!

During the day we are going to visit some friends from Welwyn Evangelical Church who have supported since we started our work in Italy.


In the evening we'll be present at their Bible Study and be able to give a little update.

Deputation 2012 - Bury St. Edmunds

We have started our deputation programme!

We had a lovely weekend with our friends in Bury St Edmunds. We were able to be present at their harvest supper on Saturday and then spend the Sunday with the church sharing at their fellowship lunch and then Stefano preaching in the evening.

It was great to see and catch up with many friends and see how God is blessing the fellowship at Westgate!



We are really excited about their outreach in a town cafe and at the market and with the mums and tots.


Thank you to our friends there and for your partnership in the work in Italy!

Italian Churches Network meets Budrio's Mayor for earthquake people

Tomorrow morning Stefano and Gianluca Derudas 
(pastor of the Nuova Vita Church in Bologna) will meet Giulio Pierini, (mayor of Budrio) to give a gift towards the people in Cavezzo affected by the recent earthquake.
This gift has been collected by the UCBC (Union of Biblical Christian Churches) an Italian network of Evangelical Churches.

Porterbrook Italia - Video Interview with Rob Krause

Video Interview with Rob Krause at the Second Residential of Porterbrook Italia

Rob Krause is the director of the Porterbrook learning site in Pordenone and Pastor of the Serenissima Bible Church.

Community meal at the "Onion's Town Fair"

In these days in our village we had the annual "Onion's Town Fair (Fiera della Cipolla)" a traditional town fair that where thousands people come for food, fun and meeting friends.

This year we helped alongside many volunteers from the village. So Jenny served traditional Italian specialities at the tables for the gastronomic stand Thursday, Friday and yesterday night, whereas Stefano helped the cleaning team yesterday night.

Tonight we'll have a special community meal with all the volunteers that helped during the fair and more opportunities to meet people and strengthening friendships.