11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Ephesians 4.11-13 (NLT)
Recently, God launched an intentional community that for us has been 3 years in the making and for God has been and eternity past in the making! Frank, Paul and I began praying 18 months ago for who, how and when this community would launch. And on March 2nd, 2007, 12 young people, who signed on for a 3 year commitment, entered this equipping process. 5 are Italians, 3 are Romanians, 3 are Americans (though 2 have spent the majority of their adult life in Italy) and 1 Ecuadorian. In bringing them into maturity in Christ, we intend to raise them up as future leaders at Il Rifugio21, the current church in Torino, and in the next church plant(s) which we desire to begin in the third year of the community.
Here are some photos of that initial gathering. Please pray for the students and the five equippers/mentors: Frank, Pam, Paul, Janice and myself. Pray that we would embody Ephesians 4.11-13 and 3.20. We want to believe God for grand dreams in our lives!
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