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Venice/Mestre, Italy
Light House Evangelical Center True Light for True Guidance Mestre is considered the “guardian angel” of the treasures of Venice. Like a lighthouse with its watchful eye from the mainland shores of the lagoon, Mestre serves the daily needs of one of the world’s most precious jewels, Venice. One hardly notices Mestre crossing the 2.5 miles of lagoon and is instantly captivated by the uniqueness and wonder of Venice, a city built on the water. But without Mestre, Venice could not survive. Venice’s economy is now dependent on her two mainland sisters, Mestre and Marghera. Together, these two mainland cities help keep her “afloat”, balancing off her unmatched history, art and tourism appeal with the more normal stuff of everyday life like industry, agriculture and contact with the rest of the Italian Peninsula. Centro Evangelico Il Faro, with its logo “The True Light for true guidance” has set out to assume much the same “mainland” role in the spiritual life of the people who live in the greater Venice area. Situated now in a neighborhood just blocks from Mestre’s main square, Il Faro is becoming a spiritual lighthouse, beaming its searchlight through the spiritual darkness of the tri-cities area. Just like the incredible architectural wonders of Venice, that speak of an ingenious and creative society from days gone by, the massive domes and art-filled cathedrals of Italy speak of a religion that has more tourism appeal than real truth to offer the faithful in their everyday life. Il Faro seeks to shine “True Light”, through a community center strategy, with outreach taking place through: English classes for adults and children, summer children's evangelism in the parks, sports ministry, internet point, Christian café and books, men’s and women’s ministry, and the training of believers to do personal evangelism and discipleship. These, and other programs that we will develop, are bringing people into contact with the truth of God’s Word, offering their searching hearts salvation and guidance for everyday living. Praise the Lord with us as we see Him working to make this great vision become a reality. There’s still so much to do—so much to trust Him for . . . We’ve only just begun. Ministry Vision The vision of the Centro Evangelical Il Faro is to be a disciple-making church in Mestre that will serve as a catalyst for more churches established in the Venetian Lagoon area. As a lighthouse to our community, we envision “Il Faro”, (which is “the Lighthouse” in Italian) being the first of three ministry center-churches. We envision a second on Venice with a focus on university students and a third on Lido, the long slender island protecting the rest of the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. Lido, like Mestre, is where many local people live, away from the hustle and bustle of the tremendous tourism industry on the main island of Venice. We are trusting God for an expanding church planting movement to grow out of these churches, as we become able to send out Italian missionaries to plant churches across Northern Italy and to other parts of the world. We are working to establish churches that are characterized by: •A relevant and impacting worship culture •Loving communion in the body of believers •A biblically qualified team of leaders •A church-based leadership training process •Vision and finances for aggressive involvement in the Great Commission •A passion for planting other churches at home and abroad •A strategic ministry relationship with other like-minded churches •An adequate meeting facility •A disciple-making Christian education process Personnel Needs The Il Faro church planting team needs people who are called by God, passionate about the church, about making disciples and about sharing their faith in Christ through relationships with non-believers. Some current areas of ministry where we need help are: •English teachers •Youth workers •University ministry workers •Bookstore workers Contact Info: Contact the Il Faro team leader at: www.7crooks.com Centro Evangelico Il Faro Via Monte Mesola 19 30173 Favaro Veneto (VE) Italia Visit our church website: www.faromestre.it TEAM PO Box 969 Wheaton, IL 60189 1-800-343-3144 www.teamworld.org |
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