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News from the Churches
Madrid, Spain
• One of the church-wide emphases
for this year at Immanuel Baptist Church,
Madrid, Spain, is “Strengthening Marriages
and Building Strong Families in Christ.”
As a kickoff event for this, Immanuel held
a Valentine’s Banquet, featuring an international
potluck meal. Approximately 45
couples attended the event.
The youth and university students of
the church helped make the evening possible,
serving in many ways. This included
meeting couples at the door to take
their coats, serving as waiters (and having
fun doing it!), and providing childcare for
nearly 70 children.
The musical entertainment for the evening
was led by Cara Johnson, a former
Miss Arizona. Her husband Peter brought
the devotional thought about how to cultivate
unity in marriage.
•
IBC’s university students
greet couples at the door.
Naples, Italy
• In the heart of the Catholic world, a
two-hour train ride from the Vatican, an
evangelical church is thriving. In a city
where anti-American graffiti is scrawled
across the wall of the NATO base, an international
church is growing. In a church
that is going against all practical advice on
the “best” way to do things, people are
coming to know Jesus. In a situation that
for so many reasons should not be working,
the hand of God is moving.
This is Il Faro, an international Baptist
church just outside of Naples, Italy. What
started as an Italian church in 1989 has
been ministering to followers of Christ
and seekers alike from all over the world
since 2006, when it adopted the remaining
members of a struggling international
church. They come from all kinds of backgrounds
and have found
themselves in Naples for a
variety of reasons, but the
one thing they have in common
– Jesus – binds them
together in a way that the
world may never understand.
Il Faro means “the lighthouse,”
which calls to mind
a great many metaphors,
not many of which are inappropriate
in describing this
church. Even the building itself
sits just yards away from
the Mediterranean Sea.
As a lighthouse marks
the boundary between land
and sea, so Il Faro marks
the meeting point of several
cultures – not only Italian
and American, but specifically
Neapolitan, American
military, various African,
and even Latin American
cultures. This, according to
Pastor Tim Monahan, was
the first challenge. It’s hard
enough to unite two congregations
of a common culture, but to
bring together two groups of so many
different and complex cultures is nothing
short of a miracle. “In the beginning,”
Monahan said, “they didn’t want to sing
with each other.” The Americans were
embarrassed by their Italian pronunciation,
and the Italians felt that in an Italian
church, the songs should be sung in Italian,
so they didn’t want to sing in English.
Now, however, all the songs are sung
in both languages, a verse in Italian and
a verse in English, a verse in Italian and
a chorus in English, back and forth, give
and take, everyone glorifying God sideby-side.
But the musical worship isn’t the only
way Il Faro has seen all its cultures
come together. Italians and non-Italians
are cooperating to carry
out all the administrative
and evangelistic operations
of the church, from
planning and leading the
Sunday morning service
each week to executing a
full-blown, annual, churchwide
Thanksgiving feast.
They call functions like
the Thanksgiving dinner
“bridge events” not only
because they bring cultures
together, but also because
they make a way for community
members outside
of the church to catch a
glimpse of what’s going on
inside and hopefully catch
sight of Jesus in the process.
In this way, Il Faro’s
light is like that of a city on
a hill (Matthew 5:14), lighting
the way of seekers to
God. Other bridge events
include weekly Italian classes
for Americans, English
classes for Italians, and a
bilingual Bible study for
© Klaus Mackenbach/PIXELIO
women. Through these and other church
activities, Monahan said he has seen God
at work, “building unity, pushing relationships
to new limits, and working in hearts
to peel prejudices away.” He added, “It’s
a taste of what heaven’s going to be like.”
And Il Faro is not finished yet. Their
mission is “to develop mature and united
disciples to reach the Naples area and
the world for Christ,” a mission they take
very seriously. In a post-modern society
that is growing intellectually and is largely
Catholic only in name and only by tradition,
Neapolitans are beginning to ask
the deeper questions of faith. And while
our God promises that He will be found
if we seek Him with all our hearts (Jeremiah
29:13), Acts 10 makes clear that
we are also responsible for making Him
known. This is the mission of Il Faro, and
in the future, they hope to see Italian pastors
leading, sending Italian missionaries,
and training other pastors and missionaries.
They hope to see spiritual growth
through discipleship, the development of
deep relationships, and even more ministries
to the military and Italian communities.
They hope to be like a lighthouse,
pointing heavenward, giving all the glory
to God.
It’s a beautiful thing that’s happening in
this church – all nations coming together,
doing whatever it takes to communicate
so that they can communicate the gospel,
living out the gospel by bridging the
gaps between cultures, meeting each other’s
needs and striving to serve the community.
It is a light, guiding souls into the
safe harbor of a Savior. It is a home, permanent
for some and temporary for others
who are only here for a season. It is a
beacon of hope for all those doing God’s
work under difficult of seemingly impossible
conditions. And it is illuminating for
us the beauty of the Kingdom of Heaven
with every turn of the lamp. •
Beth Parent
16 | Highlights 05/2010