ITALY - REGGIO EMILIA CHURCH OF CHRIST

Reggio Emilia, situated about 60 km nortwest of Bologna, is an old Italian city with beautiful, traditional buildings.

In the picture to the left you can see the ancient gateway named Porta Santa Croce. This is the beginning of Via Roma. Going several minutes down that street one  comes

to the Church of Christ.

In the Church, ten minutes to 10,00 A.M., only a few persons are waiting for the Worship. 

 

Five minutes after 10,00 A.M. the room fills up and is too small to accommodate all the brethren who come to praise the Lord.     

  It is a great pleasure to speak to such a numerous and attentive audience. All present are from Ghana. All of them have a hard life looking for a job or  for a place to sleep. Learning a new language is also not easy. But in spite of all difficulties related to settlement in a strange country, they remain faithful to God.        

I was asked to speak in English, which most but not all of them know.

  Two brotheres, Aggrery and Isaac, did an excellent job translating my words in the Ghanian language. 

     

Although without a preacher the breathren are well organized 

and have a good song leader. It is a real pleasure to hear them singing every song with harmonious voices and proper rhythm.  

  The youngest Ghanians in Reggio Emilia, hoping for a better future, have a joyful spirit. The congregation has 25 children and 10 teenagers.       

 

Brother Wilson Adjei Boachie, the father of four children, holding his youngest son, Kevin, in his arms, has a joyful spirit too.  

 

My wife Barbara and I live in Casarsa, one hour north of Venice. To arrive in Reggio Emilia and come back home we have to travel more than 600 km (400 miles) in over 7 hours in one day, but we are firmly determined to visit the congregation as often as possible.