Greetings in the Lord, we write today from Venezia Mestre, Italy as the season has now changed from a cold, dark, humid Venetian winter to a sunny and warm Venetian spring. We thank the Lord for sustaining us through the cold winter and providing all of our needs; financially, physically, spiritually and emotionally. We are well. Cornelius is now 1-year old! Time sure goes fast when you have a child! We are amazed at how fast he is growing and learning. The imagery of what it means to be a newborn in God’s kingdom has a whole new meaning to us now. Just like a baby needs constant attention and is in constant danger of hurting himself so the newborn Christian needs constant care and guidance from God’s Word and support and protection through intercession and the fellowship of God’s people.
These past few months have been full of fruitful evangelism, in a large part because of our prayer partners that receive our 10-Day Updates and make time to partner with us in prayer. Though originally we planned to begin ESL classes at the beginning of this year, once we saw how many open doors the Lord was giving us through tract distributions we decided to postpone our ESL classes for the future; potentially for when some new PMc missionaries come join us. For now we are getting more phone calls and contacts than ever before through our distributions. All glory be to God. We praise Jesus also for the salvation of Fabio and for how God Himself is sustaining him through the trials he has faced since converting to Christ. We are now talking about organizing his baptism for this spring or summer. Keep this new believer in your prayers along with his wife and 2 kids. Italians who come to saving-faith have many challenges that we do not face in America. For example, in the eyes of Italians the evangelical church is considered a cult; in the US it is not. Most likely if you got saved in the US you were not treated by your family and friends as one who was joining a cult because all know the Protestant Evangelical church is normal Christianity.
CHURCH PLANTING - to reach Italian people
In Italy when we talk about church planting we at the same time must talk about evangelism because a church will never be formed and planted without both evangelism and sacrifice. In regards to reaching the lost, today it is common to hear about making attractive either church, community or both. In this way people will come to you to hear the gospel; this is important, good and right. At the same time, when we look at Scripture and Jesus’ teaching we see something a bit different - Jesus sends His disciples (us) to go to the people and preach the gospel rather than expect them to come to us. Further, the gospel He calls us to preach is actually offensive, except to those wanting forgiveness and salvation. Jesus didn’t really make anything attractive about being His disciple. Actually, He warned potential disciples to count the cost and understand they must deny themselves and carry their cross if they are to be His disciples. Since then, nothing has changed. The call of God is the same. Though we in no way want to be unattractive we all must be continually cautious not to drift from the timeless message and method of Christ. Please continue to pray the Lord continue to bless our evangelism efforts, and that He send us more PMc ‘laborers’.
PRACTICAL MISSIONS cohort - PMc
The new mission organization, PMc, is now up and running! The board has done a great job laying a solid foundation and we are very excited for what the future holds. Apart from financial and prayer support (very important by the way) we have created 3 avenues for the brethren in the US to join in and be involved in what God is doing in Italy: Short-term Cohorts, Missionary Interns, Long-term Missionaries. You can now apply online at the PMc site. All who join us on the field also become part of the PMc Academia; an on-the-go missionary training, in the piazza, not in the classroom. In the School of Christ, at His service - this is the Academia’s slogan and we are very excited for this aspect of the ministry. For more info please visit the site where you can see also our newly formed Core Values. Thank you and God bless you. - Jesse & Jeryvee and Cornelius