The ITA is gearing up for its upcoming pastors’ conference early in the new year. Rather than look back this month as we usually do in our updates, we have decided to look ahead to the new year, to the month of January 2022, specifically the 20th through to the 22nd of January.
This will be our first in-person conference in Rome since the ministry’s transition to the Italian capital the summer of 2020.
The theme of our conference this time is: To Contend for the Gathering.
Our aim in choosing this particular theme is to draw attention to both the church and its times, how the church should respond to its current times. Life recently, as a result of the pandemic, has adversely affected the church in Italy.
This is the case for the church worldwide and yet, in Italy, that global adversity has manifested itself in, sadly, local bodies around the country overcome by fear and government restrictions. Again, given our global community, that could be said of numerous other places around the world right now.
Our commitment, in spite of the overwhelming challenge everywhere, is to the gathered body of Christ in Italy, to help it think more biblically.
Our concern moreover is that both its leadership and members endure, setting, once again, their faith on Jesus, on Him who has established our faith and leads it to maturity (to borrow from Hebrews 12:1–2).
In Italy, the need for faithful endurance translates into the urgent need to gather.
One of the most audibly adverse affects from the global storm at present is that the language of that storm has now become the language one hears among those that are in the body.
Expressions like “social distancing,” “wearing masks,” and, as of even more recent, due to the new variants, “the right type of masks,” “loving your neighbor,” “sanitization,” “spread of contagion,” “government protocols” and general “protection” language have all become familiar terms.
The above words, furthermore, are representative of the new norm which is that of restriction, restricted body life, restricted gatherings, restricted worship, ultimately.
There is no attempt here, on our behalf, to provoke rebellion. The worldwide circumstance certainly calls for prudence. That said, we do intend to draw the church back to its purpose: to endure in its worship so that it does not grow weary or fainthearted (Heb 12:3).
Please support us in this endeavor by praying specifically for our gathering on the 20th through to the 22nd of January 2022.