25 February 2008

Looking for similar faith

Church search
 

One of the negatives about life in Italy is being able to find a Bible based church where we can fellowship with other believers. We have been making another attempt to find a local church we can be a part of and this is becoming a difficult task.
 
 
The predominant non-Catholic churches in this area are part of the Assembly of God organization and the few we have attended have been interesting experiences. The ladies in all of these have been wearing head coverings, mostly just scarves but we went to one last fall where the men and women sat on opposite sides of the central aisle. We attended a service at one church not affiliated with AofG, I Fratelli, but in talking to the leadership after the service we discovered their leadership plan does not involve a head pastor to lead the flock. That was a little disconcerting to us for Biblical reasons.
 
 
I found another church near Pescara listed on the internet but when we went to their listed address on Sunday morning there was nobody there and not even a sign or name plate for the church. It seems they moved or closed and did not want anyone to know. Lesson learned – call to confirm location and times.
 
 
We will continue our search in a wider geographic area or perhaps a charismatic Catholic service as we do need to make contact with other believers in our area with whom we can fellowship with at least on a periodic basis. It is important for us to be able to supplement our Bibles and the teachings we can access on the internet with involvement in a local body.

7 comments:

erin said...

I can understand what you're feeling as well. I think that being in Florence has opened up our options more than many Italian cities and luckily we've found a great fellowship at night (although very transient with students, vacationers, etc), and there are other non-catholic churches (english & italian) around town. It still hasn't began to feel like what we were used to back in the states though...

Anonymous said...

Bryan, having experienced the same thing, I know the depth of what you feel and what you are missing. When we consider moving back for a longer period of time, we always run up against this overriding concern. Our little home church model we used on Sundays just wouldn't work for an extended time. I hope you find a fellowship soon.

Bryan said...

We will keep looking; we pray there is the right place that we just haven't found yet.

Italian lover said...

My wife and another couple and I are traveling to Le Marche in July and would love to meet you. Perhaps we can share a time of fellowship with you. We, too, have not noticed in our previous travels to the area much opportunity for Christian fellowship that was not Catholic. Good luck in your quest. We will pray for you.

Jonathan Whitman said...

Hi! I just wanted to tell you what a blessing your blog has been to me! It's the best I've found that explains what it means to go through the bureaucratic maze of Italy and still keep a positive attitude!

I do know a brethren church in Colli del Tronto, abnout 20 minutes from AP. The elder is Leonardo Ciociola. He is really nice. Maybe you have already tried that church. The address is: V.G.Matteotti 3
63030 Colli Del Tronto (AP) No phone number. If you are interested I might be able to get his phone number for you.
We live in Perugia (but are headed to Detroit Monday for our visa problems!!). We have a Christian Radio Station too: www.radioluce.com You can even listen online!
God Bless! Jon Whitman

Bryan said...

Jon - We tried the fratelli church in Colli and enjoyed the service but had some concerns with the church organization after we talked to the leaders.

I like your radio site.

jaco bodemer said...

God is sending me and my family to italy and ill be in pescara next week and maybe we can meet up when im there, please send me a mail if it will be possible, lucadutoit@gmail.com

Thank you
jaco