Mestre Initiative
Mestre is considered the “guardian angel” of the treasures of Venice. Like a lighthouse with its watchful eye from the mainland shores of the Venetian Lagoon, Mestre serves the daily needs of one of the world’s most precious jewels. One hardly notices Mestre as you cross the 2.5 miles of lagoon and are instantly captivated by the uniqueness and wonder of a city built on the water. But without Mestre, Venice could not survive. Her economy is now dependent on her two mainland sister-cities, Mestre and Marghera. Together, these two mainland cities help keep Venice “afloat”, complementing 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.
In the tri-city area of Venice, Mestre, and Marghera there is a different kind of light that is spreading. The light of the glory of God in the Person of Jesus Christ through a small church called Il Faro (“The Lighthouse” in Italian).
We are called Il Faro, and we use the symbol of a lighthouse to remind ourselves that as a lighthouse always shines outward, not inward, so our focus is outward. We are not asking people to become like us first before they believe and follow Jesus. Instead we are purposefully developing genuine relationships in their environment.
Our vision is to see the tri-city area of Mestre/ Venice/ Marghera, an area having a population of 300,000 people, filled with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God through a network of gospel communities on mission.
Il Faro’s meeting place is situated along the tramline just north of the center of Mestre. Here we have an inviting atmosphere with space for training, worshipping, eating and just hanging out with good friends and a good cup of Italian espresso.
We are committed to:
- Filling ordinary life with gospel intentionality – because the gospel changes people. It is the power of salvation to those who believe.
- Communicating the gospel message in these cities, in the context of gospel community – because this change happens best in the context of relationships. They are groups of believers who live out the mission of God together as family, in a specific area to a particular people group, by declaring and demonstrating the gospel in tangible forms.
- Every Christian seeing themself as a missionary and doing gospel ministry in every aspect of life – because Christian activities are not separate parts of our lives.
- Establishing a disciple-making church that will serve as a catalyst for an expanding network of new churches that are reproducing gospel communities on mission. We envision this multiplication process to result in new churches planted in the Venetian Lagoon area with the ability to send out Italian missionaries to plant churches across Northern Italy and in other parts of the world.
To learn more about what is happening in Mestre/Venice – visit us on FACEBOOK.
If you would like to like to find out how to partner with us, please email Gene Coleman at coleman.genesusan@gmail.com