Chiesa: A group of believers who meet together
La Rocca: Psalm 89:26 God is the Rock (Rocca) of our salvation.
Why Chiesa “La Rocca”?
We base our faith only on God, our Rock and fortress. Imola is also quite famous for its Medieval Rocca, the most important tourist stop in the city. We figure that it can be an interesting conversation starter. The church we desire to see planted in Imola will have certain characteristics. As we seek to build this church, we will aim towards these characteristics, or goals. The characteristics that we desire to see in this church are what will drive our vision and planning.
VISION: We envision a reproducing, God honoring and worshipping church that grows in spiritual maturity and number.
Reproducing: If the church does not reproduce then it is not fulfilling the great commission. Evangelism is fundamental to the health and growth of a church. There are many ways to evangelize unbelievers
- Evangelistic events: Sports camps, concerts, distribution of literature are a few ways that will be used to meet and reach Imolesi. Typically events are more about making contacts, and getting your name out there than actually producing fruit. Of course we do not want to limit God’s power, but most people come to know Christ through one-on-one interaction.
- Evangelistic Lifestyle: We desire to teach all believers to live evangelism as a lifestyle. They will have to be prepared to share their faith with relatives, coworkers and friends.
God-honoring: To honor God the church must base its faith on the Bible. Though not every aspect of church life is spelled out in Scripture, we can glean many important principles for Church life. Every individual believer will be challenged to walk according to the directives that the Bible gives. We will encourage our members to practice the spiritual disciplines and constantly strive to mature spiritually.
God Worshipping: Worship is key to our relationship with God. We would desire to see the believers live a life of worship. We know that every action that we do can be considered an act of worship to God. Obviously prayer and songs will be used in meetings to develop the idea of community worship
Growth in Spiritual maturity: This can be done by challenging believers to develop a personal plan of reading and studying scripture.
Discipling new believers is essential in seeing spiritual maturity develop. As believers mature and are discipled, the next step would be that they disciple other new believers. This process of reproduction may take a while, even years, but the final result is worth the wait. (2 Timothy 2:1)
Growth in Numbers: Though we know this depends solely on God, we will strive to reach unbelievers. We do not want our negative attitude (concerning lack of fruit) to be an obstacle to God’s work. We will do all in our power to see more people join the family of God.
A Christian Community involved in the community: We encourage our people to be involved with the community that surrounds us. Through friendship and involvement in the natural “rhythms” of the city we seek to spread the knowledge of Jesus.
