The Cage Soccer Outreach Day 1

Today we'll start a week of outreach with         The Cage ministry of YfC Italia.                        In this week we'll be in Parma, Bologna, Budrio and Florence.

We have with us a team from the Nomad Northern Ireland (including Giulio, an "intruder" from Parma that is doing a gap year with YfC). This morning the team is in Giulio's old high-school, so please pray for his testimony with his old schoolmates.

 This afternoon we'll be in a Sport Centre in Bologna where we worked in the past with YfC.

Tomorrow we'll spend the whole morning in the High-School in Budrio with four classes. We are very excited by the way in which the Lord is working, because in order to make this possible, a sport teacher of the school is coming to work tomorrow in his day off. He said: "I want to give my students the opportunity to be exposed to what you do and believe"!

In the afternoon we'll be again in the Sport Centre in Budrio. From 2pm to 3pm we'll be with an association working with people with learning disabilities. From 3pm to 6.30pm we have organised a soccer tournament for local kids. We have also invited kids from a local "family house" in partnership with social services.

 

 

Sunday Service in San Lazzaro Church

Tomorrow morning Stefano will preach
at the Sunday Service of San Lazzaro Church,
starting the church new shared series on 1 Corinthians.



This is a follow-up of the work done during the Bologna Bible School in March when, alongside other churches in Bologna,
we had a full-immersion on 1 Corinthians:
"A clash between two wisdoms!"

Stefano will preach from
1 Corinthians 1:1-16: "A divided Lord?"
with these 2 headings:
A call to be united - in Christ
The consequence of being divided - from Christ

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:9 (ESV)

In the afternoon Gianpaolo Aranzulla, 

pastor of Forte Torre Church will lead a session with men from San Lazzaro & 

Forte Torre to prepare together this shared series on 1 Corinthians.

Porterbrook - Campus Bologna plenary session

Tomorrow from 3.30 to 7.00 pm
we'll have the plenary session for
students of foundation and advanced years of Porterbrook - Campus Bologna.

This meeting will be held in
Nuova Vita Church and we expect about
15 students for the foundation years and
15 for the advanced years.


The Foundation Year 1 students will interact with these modules:

The first module is Gospel Community,
led by Gianluca Derudas, co-pastor of Nuova Vita.

In this session, students will interact with these units:
1. A gospel community (Romans 12:1)
2. A distinctive community (Romans 12:2)
3. A diverse community (Romans 12:3-8)

The Christian life is to be lived in the context of community on display to the world.
Taking Romans 12 as its key text, this course will help you learn what Christian community should look like and how it is rooted in the gospel. Through the course you’ll be challenged to think about your own role in the church and be helped to build community on mission around the gospel.

The second module is Evangelism,
led by Stefano Mariotti, co-pastor of ImpattoABudrio.

In this session, students will interact with these units:
1. The message
2. The messenger
3. Building relationships

When Jesus captivates hearts, and lives are shaped by the gospel, evangelism happens far more naturally and frequently in everyday conversation. This course doesn't teach techniques but a gospel view of everyday life to help Christians help non-Christians to understand the gospel. It gives us a big vision of Jesus and teaches us the benefits of doing evangelism as part of a church community that lives ordinary life with gospel intentionality.


The Advanced Year 2 students will interact with these modules:

The first module is Pastoral Care Part One,
led by Mark Brucato, co-pastor of Nuova Vita.

In this session, students will interact with these units:
1. Pastoral care and the Christian: part one
2. Pastoral care and the Christian: part two
3. Pastoral care and the Christian community

All Christians have a responsibility to pastor one another by speaking the gospel in love.
This course gives us a biblical definition of pastoral care, interacts with secular approaches to helping others and outlines a biblical approach to change.
It sets the foundation for Pastoral Care Part Two.

The second module is Bible Truth In Missional Perspective,
led by Gianpaolo Aranzulla, pastor of Forte Torre.

In this session, students will interact with these units:
The Nicene Creed
1. The triune God in a fragmented world
2. The sovereign God in an anxious world
3. The creator God in a material world

All Christians need a solid grounding in the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith.
In this course you will walk through key doctrines with the help of the Nicene Creed, working them through to practical application in life and mission.
The course encourages students to reconnect theology to practice and to enjoy big truths about God and the gospel in the routines of everyday life.

YfC Exch@nge camps 2014 - planning meeting

Tomorrow early afternoon we'll meet to plan the YfC Exch@nge summer camps 2014.

This year, indeed, for the very first time,
we are organizing 3 camps in parallel.

• East Bologna, from the 30th of June to the 11th of July, in partnership with Nuova Vita and San Lazzaro.

• West Bologna, from the 30th of June to the 4th of July, in partnership with Forte Torre and Nuova Speranza.

For these camps we'll have a team coming from College Church, Weaton, Chicago.

• Budrio, from the 7th of July to the 13 of July in partnership with ImpattoABudrio church-plant and a team coming from Bethel Church of Houston, Texas.

Rebecca Manley Pippert @ San Lazzaro Church

This evening we'll participate
at the conference organized
by Chris Brown director of
IFES Bologna and elder in
San Lazzaro Church with
Rebecca Manley Pippert.

Becky Pippert is an internationally known speaker who regularly lectures on spiritual renewal, evangelism and character formation
for church conferences, schools and colleges.
She has written several books on evangelism and Christian living.


Her bestselling book Out of the Saltshaker has sold more than a half-million copies worldwide and it's now available in Italian.

This evening she will present the book Uncover available in Italian. Uncover is a series of six evangelistic Bible studies in Luke’s Gospel which is ideal for reading in a one-to-one or small group setting. Especially useful for students and young professionals.

Sunday Service in Chiesa Forte Torre

Tomorrow morning we'll be with our friends from the Forte Torre a young church right at the centre of Bologna reaching out the city and university students.
Forte Torre is also part of that group of like-minded churches we are networking with in order to reach out the Bologna Area.
Gianpaolo, pastor of Forte Torre, is also one of the tutors of Porterbrook - Campus Bologna.

Tomorrow Stefano will preach from Romans 15:13-33 engaging the church in considering what could it mean for us today "To strive in prayer to live for God's will".

To introduce this sermon, we'll ask ourselves: For what Paul asks prayers before his journeys?

These will be the headings of the sermon:

1. A prayer for the journey towards Jerusalem

2. A prayer for the journey to Rome towards Spain

"Praying with Paul" - Romans 15:13-33 - A strive in prayer to live for God's will

Tomorrow Stefano will conclude in San Lazzaro church the series: "Praying with Paul", in which we have interacted with Paul's prayers in his letters.

For this sermon: "A strive in prayer to live for God's will", we'll engage with Romans 15:13-33.

To introduce this sermon, we'll ask ourselves: 
Have you ever prayed before a journey? 
For what Paul asks prayers before his journeys?

These will be the headings of the sermon:
1. A prayer for the journey towards Jerusalem
2. A prayer for the journey to Rome towards Spain

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,  so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. 

Romans 15:30-33 (ESV) 

To dig deeper with the themes  

we are engaging with in this series, 

Stefano is encouraging the church  
to read and interact with the book of   
D. A. Carson:   

A Call to Spiritual Reformation: 
Priorities from Paul and His Prayers.   

This book is also available in Italian. 

YfC course for youth-workers

Tomorrow from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm,
in the building of Nuova Vita church,
Stefano & Susan, will lead the second
session of the Youth for Christ Italia
course for youth-workers.

We expect about 16 students from all Italy.
This course is run in partnership with Porterbrook Italia (Percorsi).

Tomorrow we'll interact on how to have a ministry towards young people solidly grounded in the Word of God. We'll study some practical teaching skills:
- how to prepare a message for teenagers (case study: Jesus' Parables)
- how to prepare a series of Bible studies contextualised for teenagers (case study: a movie)
- how to share your faith with teenagers
- how to plan and run a Christian Camp

In the afternoon we'll have with us Dr. Barbara Guidotti,
a Christian psychologist and psychotherapist from Milan.
Barbara is an expert on adolescence and family issues,
she's an appreciated speaker in many Christian confereces.

Barbara will interact with students on how to detect and deal with addictions and eating disorders.

From 6.00 to 8.00 pm Barbara will deal with the same issues on a second meeting for parents.

Bologna Pastor's Fraternal

This afternoon Jonathan and Stefano will attend the Bologna Pastor's Fraternal hosted by Nuova Speranza Church. We'll have time to share and pray for each others and our for churches.

We'll have also a time for feedbacks after the last Bologna Bible School and to plan common activities such as the joint service at the end of the Porterbrook - Campus Bologna year in June.

Sunday Service 06/042014 - Reflections

Yesterday we had our monthly Sunday service in Budrio.

We have been blessed by the fellowship with friends from the churches Forte Torre,
Nuova Vita and San Lazzaro.



We enjoyed a really nice family time when we shared coffee and cakes made by ladies from our church-plant and visiting friends.

We had a great prayer time to start the service when we divided into three groups.

Jonathan lead to pray for the fellowship of churches in Bologna and to be challenge for a church-planting vision for Italy.
Stefano lead to pray for the openness of Budrio local authorities and to be challenged to have a heart for our community.
Ester lead to pray for students and teachers from the local schools in Budrio and to challenge to expect God's work in local kids.

Jonathan lead us to God's Word preaching from Acts 2:1-13.
We have been blessed by seeing how the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a reality for us because today we have God's Spirit living in us.
We were also challenged to think about what does it mean for us today "to speak in people's own language to tell them the mighty works of God", because this is Jesus continuing  to do and teach by the missional Spirit living in us!

In the afternoon we enjoyed a lovely ice-cream from the "Caffè del Borgo"
(this is the place where you have to go if you are from Budrio :-)
and a walk in the traditional market.

These are also ways to live out in the local community we love!

Sunday Service in Budrio - Acts 2:1-13

Tomorrow morning we'll have our monthly service to worship God and to proclaim His Word in Budrio.
The community is gathering around
Impatto A Budrio is made by friends from both Nuova Vita and San Lazzaro churches who are living in the area together with local friends we are getting to know.

We really enjoy the Lord's provision of a room in the café of
Le Torri dell'Acqua, the theatre and modern art-gallery right
at the centre of Budrio well known as a cultural meeting point.
Tomorrow some friends from the churches Forte Torre,
Nuova Vita and San Lazzaro will join us for the service.
We'll have with us also Ester Montefalcone,
National Director of Youth for Christ Italia.

At 10.00 am we'll have a family time with coffee & cakes
and at 10.30 am we'll look together at Acts 2:1-13.

"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:4 (ESV)

 

Tomorrow Jonathan Gilmore will preach God's Word to us.
Jonathan and his wife Annette during the summer will join us as co-leader in the ImpattoABudrio church-plant (Jonathan is also director of Porterbrook Italia and of Acts29 Italia).


Tomorrow we'll begin our service with a time of prayer characterized by thanksgiving and casting a vision for God's work in our community.

We'll thank the Lord for the fellowship He's giving us with other local churches in Bologna.
For the many ways these churches are partnering with us for the Budrio church-plant.

We desire to see God at work in our lives to be Gospel communities in our local communities and to see more churches cooperating together to plant new churches.
We'll love as ImpattoABudrio to be soon involved in helping a new church-plant as we are helped now.

We'll thank the Lord for the doors He has opened in Budrio especially with local authorities, through the food-bank collection and the team from Arkansas Baptist School.
We pray for the ways the social services are expressing their appreciation of our service to the community and we desire to see God at work in a local family house for problematic teens.

We'll thank the Lord for the doors He has opened in the local school and sport centre of Budrio.

We desire to see God working in the same amazing way when we'll have with us the Nomad YfC team in May.

Porterbrook - Campus Bologna plenary session

Tomorrow from 3.30 to 7.00 pm
we'll have the plenary session for
students of foundation and advanced years of Porterbrook - Campus Bologna.

This meeting will be held in
San Lazzaro Church and we expect about
15 students for the foundation years and
15 for the advanced years.


The Foundation Year 1 students will interact with the module Gospel Living,
led by Mark Brucato, co-pastor of Nuova Vita.

In this session, students will interact with these units:
3. Looking back: to the Cross
4. Looking around: at the Christian Community
5. Looking forward: to Eternity
6. Living now: Decisions
7. Living now: Friendships
8. Living now: Horizons
9. Living now: Possessions

This course is all about the very heart of the Christian life. Living a gospel centred life rooted and built up in Christ crucified, raised and ascended for us, is the goal and power of the Christian life. Learn to walk in the gospel.

The Advanced Year 2 students will interact with these modules:

The first module is Union with Christ,
led by Gian Luca Derudas, co-pastor of Nuova Vita.

In this session, students will interact with these units:

7. How Union With Christ Impacts Everyday Life
8. Motivation And Mission
9. Keeping Going In Mission

Union with Christ is the centre of the gospel. It’s been called the central doctrine of salvation. This course will teach you how the profound truth of a Christian's union and identity with Christ drives us to mission and joy in him.

The second module is The Holy Spirit,  led by Stefano co-pastor of ImpattoABudrio.

In this session, students will interact with these units:
7. Communion with the Spirit
8. The consummator Spirit: part one
9. The consummator Spirit: part two

Discover the Holy Spirit from a gospel perspective.
Learn to discern and enjoy the work of the Holy Spirit in everyday discipleship and mission.
The Holy Spirit is often the forgotten member of the Trinity or His work is emphasised apart from the gospel. This course helps us see the central role of the Holy Spirit in creation and redemption. Understanding the work of the Holy Spirit empowers and shapes gospel mission and discipleship in the local church.

San Lazzaro Church monthly prayer-meeting for Impatto A Budrio church-plant

This evening the monthly prayer-meeting of San Lazzaro church, will be dedicated to the church-plant Impatto A Budrio.                                     There will be a time of thanksgiving for all the doors the Lord has opened in Budrio during the last years, a time of intercession for the regular contacts and the authorities we are getting to know. 

In the end we'll have a time of envisioning for the future, asking God's guidance.