DECEMBER 2024
Dear prayer companions,
One of the most blessed experiences at this time of the year is receiving many Christmas cards and letters (as well as emails) in which we are assured of your love and prayers for us and the people of the Chiesa Riformata di Perugia. Like Peter when he was kept in prison, we did not know that “earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church” so we don’t know how many of you are lifting us up before the throne of grace! The invisible reality of the power of prayer is one of the reasons why thus far we press on, notwithstanding our human frailty and sinfulness. As the year 2024 draws to a close, we are grateful for your felt participation in our missionary labors.
Reformation Conferences
As usual, at the end of October, we had time to remember with gratitude the Protestant Reformation. We had two conferences on Saturday, Oct. 26th, and Saturday, Nov. 2nd. The general theme of the meetings was “The Experience of the Word”. Rev. Dr. Borvan from Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim, California described aptly the story of Luther’s experience of the Word and how he was turned away from the human principle Sola Ecclesia and embraced the truth of Sola Scriptura. Dr. Domenico Segna – a Roman Catholic historian – spoke about Luther's reluctance to separate from Rome and told the story of his conscience’s subjection to the authority of the Scriptures rather than that of the Pope. The following Saturday Rev. Michael Brown (from our sister church in Milan) spoke about the doctrine of the attributes of Scripture showing the spiritual benefits of a personal and prayerful reading of the Bible. Dr. Ludwig Monti – a Roman Catholic exegete – told us about D. Bonhoeffer’s experience of reading the Bible and how the Bible strengthened his faith in his struggle for the truth. Even though we had fewer participants than expected (20 attended the first Saturday and 25 the second), we had some new people and a handful of university students. A local evangelical pastor who attended both meetings encouraged us to persevere and to continue organizing these sorts of meetings because the attendance will surely increase with the passing of the years…
Christmas and New Year Season
With the first Lord’s Day of December, I began to preach a series of specifically evangelistic messages on the doctrine of the incarnation, but in such a way that it is suitable for those who usually don’t attend church. The sermons are intentionally and explicitly related to Christmas so that people may be helped to identify their story in the light of the history of redemption. On Friday, December 20th we hosted a “Concerto di Natale” (Christmas Concert) with traditional carols and hymns. The Christian musician played both the piano and the violin and as a conclusion, we had all the participants sing “Amazing Grace” both in Italian and English (in fact, among the participants we had a few English-speaking people). For the occasion, we distributed some free books such as Sinclair Ferguson’s “Child in a Manger” to our English-speaking friends. Moreover, as usual, at this time of the year, we gave away a number of Bible calendars to our friends to introduce them to scripture. These calendars have a short Bible passage for each day of the year followed by a short meditation.
Student from Mid-America Reformed Seminary
We are grateful that Mr. Bryce Klassen from Mid America Reformed Seminary will be back for four weeks during the break of the Christmas season. Besides being engaged in studying for the final semester at the seminary, Bryce will continue to work with us helping in exhorting, visiting, and inviting people to church. Bryce is exploring the possibility of being called to Perugia to help develop the ministry of our small congregation to reach the city center and the university community. In fact, with almost 30,000 students – a number of whom are foreigners – the University of Perugia offers a great opportunity for evangelism and missionary labor.
Please, pray with us for the following prayer requests:
that the Lord may assist us in reaching out to our community through our various evangelistic activities, especially in these last days of 2024;
that the Lord may bless the time that Bryce Klassen will spend here, giving him light and understanding about his future after seminary;
that the Lord may continue to bless the faithful members of our church who are a great encouragement and support for me and my wife Cristina.
On behalf of all the members of the Chiesa Riformata of Perugia, I express a felt sense of gratitude for your faithful prayers and generous support.
Those of Italy greet you (Hebrews 13:24) ☺
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Pastor Andrea Ferrari