Via de’ Benci
50121 Firenze
NEWS

Christmas
celebrations

New Year

Attendance
on Sundays

La Bibbia in
Piazza

Covenant
Service

Week of
Prayer for
Christian
Unity

Church
Council &
Assembly

Week of
Liberty

Easter

Finance

Pastoral list
of the church

Shalom
Chiesa metodista
www.firenzechurch.com
GENNAIO 2012
Natale e l’anno nuovo
Dear Friends,
version of the Christmas
story, and then we
First of all, I wish you a
squeezed into our
merry Christmas and
upstairs rooms to share
many blessings for this
mulled wine, soft drinks,
new year. We are
panettone, mince pies,
already looking forward
and more panettone.
to watching the Olympics
Thank you to everyone
from our beautiful city of
who contributed to an
London as armchair
enjoyable and
spectators, but before
memorable evening, and
that there is so much to
I hope that we will
do here in Florence!
experience many more
together.
Our Christmas
celebrations were
wonderful: starting on
the 4th December, our
Sunday school were the
star performers at our
carol service, with the
warm participation of
Florence Gospel
Fellowship International,
and our Sunday morning
and Tuesday evening
congregations (English
Language Fellowship).
Around 80 people filled
the church with laughter
as we shared a dramatic
Last Sunday we reflected
on the way that Jesus
brings together the old
and the new, and as 2012
gets started, I am full of
hope for the year that lies
ahead and I pray for the
growth, spiritual and
numerical, of our church
community; for the
children of our Sunday
school; for the
housebound who are
remain a valued part of
our community as they
sustain us in prayer; for
the outreach
opportunities that we
seek to share God’s love
with the city of Florence.
P AGE
2
Sunday mornings
The increased attendance at worship (we now
average 15 to 22 people) continued throughout
December – it has been a delight to welcome back
some “old” members, in addition to the “new” –
and I look forward to this pattern continuing in
2012.
“The world
is our
parish”
La Bibbia in Piazza
The event in November “La Bibbia in Piazza” (“The Bible in the Square”)
was groundbreaking for us, it was a little cold, and quite scary, but in a
simple way through bible reading, preaching and music, we offered the good
news of Jesus to the passersby. Many stopped to listen, accepting a leaflet
or a Bible. We pray that these small seeds will take root. Many thanks go to
our volunteers, who stepped out of their comfort zones when they stepped
forward in faith into Piazza Santa Croce.
Covenant Service
The annual Covenant service will be on the 22nd January, followed by
our first Sunday School of the year and at 1pm, church agape lunch.
May I remind you that the renewal of your relationship with God is a
valuable Methodist tradition – one that many other churches have
taken up. I view it as an essential spiritual moment whose meaning
varies each other, but is always for me a time of challenge and renewal.
As your pastor, I expect to see you in church, to make this commitment
together.
CHIESA
METODIST A
The Church Council will meet after church for one hour on 29th January
(until 1pm).
We will hold the second part of the Church Assembly on 22nd
February, to complete the elections and discuss the on-going work of
the church.
W WW .FIRENZECHURCH.COM
P AGE
3
Sunday School and Bible Study
Sunday School with adult Bible Study with then resume our usual
pattern of meeting after church on the first and third Sundays, after
church, with a shared simple agape lunch to conclude at 1pm.
Week of Prayer for
Christian Unity
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity starts as
always on the 18th January – please see the
separate information with this letter but note in
particular Tuesday 24th January, 6:30pm, the
service that we are hosting. Last year, there
were more people present from the English
Language Fellowship than from the Sunday
morning service and it would be lovely to
participate in equal numbers this year!
Tutti saremo
trasformati
“Godspell” the musical
Looking towards Easter (8th April), I hope that our church will host the
production of “Godspell” by F.E.S.T.A (Florence English Speaking
Theatre Artists), with Robin as their musical director. “Godspell” is a
musical based on Matthew’s Gospel. This venture gives us the
opportunity to reach out to the city, and not only the English-speaking
community. I hope that some of you will want to take part, perhaps
on stage, perhaps front of house, so that we can use this opportunity
to bring the message of Jesus to new people.
I don’t know if a new year is an opportune moment to talk about finances, but I
would like to draw your attention to the fact that our commitment in 2012 to
the national church funds is €11,807. In addition, we need to pay the regular
bills (electricity, gas, water etc.).
If you have not yet responded to the previous letter by
returning the postcard, please do so without delay.
Only 18 out of 57 people have responded, so please
check your “to do” pile and get in touch. At the Church
Council meeting on 29th January and the Church Assembly on 22nd February we
will need to discuss the membership list of the church, and try to arrive at a more
realistic figure. If you do not respond, we may create a secondary role of the
church, to try and illustrate the difference between our active membership (in
round terms, about 50%), and those who have not participated in the life of the
church in any form, for a number of years. This will not be an easy decision – of course, I would prefer it if
everyone who at some stage had a commitment to Christ through this local church was still involved, but
for the sake of clarity (and a methodical review of the church), we will need to take this action which has
already been discussed for around 5 years.
Shalom
I started this letter with a note of celebration and thanksgiving, and I want that to be our
focus in 2012. We are slowly achieving some of the practical needs of our building (repairs to
broken windows and a new gas heater for the downstairs room). Still before us are the twin
challenges of our “growth into holiness” and acting on our belief that “the world is our parish”,
and this includes the world of Firenze.
It is therefore with joy that I send you this call to worship, to participate in the life of the
church and to pray that 2012 will be a year of shalom - peace and justice - for all peoples.
Yours in Christ
Pastor Alison Walker
Church activities
Sunday worship 10,30am
Tuesday English Language Fellowship 7-9pm
Wednesday 6,30pm Bible Study (25 January, 1 February,
8 February, 15 February)
Thursday Coffee & Chaos play group for babies &
toddlers10am -12noon