Let me share a little with you about what we see as the biblical foundation of our ministry and where we are seeking to spend ourselves for the kingdom of God. Your comments and questions are welcome.

The basis for our ministry is the centrality of the local church. We very much believe that the local church is the institution which God has specifically and clearly ordained to carry forth His work in the world as we await the return of Jesus Christ. Other ministries can serve as helps to the local church, but the local church must be primary, and all others secondary. This conviction affects our entire ministry.

Our Convictions: (updated December, 2010)

BIBLICAL LEADERSHIP: Each local church has God-ordained leaders who are responsible to the One King and Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. These leaders are called pastors, elders, bishops and overseers. The New Testament clearly lists their qualifications and describes their ministry. Since the qualifications regard mostly character, an important part of our ministry is helping men to grow in holiness so that those whom God calls will be qualified.

PRIMACY OF PREACHING: The primary responsibility of the leaders of a church is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. That equipping is primarily through the faithful teaching of the Word of God. It is not programs or the latest book which causes the church to truly grow, but the Word of God, clearly and consistently taught and lived out by the believers. Therefore, the teaching of the Word of God, expository preaching, must be central in the life of the church.

PASTORAL CARE: The leaders of the church are not just called to publicly preach, but to personally shepherd the sheep. Shepherding involves helping individuals, couples and families see how to apply scriptural truth to their specific situations. It involves much encouragement as well as godly admonition, exhortation and rebuking. This means pastors must love the sheep and be living examples of godliness for them to imitate, something no man is capable of doing on his own. Our own ministry is very pastoral and I spend much time helping others develop a pastoral heart, as well as the kind of working knowledge of the Bible that promotes this kind of ministry.

EVANGELISM: Churches are called to be bastions of truth and light. Therefore, evangelism must be a vital part of a church. Through our study of the Bible we do not see evangelism as primarily taking place within the walls of the building in which a church meets, but out in society. With this in mind it is clear that a church should be training its members to be actively proclaiming Christ, not just within relationships, but boldly even where relationships do not exist. We need strong proclamation of the gospel truths. Believers need to know that they do not need to earn the right to be heard, because it is not lost men who must give us permission to proclaim God's Word to them. Rather, we are heavenly ambassadors, sent to proclaim the coming judgment, and the only means of escape, which is through Jesus Christ. We have divine orders to proclaim that message to all.

WORSHIP: In an age of much emotion based worship, we desire to help the church to return to a worship which is truth-based and reverent. In other words, true worship is not about how one feels, it is about one attributing worth to God for who He is and for what He has done. God does not accept worship from stained hands. True worship can only occur when God's people are walking in humbleness and confessing their sins. We humbly seek to restore the reverence for God which many modern churches have lost. Oh that we would fall on our faces in the presence of the glorious Lord of lords. God has richly blessed us in this area. May we continue growing in this and our desire to spread this vision to others. This is sorely needed in Italy.

Our Current Situation

Our current church is the second church which God has graciously raised up through our ministry. And, by grace, this church is maturing. We thank God for the progress in the areas mentioned above, while at the same time recognizing the need to continue growing. Our church has been often described as composed of God-fearing, Christ focused, joyful, loving people. We have MUCH room to grow but, at the same time, thank God for the abounding grace which He has poured out on this body. We are very privileged to minister amongst these people. The first man has been recognized as an Elder.

In the first few years of being a church we were heavily involved in evangelism. Then, for a few years, we gradually started neglecting this crucial area. In the last year or so, we have confessed our sin to God, and are much more diligently and boldly proclaiming Christ in various ways. We are also seeking additional ways to evangelize. God is graciously growing us in this area. We have had more open doors to evangelize in the past year than in the past ten combined.

FUTURE FOCUS: Let me share with you some of the areas in which we believe God would have us focus our efforts for the next few years, and what our primary vision is for the church. I am very focused on training men as Elders. My initial goal is to help them to be well equipped to shepherd and feed the flock, and to protect it from dangers. There is much to do before they will be equipped not only to care for the local church, but to train the next generation. This is a primary emphasis of our ministry for the present.

TRAINING CHURCH: Our prayer is not only to be have a sound local church, which we see God bringing about, but also to instill in the church a vision of being a training church. We are striving to be a church which can help other churches throughout Italy to understand and witness the characteristics of a healthy, sound, biblical church, thereby helping them grow in these areas. Our plans are to seek to accomplish this by providing teaching materials, special workshops, and by inviting men to come and observe and learn. We have already started having good contact with men throughout Italy. God is opening doors in this area, and we are greatly encouraged with the potential for impacting other church leaders throughout Italy. We want to help others to see the biblical basis of church, the centrality of preaching and applying the Word, truth-based worship, and the other areas I've shared.

CHURCH PLANTING: Regarding evangelization, God has burdened us to aim at planting more churches. We had been looking at towns and cities within an hour's radius of our home. God had another plan. In the past year, He has saved a man in the province of Milano, established a strong tie with us, and now, has opened the door to a vibrant evangelistic Bible there weekly. So, each Sunday, after our morning worship service here, we drive three hours to his home, minister to him and his family, and on Monday night have the evangelistic Bible study. Our prayer and belief iis that this will grow into a new church. God is doing great things there. We continue to have the vision of helping our local church to have a vision to be a multiplying, or church planting, church. We've made some initial steps, but there is far more to do. We are very encouraged by the initial burden of the believers and their desire for this to become a reality.

Credibility

To be able to influence others, one must have credibility. Of course the local believers know us well. But, to have an impact throughout Italy and beyond, we must establish credibility with others, too. One way God has been providing this for us is through our Italian website, www.aiutobiblico.org. It is very simple, and basically exists to provide access to scores of my sermons, mostly in written form. We have an ever increasing number of sermons available as mp3 audio files as well. Currently there are more than 350 sermons available on the site.

In God's providence, thousands of my sermons are being downloaded each month, creating a situation in which many people are looking to us as a source of clear biblical teaching. With this blessing comes immense responsibility to depend upon the sufficiency of Christ. We were also greatly encouraged at a recent conference when a number of Italian pastors came to me to thank me for my sermons. They shared with us that they regularly use the sermons to help them in their own preaching. We are amazed at God’s work as many people contact us, excited about the truths which they are seeing in God's Word, as a result of the teaching. We want to build upon this credibility, built upon the solid foundation of God’s Word, and use it to help share the truths I've mentioned above with these believers throughout Italy. Oh that more people would see more of Jesus Christ.

In whatever time we have left on this earth, we want to spend ourselves promoting God's kingdom. We realize that we can do nothing in ourselves, but only as we dwell in Christ can we be used to bear lasting fruit. Our labor is according to His working in us, so that Christ be formed in others.

Pray with us that our lives can count for eternity.

Thank you,

Marco and Sherrie (Serena) deFelice
Pastor/missionary and precious helpmate