The 2002 Passaggio Reformed Conference in Italy

THE 2002 PASSAGGIO REFORMED CONFERENCE IN ITALY

The eighth annual conference of the reformed publishers ‘Passaggio’ took place at a new venue this year. Some fears had been expressed beforehand that moving the conference farther south to the town of Misano on the Adriatic coast would deter some of the participants of past years from coming. In the event, there well over 200 people present, including many who had never been before, a number who would not describe themselves as reformed, and even some unbelievers.

The theme of the conference coincided with the publication in Italian of the first volume of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ work on the Sermon on the Mount.

The speaker, for the second year running, was Stuart Olyott, who was set the somewhat daunting task of dealing with all three chapters of the Sermon in four lectures. In actual fact, he managed to cover the ground in three, while reserving the last session for a timely application of Christ’s master sermon to the preachers present.

How does one measure the success of a conference like this? One indication of how much it was appreciated was the number of people who ordered the tapes at the end. Another was the lengthy but very helpful question and answer session which brought the conference to an end. Last but not least, there was the encouragement of seeing large numbers of the freshly published volume by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones being purchased.

We look forward to next year’s conference, when, God willing, the speaker will be Joel Beeke from the United States. However, another Passaggio conference is due to take place before that, in October of this year. This new initiative is being organised particularly with preachers in mind. José Moreno from Spain has been invited to speak on preachers and preaching and it is hoped that the translation of the book of that name, once again by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, will have appeared by then. In order to avoid people having to travel long distances, it is planned to hold the same conference on successive weekends but in different venues, one in the south of the country and the other farther to the north.

Much has happened in the few years of Passaggio’s existence and although no doubt mistakes have been made, the flourishing sales of good Christian books in Italian and the growing appreciation of faithful, God-centred preaching are a sign of our Lord’s patience and grace towards His people as they seek to honour His name in this needy land.

The most pressing needs of Passaggio at present are for an office and warehouse facilities in the city of Mantua.

Information from;
PASSAGGIO
Via Tobagi 56/E,
46030 Virgilio (MN) ITALY.
Tel +39 0376 281144
Email: info@passaggio.org.
Website: www.passaggio.org