Plans for Italy and Europe as a base for Missions
We have been looking at the feasabilities of spending more time in Europe and especially Italy, and developing missions relationships there. In September 2009 we went to visit the OM Italia team based at Torre Pellice in Piedmont, right up in the Alps of Northern Italy. Later, in November, I was able to meet up with Stefan Mickel and catch up about issues to do with Cornerstone Asia, in Worms, Germany. This was combined with a prayer trip through France, Belgium and Germany.
Historically, the south of Germany has been crucial in the missions movement - and along with the UK, was a great sending centre prior to the wars of the twentieth century. That has not been completely lost, and the legacy of movements such as the Moravians and Waldensians is at the heart of what Europe needs to rediscover in it's Missions heritage.
We visited a centre that has the potential to being one of these bases for Missions - Forterocca, a converted army base in Bobbio Pellice - up the Pellice Valley from Torre Pellice. The area is steeped in history in regards to the Waldensians, and is in many ways still the central focus for the Waldensians today. Hudreds, if not thousands, were martyred in this valley, especially in the great persecution of 1655, although prior to this waves of persecution came through the centuries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldensians
We visited Gaertringen in Southern Germany in 2007 and 2008, and have seen God begin to open a door there for a friend to establish a centre of ministry and teaching, we see the possibility of key locations for both refuges in difficult times and mission-sending/ intercession bases being established in certain places on the continent.
This is a short video of the Forterocca project
OM Italia - some of the work done with the team at Torre Pellice (OM Italia headquarters)
