Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet

Italian Baptists celebrate 150 years


150 delegates gathered recently in the Baptist 'Taylor Institute' in a Rome suburb to celebrate the past, present and future of their life together.

An historical exhibition told the story of the Baptist work in Italy, beginning with Wall and Clarke, two pioneer missionaries of the British Baptist Missionary Society.

The work then was transferred to the Southern Baptist Convention of the USA which helped to score the buildings and organisations since the 1950s the work has been self-supporting and came under the influence of then student movements and radical politics of the 1960s.

All this gives Italian Baptists their unique blend of evangelical fervour combined with a deep concern for issues of peace and justice in society and in the world. They are very conscious of being 'nonconformists' in an overwhelmingly Roman catholic cultures in Italy, and this leads them to be quite liberal on some social-ethical issues.

Pastor Raffaele Volpe, president of the Christian Evangelical Baptist Union in Italy (UCEBI), presented the programme of the many initiatives based on the main challenges in which Baptist churches are engaged in Italy at present: from migrants and refugees issues to environment, relationships between different generations, prisons, the dialogue with other Christians and other religions.

One striking feature of their life together is the number of ordained women who are in pastoral and national leadership. A booklet produced for the 150th Anniversary featured the stories of some of these women.

The Anniversary celebrations included inspiring and creative worship, challenging preaching, thought provoking seminars and different streams of music.
Music played an important part as hymns and song form the Reformation hymns to contemporary worship songs were featured.

Guests included Regina Claas, a Vice president of the Baptist World Alliance, Karin Wiborn, a Swedish baptist who is General Secretary of the Christian Council of Sweden, and Tony Peck, General Secretary of the EBF.

Those three took part in a well-attended seminar featuring the wider relationships of the Italian Baptists. The previous day was seminar considering the health of the 'BMW' – the Baptist, Methodist, and Waldensian churches who have worked closely together with an Agreement made between them in 1990,and is now in need of some renewal of its life.

Italian Baptists number around 600 members in 120 churches.

This story first appeared on the European Baptist Federation website
    Post     Tweet
'We cannot walk in your shoes, but we can do as Jesus did and wash your feet' 
Joshua T. Searle reports on the February 2024 Dnipro Hope Mission Trip to Ukraine
‘Spreading hope and love amid the darkness’ 
Baptist organisations in Palestine and Israel are continuing to support people amid the ‘heart-wrenching reality’ of the war in Gaza
'Incredibly challenging - but tangibly showing Christ's love' 
Baptists at the heart of the Israel-Hamas war have been sharing their anguish and grief at the situation unfolding before them, how they are helping support those affected
A British Baptist with a calling to Germany 
Joshua Searle appointed Professor of Mission Studies at the German Theological University
'We request fervent prayer for just peace' 
Baptists across Israel and the Palestinian Territories share calls to prayer
Trauma, tears, prayer, admiration
Dnipro Hope Mission co-founder and trustee Joshua T. Searle shares reflections following his first trip to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, where he met Baptist ministry partners serving on the frontlines
     Latest News 
    Posted: 11/10/2022
    Posted: 01/10/2021
    Posted: 08/05/2020
    Posted: 06/05/2020
    Posted: 11/12/2019
    Posted: 28/11/2019
    Posted: 04/10/2019