Tomorrow Ester, Stefano & Jenny will be in Trento for a training weekend.
In the morning Ester & Stefano will speak to a group of
youth leaders and parents of teenagers coming from different churches in the Trento area.
In the afternoon Stefano will give an interactive talk to a group of youth leaders and high-school teachers about how to prepare school projects aiming to reach-out Italian teens.
Later we'll all train youth leaders to prepare a Rock Solid programme for a My Space club for Christian & non-Christian teens.
In the evening we'll all help the local youth leaders
to run a Rock Solid Bible Study where Christian teens
will invite their friends.
The theme will be "Skool Daze" and the aim will be
to bring hope to those kids for whom school life is difficult
and challenge to those for whom school is enjoyable.
For both groups the invitation is the same:
Jesus calls us to build our life in His Solid Rock,
so to live our school years for His Glory and to testify His Name!
Tonight we'll join other pastors and church leaders to the annual meal organized by the Gideons.
It will be an opportunity to be informed about the activities realized by the local Gideons in the schools, hotels, hospitals, prisons and army barracks of Bologna.
Internationally Bibles and New Testaments are personally distributed by members of The Gideons International to these groups:
Students in the 5th grade and above
Prisoners and police, fire, medical and military personnel
Anyone else Gideons witness to individually
God's Word is placed in key locations, including:
Hotels and motels
Hospitals, convalescent homes, medical offices and domestic violence shelters
Tomorrow afternoon we'll be with our friends from our village at the Budrio Sunday afternoon meeting & Bible Study, which this week will be in our home.
This meeting is held in cooperation with a local group of Christians
from Nuova Vita Church in Bologna who are all living in or near Budrio. We expect to be about 20 adults plus kids!!! In this group we study the "Gospel Living" module of Porterbrook, and tomorrow we'll interact with the 7th unit: "Living now: friendships"!
"Starting from the position that all life is for the Glory of God, this
module looks at what it means to live a life for that glory. It will
mean loving God and loving others, shaped by the cross and looking to
the future glory that we will share with Jesus. Having laid this
foundation the module then examines how this impacts daily issues such
as decisions, friendship and possessions."
Tomorrow Stefano will continue the series
on the 7 "I am" sayings of Jesus in the
Gospel of John engaging with John 8:12:
"I am the light of the world"
To introduce this sermon we'll interact with
the question: "Do you fear the dark?"
These will then be the two main points of the sermon:
1. Do you fear the dark or the light?
2. Do you walk in darkness or to follow the light?
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,
During this meetings we pray for World Evangelism, and
for the missionary work in Senegal in which we are involved.
We pray for Italy and our region Emilia-Romagna and
for the cooperation we have with different churches in
the Bologna Area and for the outreach activities we have.
This month we'll pray specifically for the Food-Bank project we are setting up with other evangelical churches in the Bologna Area in cooperation with the national agency OCEPAD (Italian acronym of "For all things are possible with God" Mark 10:27).
As Christians we want to show God's love in serving the needy in Bologna.
This month we'll also pray specifically for the Persecuted Church in Uzbekistan.
From Operation World: Expatriate Christiansserving
the Lord in Uzbekistan have almost all been expelled and foreign
agencies shut down – a mixed blessing as it forces the indigenous Church to unite, mature and stand firm. Pray that those whom the Lord has
called to minister to Uzbeks might find ways and places to serve them
and win them to Christ. Only a small fraction of the Muslim majority have ever had the opportunity to hear the gospel.
Tomorrow evening we'll have a meeting of the YfC volunteers staff to have a feedback of the last months of the My Space Club and to plan the next activities.
We'll plan especially the next My Space trip on the hills surrounding Bologna with a sleepover in a country farm house.
In the evening we are planning to watch the movie
Slamdog Millionaire and to discuss with kids about
"being lost" and who can redeem us from our "lost-ness".
Tomorrow from 12 pm to 14pm, Stefano, Jennifer and Marco will be at the Aldini High School for a School Project.
This time we'll interact with two classes on the topic of addiction.
We'll engage teens to think about :
Food addiction, Substances addiction (including alcohol and smoking), Sex addiction (including Porn addiction), Media addiction (including TV, mobiles, computer games, social networks), Gambling and Shopping addiction.
Then we'll challenge them to see that behind every addiction there's always a form of egoistic self-idolatry.
This will be an amazing opportunity for Marco to share with kids about his past addition to drugs and to a wild life style. Marco will also share with them how Christ renewed his life giving him a "New Start"
We'll then challenge kids to think about what they wanna do with their lives: To "Stand by"their addictions and self-idolatry, To "Turn Off" their consciences and lives, or to "ReStart" with Jesus!
Even when you're a teen you can find yourself blocked
in an unchanging situation often caused by your own
bad attitude or habits (that the Bible calls sin).
In this session we will look at the joy and hope of new starts and second chances and how in Christ we can live a totally new life!
Wouldn’t it be great if we could just start again every time we get something
wrong? If we could go back to all the times we have said hurtful things to other
people and not say them.
The Good News is that Jesus gives us a
"Second Chance" because in Him the old
has passed away and the new has come.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation."
2 Corinthians 5:1-18 (ESV)
To develop this theme we'll interact with the Disney's movie: The Emperor's New Groove
Tomorrow evening we'll host in San Lazzaro Church the Soli Deo Gloria - Interdenominational prayer meeting.
This monthly prayer meeting is organised in various Italian cities
by Kurt Jost, a Swiss-German missionary that operates in Italy working specifically with
literature and evangelism.
This is a really good opportunity for local churches to meet together to pray specifically for the Bologna Area.
Audio of the sermon in Italian that Stefano preached in the series
on the 7 "I am" sayings of Jesus in the
Gospel of John
engaging with John 11:1-46
Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this?"
Tomorrow afternoon we'll be with our friends from our village at the Sunday afternoon meeting & Bible Study in Budrio.
This meeting is held in cooperation with a local group of Christians
from Nuova Vita Church in Bologna who are all living in or near Budrio. We expect to be about 20 adults plus kids!!! In this group we study the "Gospel Living" module of Porterbrook, and tomorrow we'll interact with the 6th unit: "Living now: decisions"!
"Starting from the position that all life is for the Glory of God, this
module looks at what it means to live a life for that glory. It will
mean loving God and loving others, shaped by the cross and looking to
the future glory that we will share with Jesus. Having laid this
foundation the module then examines how this impacts daily issues such
as decisions, friendship and possessions."
In this session, students will interact with these units:
3. The Reformation 4. The Anabaptists 5. The Puritans 6. The Great Awakening 7. The modern mission movement
"This module looks at the history of the church over the past 2000 years.
Henry Ford once famously asserted that, 'History is bunk'. While such
negativity reveals much about the ambitions of the great industrialist,
it offers little insight into the nature and purpose of historical
study.
The gospel teaches us that God has revealed not only his
character, but also his will and purpose for his creation. History must
be understood as his-story."
The fourth module is Culture, taught by Stefano.
In this session, students will interact with these units:
7. Music: Lady Gaga - Born This Way (2011)
8. TV: Romanzo Criminale (Italian TV fiction on Rome's in the '70s) 9. Book: The Hunger Games
"The goal of this module is to help students to 'engage with culture' in:
1. Understanding what culture is;
2. Looking at the typical Christian approaches to culture;
3. Exploring how the Gospel interact with culture.
The intention of this module is to help students to analyse their
culture in the light of the Gospel. Particular attention will be given
to analyse more 'products' (films, novels, etc.) than 'structures'
(business, politics, etc.). We want to learn at how to share the Gospel
in a more meaningful way
to our own culture. So we'll look at tools that will help us to relate
the Gospel in normal conversations at pubs, children's clubs, offices,
etc.!"
For these units we'll interact with the following clips:
Tomorrow for the Easter service,
Stefano will continue the series
on the 7 "I am" sayings of Jesus in the
Gospel of John engaging with John 11:25:
"I am the resurrection and the life"
To introduce this sermon we'll interact with the question: "What I'm scared of?"
These will then be the two main points of the sermon:
1. I don't want to die, and you?
2. Do you believe this?
Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
Do you believe this?"
This evening we'll continue the Christianity Explored course we are doing with a couple from Sasso Marconi Church.
Tonight we'll deal with Mark 11:1 to 13:37 focusing primarily on Mark 12:1-11: "Jesus' Resurrection"
"And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."
Tomorrow we'll be at the Chiesa Forte Torre.
Forte Torre is a church-plant right at the centre of Bologna serving the community there and aiming to reach out the university students.
Stefano will preach from John 6:25-44.
"Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me shall not hunger,
and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
Tonight we'll have our monthly
Home-groups Prayer Meeting.
During this meetings we pray for Italy
and our region Emilia-Romagna,
for World Evangelism,
and
for the missionary work in Senegal
in which we are involved.
This month we'll pray specifically for the cooperation on the evangelical churches in our area and for the Gospel partnership with the mission agencies operating in the Bologna area.
"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
Philippians 3:1-6 (ESV)
This month we'll also pray specifically for the Persecuted Church in Sudan.
From Operation World: The persistence of slaveryin
Sudan is a serious issue.Almost all slaves are from the south and the Nuba Mountains.
Northern militias are the main perpetrators, but inter-tribal raiders
and even the SPLA also take captives for enforced labour. Pray
that all such wrongs may end, and pray that world leaders may prevail
upon all involved to end this wickedness. Shari’alaw in the north and the impunity with which northern militias act help perpetuate this barbarism.
Tomorrow evening Stefano will continue the series
of mid-week Bible Studies on Ecclesiastes preaching from Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:3.
Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work.
Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 (ESV)
To introduce this study we'll interact with the thought that we are too involved in promoting suffering and wickedness instead than justice and righteousness.
For this purpose we'll talk about the BBC Three series:Blood, Sweat and Luxuries where six British consumers swap their lives for the mud
huts and shanty towns of Africa and Asia to work alongside the people
who mine, manufacture, process luxury goods, and Blood, Sweat and Takeaways, where six British food consumers go to live and work alongside the workers in SE Asian food industries.
Today we'll be with Coach Billy Goss
and the team from Arkansas Baptist School
at the Liceo Giordano Bruno, the High-School in Bologna where Jenny teaches English.
Coach Billy will teach Italian kids to play baseball through a clicnic and then they'll play with the American teens.
This is the very first time we're able to do a project in this school, so please do pray that kids and teachers will like the way the American teens will interact with them and sharing the Gospel informally with them!
Tomorrow Ester, Stefano & Jenny will be in Trento for a training weekend.
On Sunday Stefano will preach to the main church Chiesa Evangelica di Trento.
