As 2025 marches on, Milan is showing the first signs of spring. The cold winter air is beginning to lose its bite. Locals are lingering longer in the piazzas, basking in the growing sunlight. Cherry blossoms and magnolias are starting to unfurl their delicate petals in a brilliant display of pink and white. Every spring, the city slowly awakens from its winter slumber, bringing people a sense of renewal and a faint glimmer of hope. Human beings cannot live without hope. A life without hope is too dark and unbearable.

Only the gospel can give us true and lasting hope, however, because it alone addresses the deepest problem of the human condition—our separation from God due to sin—and provides the only sufficient remedy: salvation through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Every other hope will fail, but the gospel assures us that we have been reconciled to God, our sins are forgiven, and eternal life in the resurrection is our inheritance. This is why Peter could say, even in the face of suffering and death: “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Pietro 1:3-4)

This is the hope that we seek to proclaim in Milan and throughout Italy. This country needs more than a sense of renewal that comes every spring; it stands in need of a new Reformation – one that restores the authority of God’s Word, recovers the gospel, and revives the church’s witness in a culture of secularism and superstition. The need is urgent, and the call is clear: Post Tenebras Lux (“after darkness, light”).

Thank you for standing with us in prayers and support as we seek to make disciples of Jesus Christ and preach his gospel of hope in Italy. In January, we welcomed three people as members in full communion: a beautiful couple named Onelio and Simona Francioso, as well as Onelio’s dear mother, Marina, who is 101 years old. Onelio and his mother have been lifelong Roman Catholics. After attending Chiesa Riformata Filadelfia for nearly a year and then completing the new membership class, Onelio and Simona were eager to join a confessionally Reformed church that faithfully preaches the Word and is governed by a plurality of elders. Both Simona and Onelio are involved in the life of the church and seek ways to serve the body of Christ. We give God thanks for wonderful addition to our congregation and ask that you would remember them in prayer.

The “Ladies’ Book Club” is currently reading J.I. Packer’s classic, Knowing God, which is available in Italian. The group has become a fellowship of spiritually mature women. We give God thanks for their selfless service to the congregation and their example of devotion and godliness. They are a blessing to the church.

In February, I was invited to preach at Chiesa Presbiteriana di Pistoia, a presbyterian church in Tuscany, one of the very few Reformed or Presbyterian churches in Italy. The church is about four hours from Milan. The pastor, Rev. Samuele Baroncelli, is a missionary sent by the Presbyterian Church in Brazil. This church is confessional and conservative. They are brothers and sisters in Christ and share with us the Reformed faith. You may remember from my December update that our Consistory invited Pastor Baroncelli to preach at our church last year.

After exchanging pulpits, our churches are now planning a joint- family retreat together in May. We give thanks for this new relationship and pray that it will bear fruit for God’s kingdom in Italy for years to come. In the providence of God, our church has become involved in an outreach to the many Arabic-speaking immigrants in Milan. our Consistory has developed a relationship with Pastor Shawkat Rezkalla, a missionary of the Presbyterian Church in Egypt. He and his family have been attending our church for about a year. His mission is to evangelize Arabic-speaking Muslims in Milan and plant a church to make disciples of Jesus Christ. During the winter, our Consistory invited him to use our building on Sunday evenings for their meetings.

We give God thanks that a new work has begun!

©Michael Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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Post authored by:

• Mike Brown

  

  Mike Brown is pastor of Chiesa Riformata Filadelfia, Milan, Italy. Prior to serving in Italy he was pastor of Christ Reformed Church, Santee, CA. He is a graduate of Westminster Seminary California, a veteran of the United States Army, and author of Christ and the Condition: The Covenant Theology of Samuel Petto (1624–1711) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012) and co-author (with Zach Keele) of Sacred Bond : Covenant Theology Explored (Grandville, MI: Reformation Fellowship, 2017).

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