Sunday Service in Budrio - Acts 6:8-7:60

Tomorrow afternoon  we'll have our service to worship God together and
to proclaim His Word in Budrio.






We are glad for the Lord's provision of the main room in
Le Torri dell'Acqua, the theatre&modern art-gallery right at
the centre of Budrio, well known as a cultural meeting point.

We'll continue with Stefano our series on the Book of Acts.
Tomorrow we'll engage with Acts 6:8-7:60 and we'll see the life, ministry and death of Stephen.

These will be the main headings: 

I. The power of the gospel lived.

II. The perspective of the gospel testified.

Jenny will lead the time with
the little ones engaging on
the same topic, looking together
at Acts 6:8-10.


Together we'll see how the testimony Stephen was able to give in front of the opponents to the Gospel, was the fulfilment of Jesus' promise in Luke 21:12-15

 


... they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

Luke 21:12-15

Tomorrow, in following the pattern of Acts 1:8, we'll end our service with a time of prayer characterized by thanksgiving and casting a vision for God's work in our community and globally.

 

We'll have a time of thanksgiving for Miriam the YfC intern that worked with us in these months and now is preparing for her new mission opportunity in Mexico.

Living out our faith in the Community - A meal with the church leaders of the Budrio area

Tomorrow evening Stefano and Jonathan
are invited to a meal for the church leaders of the Budrio area.

Through helping with other volunteers in
the painting job in Budrio's middle school,
Stefano got to know G. a local Catholic priest who showed a genuine interest for our church-plant and how we engage and
live out the Gospel in Budrio.


Since September Stefano and Jonathan met monthly with G. During one of these meeting, the idea came out to have an informal meal for the local church leaders.

G. has then organized this meal where we'll have the chance to meet all the local priests and two Romanian orthodox popes.

Though G. we learned that the Catholic church has grouped the parishes into districts, and that we are in the area marked by the towns of Budrio-Medicina-Molinella.
It is interesting that the high-schools too are grouped in the same "triangle" and that so far, we have been able to enter in each of them.
We worked out that socially too local people are gravitating around these towns, which are then making the natural vision for the next church-plants!

Join us in praying for this evening that we'll be led by God's love for these men and by the clarity of the Gospel!

YfC Exch@nge summer camps planning meeting

Tomorrow morning we'll have a YfC Italia meeting with the local churches in the Bologna area to plan the next Exch@nge summer camps for July 2015!

We'll have supporting teams coming from 3 churches in the States.
In Budrio we are very pleased to have back the team from Bethel of Houston Church!

Please join us in praying that we'll be guided by God's vision and wisdom.

Mid-week Bible Study - Gospel Change

Tomorrow evening we'll have our home-group mid-week Bible Study in Budrio.
We'll interact together with Unit 4:

Head and heart in Christian experience of the module Gospel Change from the Porterbrook course.
The goal of the Christian life is to be conformed to the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29).
In this course we will learn how to apply the gospel to our everyday life.

 

It teaches Christians to connect the truth about God with our 'Monday-morning struggles'.
We will find out how change takes place as God’s truth is applied to the heart, and also how to effectively minster the gospel to those around us.

Sunday afternoon service in Budrio - Acts 6:1-7

Tomorrow afternoon we'll have our Sunday Evening Family Time as core group of the Impatto A Budrio church-plant.






Stefano will lead this Family Time focused on God's Word.

We'll continue our series on the Book of Acts engaging with chapter 6:1-7
"A community of servants".

Together we'll see that the primary problem
in Jerusalem's church wasn't really the widows need, but the risk of disunity.

Then we'll see that the Spirit led solution proposed by the Apostles was towards building a responsible and committed "community of servants".

We'll see the complementary in the diakonia of the Tables and the diakonia of the Word, for the building up of God's people.


Are we all involved?
What is everyone calling and service, males and females,
in our Gospel Community in Budrio?

We'll see that we reflect our being in God's image, in the complementarity of our callings, gifting and ministry.


Our desire is to grow in our comprehension of the unity we have in Christ and our vision for reaching out the community of Budrio with a sense of the global reality of God's Kingdom.



We'll have a time of vision and prayer followed by a family bring&share meal together.




During this fellowship time we'll share for the first time the Lord's Supper to celebrate our union in Chrsit!

My Space Budrio - Club for teens

Tomorrow afternoon we'll have our My Space Budrio club to reach out local teens.

We'll interact with the YfC Rock Solid material following the theme: Count me in!




Together we'll explore the concept  of Community and we'll see how often,
even though you may be in a group or crowd,
you can still feel alone and sometimes even intimidated by other people which prevents you from feeling as though you really belong.
 



We'll play different games to illustrate this point such as:
Odd One Out! where young people are to spot from a list of names, which is the odd one out and why. We'll see that everyone, deep down, likes to belong to something. Being on the outside looking in can be very hard and frustrating.

Then we'll watch a clip from the movie The Maze Runner where we'll see what Thomas has to do to be part of the Gladers' Community.

Then we'll engage with Genesis 1:26-31 and we'll realise that it’s very natural to feel like we want to belong to a group because as human beings we are ‘designed’ that way.

We are made in the image of a relational God who is in perfect relationship with the three persons of the Trinity, who want to have a relationship with us and who put his Children in the community of the church, in order to reach the communities in which we live: school mates, friends, football teams, etc.

Please pray with us, that this will be a meaningful opportunity the Lord will use to call them.

We'll also say goodbye to Mim who in the 

end of January will leave us for a ministry opportunity in Mexico. 

We are sad to see her going, yet very thankful for the time she served with us, and excited to see how the Lord will use her!

First Baptismal Classes in Budrio!

This is a very excting week for us as church-plant in Budrio!

Indeed, tomorrow afternoon we're starting our first baptismal classes for Matteo and Maura, who are going to be baptised on Easter Sunday.

Tomorrow we'll look at the biblical texts to understand what is baptism and what does it mean for us to be baptised today.
In the light of Scriptures, we'll look at the issue of “rebaptism” or "first-time baptism", living in a Roman-Catholic country.
Please join us in praying for Matteo and Maura and their walk with the Lord!

Lunch meeting with Budrio's social workers

Tomorrow Stefano and Jonathan will have lunch with
Anna and Valentina, head of the social services in Budrio
and a social worker in charge of a few local families.

We are so encouraged by this incredible door the Lord is opening for our church-plant in Budrio.


Anna is enthusiastic of our presence in Budrio Community,
she's aware and appreciate the way in which we live out and proclaim the Gospel. Indeed last summer, she sent to our camp a kid from one of the families Valentina is looking after.
This kid is also fairly regularly coming to our My Space club.
So we'll love to develop an even deeper involvement with this family.

Join us in prayer for this meeting over lunch with Anna and Valentina, and that our involvement in the community will be marked by a spirit of true servant love and a clear Gospel presentation.

Fellowship service with San Lazzaro church

Tomorrow morning as
Impatto A Budrio church we'll have a fellowship service with the friends from San Lazzaro church.

Jonathan will preach at the morning service and after we'll have a fellowship lunch.

This will be a great opportunity to renew our fellowship with this church that has sent two families to be part of our church-plant, and to strengthen our common vision for the Gospel witness in the Bologna area!

Mid-week Bible Study - Gospel Change

Tomorrow evening we'll have our home-group mid-week Bible Study in Budrio.
We'll interact together with Unit 3:
Gospel change and faith of the module
Gospel Change from the Porterbrook course.

The goal of the Christian life is to be conformed to the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29).
In this course we will learn how to apply the gospel to our everyday life.

It teaches Christians to connect the truth about God with our 'Monday-morning struggles'.
We will find out how change takes place as God’s truth is applied to the heart, and also how to effectively minster the gospel to those around us.

Meeting with the associations involved in social action in Budrio

Tomorrow afternoon as Impatto A Budrio church-plant we'll be at the second meeting organized by Budrio Town Hall with the associations involved in social action.

This round-table for subsidiarity was created in Budrio to implement the principle that when a local group, association or movement is able to perform a task well at the nearest level to the citizen needs, the local government should support their actions.

 
At the meeting will be present the vice-major Luisa and Giovanni, the new counsellor for social policies.
The main topic of the meeting will be the organisation of the second food-bank collection for the needy families in Budrio. 

We are very encouraged to be considered an active part in the community. Please pray that in all these opportunities we'll be able to serve with a Gospel attitude living out Jesus' love!

Impatto A Budrio volunteers at the 2014 food-bank collection in Budrio

 

Sunday Service in Budrio - Acts 5:17-42

Tomorrow we'll have our morning service
to worship God together and to proclaim
His Word in Budrio.






We are glad for the Lord's provision of the main room in
Le Torri dell'Acqua, the theatre&modern art-gallery right at the centre of Budrio, well known as a cultural meeting point.

At 10.00 am we'll enjoy our family time together with a lovely breakfast.

we'll continue with Stefano our series on the Book of Acts.

Maria and Erica will lead the time with
the little ones engaging on the same topic,
looking together at Acts 5:42.

Stefano will preach from Acts 5:17-42.  
We'll engage with God's Word, seeing how in Christ we can Disobey to Obey and be Honoured in being Dishonoured!

Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men...
...Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. 

Acts 5:29, 41-42 (ESV)

Tomorrow, in following the pattern of Acts 1:8, we'll begin our service with a time of prayer characterized by thanksgiving and casting a vision for God's work in our community and globally.

We'll then begin to pray for "our home",

we'll intercede for the needs of our church-family,

for those unwell and in the spiritual and practical need.

Then we'll pray for "our neighbour", this week we'll pray for 

Budrio's TownHall and the social services,

who invited us to participate at the planning meeting 

for the next food-bank collection.

This is a great door to be present in the community living out the Gospel with Jesus' servant attitude!

Then we'll pray for "the end of the earth",
this week we'll intercede for France after the terrorist attack,
we'll pray for the families of the victims and of the terrorists.

We'll pray for the Acts29 church Eglise du Val D'Europe nearby Paris and their witness to their community in this moment.

We'll also pray for Kristin Gilmore who is soon leaving for a short-term experience serving with Arabian Gulf YfC.