Despite his deep spiritual knowledge and experience of the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the “great” apostle Paul, in what was probably the time of the deepest trial in his Christian life, was greatly comforted by the God of all comfort through the consolation he received by the human experience of friendship and fellowship: “God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus” (2 Corinthians 7:6). I am grateful because I recently had a share in the blessed experience of being comforted and strengthened by the gracious gift of the communion of the saints in the United States.

Umbria counts a little less than one million people and Perugia is a University City with 200,000 people (if we consider the smaller towns surrounding Perugia the number of people grows to more than 300,000). In Umbria alone, there are less than 25 protestant churches which constitute about a thousand church members. As for the church of Rome, during the last two decades in Umbria, the number of “regular” churchgoers has dropped by more than a quarter, as have the “occasional” ones (usually occasional churchgoers attend church for funerals, weddings, and maybe Christmas and Easter). The phenomenon of “believing without belonging” is rampant in every denomination, and as for those who call themselves “catholic,” their number is decreasing rapidly. Some people say that waiting for this crisis to pass without doing anything is like trying to shelter from a hurricane with an umbrella! Therefore, you can imagine how blessed and joyful we feel having had some new people who began attending regularly our worship services.

This is the message that – through the Spirit – we strive to present to the people of the city of Perugia and the region of Umbria, in central Italy. And once again, we ask that as we sow the seed of the gospel you may water it with your prayers on behalf of the witness of the Chiesa Riformata di Perugia.

One of the main concerns in the heart of the apostle Paul was securing the prayers of God’s people, not so much for himself but rather for the humble and bold proclamation of the mystery of the gospel, so that the divine Word might speed ahead and be honored. Therefore, we rejoice in knowing – through your emails, phone calls, and other forms of communication – that you are persevering with us in prayer for the blessing of the Spirit upon the witness of the Chiesa Riformata di Perugia.

Our hearts rejoice in God for the communion that the members of the Chiesa Riformata di Perugia have with you, even though we live far away. We are thankful for the encouragement and comfort that we continually receive from you in so many ways. Since the last newsletter, there are quite a few things that I would like to share with you.

We are grateful to God for your constant support in so many encouraging ways and for your enthusiasm for the witness of the Chiesa Riformata di Perugia. In the last couple of months, we have had a number of gracious encouragements, not least the joy for me as a pastor to start preaching through the book of Psalms. What a comfort praying the Psalms as the voice of Christ (vox Christi), as the voice regarding Christ (vox de Christo), and as the voice to Christ (vox ad Christum)!

We are sincerely thankful for the interest you continue to show toward us and the Chiesa Riformata di Perugia. As we are slowly learning, God moves in a mysterious way with his wonders to perform. Therefore, even in the midst of shattering events affecting Europe – such as the earthquake in Turkey, the Ukrainian war, and Covid just to mention a few – we believe that the Word of God is not chained (2 Timothy 2:9). That is our only hope and comfort: even though we are weak and insufficient in ourselves, the Word of God is powerful and able to accomplish God’s perfect will.

Cristina and I are deeply grateful for your continuing interest in the life of the Chiesa Riformata di Perugia and for your prayers on our behalf, for the glory of God the Father, in the Son, and through the Spirit. We ourselves pray for you that the grace of Christ may cause you to taste ever more deeply the love of God and the communion of the Spirit in your families and in the church. And it is a joy to share some of the latest news from Perugia.

As we leave the summer behind, we are deeply grateful for it is indeed a beautiful and good thing when believers dwell together in unity (Psalms 133:1). In fact, this has been our experience over the last summer as we realized anew that wherever two or three are gathered in the name of the Lord, there is true life that manifests itself, by the Spirit to the glory of the Father. Therefore, having been greatly encouraged throughout the summer, we look forward to a new season as COVID-19 begins to pass here in Italy and we are more able to reach out to the community with the gospel.

We began on the Lord’s Day evening with a prayer meeting in which we sang God’s praises, meditated on God’s Word, and devoted time to corporate prayers. After a late dinner and a good (but too short!!!) night’s sleep, we met the following morning starting with a similar prayer meeting followed by a meeting in which we discussed for three hours and deliberated about some shared initiatives, in order to continue to build a solid foundation for the organization of a Presbyterian and Reformed denomination in the future. These two days were deeply encouraging: it was evident from the starting prayer meeting that the Spirit’s blessing was upon us. In the next few months, we will continue our labors on Zoom until we meet again in person in Milan at the beginning of December.