June 2022

The council members of the Comunione delle Chiese Presbiteriane e Riformate in Italia during our meeting in person. From left to right: Rev. Vincenzo Coluccia, elder Mimmo Altobelli, Rev. Andrea Ferrari, Rev. Mike Cuneo, Rev. Mike Brown, elder Vittorio Calderaro and elder Andrea Suraci.

On June 12-13, the council members of Comunione delle Chiese Presbiteriane e Riformate in Italia (CCPRI), a coalition of presbyterian and reformed churches in Italy, held their very first in person meeting. We are so thankful for God’s mercy and faithfulness, for he blessed our time together with a spirit of joy, love, humility, and mutual trust. We were able to pray together, sing hymns together, and eat together, as we continued to make progress toward the goal of establishing Italy’s first reformed and presbyterian denomination. We also spent several hours working on administrative needs, such as the content for our website and the contruction of a church order for the future denomination.

So far, there are three churches who are officially part of the coalition: Chiesa Riformata di Perugia (the reformed church in Perugia, central Italy), Chiesa Presbiteriana Pietra Vivente (the presbyterian church in Lecce, southern Italy) and Chiesa Riformata Filadelfia (the reformed church in Milan, northern Italy). We are hopeful that this coalition will grow in number as we are currently in contact with another presbyterian church in Italy that seems interested in joining us.

We ask you to continue praying for our labors to establish a confessional presbyterian and reformed denomination in Italy. It will take a lot of work, sacrifice, love, cooperation and patience. But by the grace of God, we can continue to make progress, as we look to Jesus, the One who promised to build his church "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

Men’s Fellowship
We recently finished our Friday night mens’ fellowship series on “How to be a man of God”, looking specifically at the apostle Paul’s teaching in his letter to the Ephesians. We considered what Paul says about being a man of God in the church, in the home, and at work. It was an edifying time of reflection and discussion. We are now considering making this men’s fellowship a monthly meeting. We appreciate your continued prayer for the men of our church, that we will mature and grow in faith, hope, and love.

An Open Door for the Gospel in Turin
In our church in Milan, we currently have a family of three plus a single adult (four people total) who live in the city of Turin, about an hour and a half away by car. Sadly, there are no Reformed or Presbyterian churches in Turin, the second largest city in northern Italy. Due to the expense of travel, they are only able to come to Milan once or twice a month. The other Sundays, they follow our services via livestreaming. In the comming weeks, I will begin traveling to Turin on a regular basis on Sunday evenings to provide this group with a small worship service. We pray that this will be the beginning of a church plant, and that the Lord will provide a missionary in the future who is called to plant a confessional Reformed church in Turin. We ask you to join us in prayer for this mission, and that in the meantime the group in Turin will stay encouraged in the faith. 

Ukranian Refugees
Our church continues to care for the Argakov family and Alena Fedchishina, all of whom attend worship faithfully. By God’s grace, they were able to obtain their residency permits and put the two boys (Artiom and Misha) in school. I am also happy to report that the Lord provided Vladimir with a job. They are very grateful for the help they have received and integrating into the community life of the church. They are also making progress learning Italian. Alena, who is the only refugee fluent in Italian, continues to translate the sermons into Russian real-time using a microphone and headsets.

Please continue to pray for all of them. Although they are sustained and doing well, they are still refugees, displaced from their home and country, and having lost nearly everything. Nevertheless, Vladimir is always expressing his gratitude to God for the hope he has in Christ. In so many ways, this family has been an example and a blessing to us.

Thank you for reading these updates and praying for us. Thank you for your encouragement and generous support. Mission Milan is only possible because of people like you. Please feel free to drop us a line anytime. We’d love to hear from you!

~ Pastor Mike

“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”  ~ Acts 20:24

If you would like to help by making a donation, you may give online here on our website or send a check to:

Escondido United Reformed Church
1864 N. Broadway
Escondido, CA 92026
Attn: Mission Milan

Checks should be made out to Escondido United Reformed Church. Please indicate that the support is for Rev. Michael Brown as a missionary to Milan, Italy.