NOVEMBER 2020
Dear prayer companions,
Greetings from Perugia! These past weeks have been once again a time of sober reflection on the uncertainties of life, the fragility of human life, and the fact that things are not under our control, even though we strive to control them. By the grace of God, we experienced and are experiencing this very reality: in ourselves, we are masters of nothing! At times, when God makes us realize that things are not in our own hands, it is painful to learn how to cast our cares upon the Lord. But in time, God’s fatherly discipline brings forth blessed fruit in our lives as we understand more what it means to live by faith. As we learn to be grateful in times of prosperity, so we learn patience in times of adversity and to have confidence in God’s good providence in relation to our future and living in time in light of eternity.
As usual, I write with a deep sense of thankfulness for your many expressions of tangible concern for the saints of the small Chiesa Riformata di Perugia, and for your time to write to me and even to have videoconferences face to face to pray together. :)
New Covid lockdown. Since mid-October, the situation of the Covid-19 epidemic has worsened again in Italy. Because of that, there was a new lockdown in Perugia and the whole Umbria region at the beginning of November so we have been unable to conduct our public worship services for the last four Lord’s Days. Therefore, I have been continuing to expound the gospel of John via Zoom. During the week, we have two church-wide meetings via Zoom: in one, we discuss and reflect on the previous week’s sermon, and in the other, we have a prayer meeting with our members. Because of this situation, Cristina and I drove to Milan to pick up my mother and bring her to Perugia so that she wouldn’t be alone for who knows how many weeks or months as winter approaches. She is now with us and we look forward to enjoying the time that the Lord has given to us together. We ask you to pray for our second son, Daniele, who is still in Milan and is uncertain about the future.
Virtual outreach. We continue to use Facebook to advertise our church and to make people aware of our presence. Just to give you an idea of what we do, I wrote a meditation from Psalm 39 this month discussing the fact that Covid-19 is exposing our fragility. I posted the meditation for one week to be distributed in the whole province of Perugia. We reached almost 3,700 people and around 300 of them reacted to the post plus some comments and shares. In the past decades, Christians in Italy used to distribute tracts, cards for inviting people to church, copies of the gospel of John, evangelistic pamphlets, and books. But now, it is getting more and more difficult to meet people on a personal level and to share the gospel with physical evangelistic material. Therefore, we are praying that virtual forms of outreach such as social media and our website may be used by God to bring people within reach of gospel preaching and teaching.
Evangelism. With months of lockdown and a sluggish economy, the pace of life has slowed with it. Surprisingly, it is somewhat easier to be personal with people even if those interactions occur at a distance. Generally speaking, people have more free time and more opportunity to hang around with others and catch up with one another, especially in our neighborhood. With God’s help, we are trying to engage them so that in the future, we may have a meaningful relationship with them. As the Christmas season approaches us, we are looking forward to reaching out to our neighbors in Perugia with some evangelistic material.
Please, pray with us for the following prayer requests:
pray for the growth of our church in knowledge, grace, and number;
pray for the Covid-19 crisis in Italy and Europe;
pray for the efficacy of the witness of our church through social media and our website and of our members’ testimony person to person.
lastly, pray for me that I may be a faithful Christian, husband, father, church member, and minister.
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