Some background

The gospel of Christ arrived to Le Marche in Italy in the 70’s thanks to the preaching of Pastor Luciano Mazzon who takes care of the CHURCH GOSPEL in Desio (MI). Pastor Mazzon used to come frequently on vacation to this region because his wife is native from the zone and as a good evangelist he wouldn’t waste any opportunity to plant the Good Seed of the Gospel to everyone and in a particular way to his family in law.

Thanks to his zeal for evangelization and the vision that God had given him, vision in which he was plowing the land of Le Marche and of Umbria, God started to save souls and a small church was born in Cagli in Le Marche and after a short time also in Città di Castello in Umbria.

The work of God grew and got established in the following years until the formation of other churches:

The Church EFFATÀ  was born in the spring of 2007 with about ten people. Among these people, were the FULVI family who were relatives of Pastor Mazzon’s wife and who were believers that lived in first person the beginning of the Gospel in Le Marche. They have also contributed to the developing of the first Church.

At first, this group of believers belonged to another local church but because of some internal problems to the family itself, they had to follow a different direction. It was due to these problems that special nights of prayer were started in order to receive an answer from God. Right from the beginning God manifested his approval to this initiative through his blessings, adding other believers to the group and sending his servants to encourage and help with the intercession until liberation and solution to the problem arrived.

All seemed to have had a happy ending, but it was not so, other problems came out and those meetings that seemed to have finished followed instead. God was lifting a remnant with live zeal for a revival and for his work and was using these adverse circumstances to teach us perseverance and determination in prayer and intercession. Every difficulty that arrived was not seen as an obstacle anymore but as a new challenge to overcome for Jesus.

God confirmed the way we had to follow through various signs, every next step was well revealed and blessed, His hand confirmed with signs and miracles that God was with us.

All this, made this small group of believers to take consciousness of the call received and to continue ahead with faith, oppositions did not lack, but after few moths the number of believers grew and the practice to make official the beginning of the church took place. The church was registered as “Evangelic Christian Church EFFATÀ” on the 7th of November of 2007 at the Italian Revenue Agency. The meetings started to take the form of true services celebrated at first in the house of Pastor Alessandro Fulvi.

 

Even the name, “Ephphatha ‘” has a precise spiritual meaning in this context, in fact, in the search for an appropriate name, the Holy Spirit revealed to Past. Fulvi this Aramaic word that means “BE OPENED” as an appropriate name for the same work that the Church would have to carry on, in fact, God was knocking down all those preconceptions of religious formalism which over time were calcified in the minds and hearts of believers and that had created an impediment to the vision and the freedom that the Holy Spirit wants to have to work through his Church in the world, in addition to this meaning, of course, is the message that God intended for all people: to be open to the Gospel.

An open and forward-thinking on all fronts has allowed this Church to get to the heart of the most desperate and needy, who, without being judged in appearance, have found an open door and believers willing to accept them in spite of their spiritual, moral and social condition; a bit ‘like those lame and crippled marginalized and abandoned to themselves that they have received the unexpected invitation to the great banquet of which the Gospel speaks in Luke Chapter 14. A servant of God has defined this work as the “EMERGENCY HOSPITAL OF GOD“, where nobody is sent back if first is not done everything possible to cure it.

In this time the Church has grown not only in number but overall in spiritual maturity and this thanks to all those battles that it went through, which have molded the faith and armor of every brother and sister, creating a united and determined leadership . Today more than ever every problem and situation is seen as a challenge to win souls to Christ, and this leads us to see great answers and miracles in everyday life.

On December 6, 2010 was inaugurated the new place of worship, more spacious and welcoming, located in  Cagli via Alessandro Volta, 2, even this can be called a gift of God as to how we have been provided.

    

     

Every year, we have the joy of celebrating water baptismal services which testify to the blessing of God that is with us. Even this year we are making preparations for the new neophytes among which there will also be a boy in detention, who accepted the gospel thanks to the spiritual assistance offered by Past. Fulvi within the prison facility in Fossombrone (PU); because for about two years every Monday Past. Fulvi goes to the prison to preach the gospel to those who request it, and the results are very satisfying, up to now there have been over twenty applications for membership and about fifteen young people participate actively in the meetings. Among these are genuine conversions and also here we have seen the hand of God rescue lives from suicide spirit and depression and hearts regain faith and hope for the future.

Today the Church has reached over seventy members among which simpathisants and children. We are actively participating in various regional initiatives in collaboration with other sister Churches and we are working to open a new mission Ephphatha ‘in Umbria.

This is the Ephphatha CHURCH in its five years of life narrated in brief.

God bless you. Past. A. FULVI