04 May 2009

Baptists in Miglionico

While we were staying at Matera we visited the nearby town of Miglionico on a Friday morning during their weekly mercato and after making our way through the array of booths we stumbled upon a church in the centro storico that was being used by a Baptist congregation. Though the building was closed we noted the service hours before we headed out of town.

The following Sunday we returned just as the service was starting, a small former Catholic church painted with various scriptures on the walls. Having attended several Baptist services in the US we had an understanding of the flow of the service and when the part came to welcome visitors the small group was surprised by i turisti americani in attendance. This was probably one of the shortest Baptist services we have attended. Once the service was over we were warmly greeted by the majority of those present and plied with the usual questions of why we were in Italy and where were we from in the US.

With all of the difficulties we have had finding a good church service in southern Marche we stumble upon a simple Baptist church here deep in the heart of southern Italy.

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