Living out as Christians in the community

This week we are living another great time of life in the community of Budrio.

On Tuesday we were helping along with men and women from our village to prepare hand-made pasta for the coming town-fair.

This afternoon Jonathan & Stefano will meet with Ester, national director of YfC Italia, 

to plan the coming activities of the outreach club for teenagers My Space Budrio.

Then on Saturday we'll go again to help our community to complete the painting of the corridors in the local Middle School.

Last week it has been an incredible opportunity to serve alongside parents of the kids studying in that school and to share our faith in Jesus, the Servant King!

Sunday Service in San Lazzaro Church

Tomorrow morning Stefano will preach
at the Sunday Service of San Lazzaro Church,
continuing the church 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 14:1-40:
"An edifying language 
for an intelligible church"

with these 2 headings:

I. A language that edifies because loves.

 

II. A church that is intelligible because loves.

Living our faith in the community

Tomorrow morning  we'll join the community of Budrio in completing the painting work of the local middle-school, which we started with the service project at the end of the Exch@nge Camp in July.

Luisa, the deputy Mayor of Budrio wrote on FaceBook:

"On Saturday morning we invite volunteers, parents and kids to paint  the walls of the middle-school to complete the fantastic work done by the American kids of the camp of Stefano & Jennifer Mariotti."







Our desire is to keep blessing this community showing also in practical ways Jesus' love!

Living our faith in the community

Yesterday evening, after the summer break, we went again
to the Budrio Neighbours Fitness Walking Group.

It was great not only to walk for about 10 km in the countryside with these new local friends we are getting to know, but also to see one of the boys that came to the Exch@nge Camp in July with his parents!

Yesterday evening has also been very special!
Jonathan & Annette Gilmore have finalized their move to Budrio.

Jonathan will split his time between his role as Acts29 country coordinator for Italy and director of Porterbrook Italy,
while working as co-leader with Stefano in the Impatto A Budrio church-plant.

This evening we'll join friends from our village in preparing the "tortellini" hand made pasta for the traditional Onion Fair!

Sunday Service in Chiesa Nuova Vita

Tomorrow morning we'll be with our friends from Nuova Vita church, one of the two churches we are partnering with for our church-plant in Budrio.
Nuova Vita is also part of that group of like-minded churches we are networking with in order to reach out the Bologna Area.
Gian Luca and Mark, co-pastors of Nuova Vita, are also amongst 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

Sunday Service 24/08/2014 - Reflections

Yesterday we had our monthly Sunday service in Budrio.
We continue to see the incredible hand of the Lord.

Since January we rented once a month the Café of the Theatre Le Torri dell'Acqua, but in June, due to an organisational problem, we were given the main theatre hall which seats about 150 people. This encouraged one man of the core group to rejoice in the Lord in looking forward to the time in which we'll need regularly to book the theatre for our services.

When last Friday we met with the theatre director to plan our bookings, she said that our presence has been really appreciated so she entrusted us with the key of the whole theatre, with the use of the main theatre hall and she even agreed to lower down our rental.

From September
we'll have two services a month in this premises, so now we are asking the Lord's guidance with our finances to think about renting weekly from 2015!

Then yesterday has also been really special, since we had our very first fellowship lunch in the beautiful sunshine of our courtyard.

Sunday Service in Budrio - Acts 2:34-47

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






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.

At 10.00 am we'll have a family time with coffee & cakes
and at 10.30 am we'll look together at Acts 2:37-47.

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." 
Acts 2:42 (ESV)


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 opportunity He gave us with the Exch@nge camp in July.
We'll pray for the kids and their families.
For the authorities who participated to the service.
For those who asked to participate to The World We All Want  Bible Study.


We'll thank the Lord for the acceptance we are receiving by the director of Le Torri dell'Acqua who entrusted us with the key of the whole theatre and even agreed to lower down our rental.
From September we'll have two services a month in this premises, so we'll pray for vision for the future!

We want a global vision, so this month we'll pray for the team of Italian in short mission in Nepal with WEC Italy.

They are having incredible opportunities to present Christ
with women and men,
with children and teenagers,
to encourage local churches and missions.

Article about the English Sport Camp Exch@nge in the Budrio Town Hall Magazine

Translation of the Article from the Budrio Town Hall Magazine which is sent to every home in the area.

From the 7th to the 13th of July at the Sports Centre L. Marani in Budrio we ran, with the patronage of Budrio Town Hall, the first English Sport Camp Exch@nge organized by YfC Italia in partnership with the local Baptist church Impatto A Budrio.
21 girls and boys 12-17 years-old from Budrio and the surrounding area enjoyed a busy week with 9 guys and girls 15-19 years-old and their 4 leaders from Houston, Texas, USA.
From Monday to Friday we played Basketball, Baseball, American Flag Football, Ultimate Frisbee and Cheerleading with Coaches from the USA, we also learned the traditional Texan Line-Dancing and some American games like Kickball and Freezetag...
Italian and American kids had the amazing opportunity to get to know each other while playing games, every morning they engaged with a Talk on the theme of the day from the Gospel of Luke and every afternoon with an hour and half of interactive lesson with an English mother tongue teacher.
On Saturday 12th we had a "service Project "organized with the Town Hall where all the campers painted the entrance hall, the staircase and the computer room of the Middle School Filopanti in Budrio. Several parents were impressed with the new skills discovered in their children!
On Sunday 13th we had a "Celebration" to share with the families the week spent at the Camp.
We had with us the Mayor Giulio Pierini who thanked us for the great experience we offered to teenagers in Budrio.
We also distributed medals rated by the kids to the most energetic, the sportiest, the most helpful, the most sympathetic, and the most affectionate!
Many kids and parents appreciated this first experience of Exch@nge in Budrio so we'll definitely organise another next year and other similar initiatives!

Deputation 2014 - Welwyn

Tomorrow we'll spend the whole day with our friends from Welwyn Evangelical Church.

Stefano will preach
in the evening service
from Romans 15:13-33.

During the After Church Fellowship meeting we'll share about our ministry in Budrio.

Welwyn Evangelical is the church Stefano was attending during his first year of Bible School, where he also really enjoyed helping at the teens outreach club.

Deputation 2014 - Chelmsley Wood

This evening we'll be with our friends from Chelmsley Wood Reformed Baptist Church.

Stefano will give a talk from Acts 14:26-27 and then we'll share about the work in Budrio.
It will be an opportunity for us to share about our passion for church-planting in Italy and
to strengthen our fellowship with this church. 

Deputation 2014 - Hinckley

This evening we'll be with 

our dear friends from  

Mount RoadBaptist Church. 

Mount Road is the church where Jenny is from, and from the beginning of our ministry in 

the  Bologna area they have faithfully partnered with us for the cause of the Gospel in Italy. 

This evening we'll give an update of our work and ministry in the Budrio church-plant.

Deputation 2014 - Bulkington

This evening we'll be with
our friends from Bulkington Congregational Church.

Stefano will give a talk from  
Luke 5:4-11 encouraging the church to rejoice that, in the Lord, both the "boats" of our churches are filled by the blessing of our partnership for the Gospel cause in Italy and in the UK. 
Then we'll share about the work in Budrio to strengthen our fellowship with this church.

Article from an national Italian newspaper on Exch@nge Camp

Translation of the article:

"When friendship is intercontinental"
From Houston to Budrio to help their peers in painting Filopanti school in Budrio.

There aren't many generous people in the world like the Houston students from Texas.
At the end of the week at the English Sport Camp Exch@nge a Service project was organised where kids from Budrio (aged 12-17 years old) worked alongside their American peers to paint corridors and classrooms in the middle school Filopanti.
Students from Houston were involved in serving miles away from their homes.

This project, with the support of the Town-Hall, was organized by the association Youth for Christ Italia in partnership with the community of the Baptist church Impatto A Budrio.
Some parents came too to help in the painting work to be involved with their children in an experience to serve their community.
Exch@nge - the organisers explain - has the vision to offer Italian teenagers a healthy place in which they can experience growth
through an exchange with their American peers each enriching the other.
Kids from Houston, from the Baptist Church Bethel of Houston, came to meet their new friends in Budrio.
This Service Project - conclude the organizers - wants to promote actively seeking the welfare of our  community and the desire to look after each other as a practical response to the many blessings we receive from the Lord!

Deputation 2014 - Ystrad Mynach

Today we'll travel to Wales to visit the Mission Church in Ystrad Mynach near Caerphilly.

Stefano will give a talk from  
Luke 5:4-11 and then we'll share about the work in Budrio.

Deputation 2014 - Bury St. Edmunds

Tomorrow morning we'll leave for our
2014 Deputation with EMF.

On Sunday we'll be with our friends from Westgate Chapel
in Bury St Edmunds.

Stefano will preach
in the morning service
from Romans 15:13-33.

Then we'll join the after service church's simple lunch to renew fellowship with our long-term friends from the chapel. During the evening service we'll share about the work in Budrio.

English Sport Camp Exch@nge 2014 Budrio - Day 7

Yesterday we had a special family service at the Sport Centre where we had the camp and Stefano preached on Luke 4:16-21.

Many of the Italian kids and their parents came and stayed for the whole service.
We also had with us the Major of Budrio who thanked us and the team for the great work and presence in the community.

Quite a few people were interested to know more about what we believe and two Muslim kids asked to have a one to one Bible study.

Please pray for them and all the Italian kids and their families we were able to serve and relate with in this incredible week!

Video of the Exch@nge 2014 Budrio Camp

Thanks ever so much to the whole team from Bethel Church,

you've been amazing