reached me through others became the Gospel for me . A dynamic of life and conversion for life that has often questioned me about the importance of testimony , as individuals and as a Church . As a young candidate for ministry , in these two years of probation , I have been able to experience similar questions and live the Church from a different perspective . On the one hand , I had the opportunity to put to use not only what I learned over the years of theological studies but also my technical and IT knowledge . On the other hand , I was able to observe and reflect on the life of the Church and I believe that some points could be the subject of further study during my pastoral ministry and therefore of concrete contribution for the local communities and Churches . Starting from my personal story , I cannot fail to consider the intercultural dimension of our communities . A challenge that forces them to seek new balances born from the need for integration . As well as the figure of the pastor , who I believe is interconnected and interdependent with the Church . A certain shortage of vocations and the ever-increasing need for new ministries are linked , in my opinion , to both the Reformed and the Methodist ecclesiologies and their avatars and therefore also to the liturgical and homiletics of the Waldo-Methodist Churches in Italy . Testimony or missionary vocation , interculture , pastoral care and ecclesiology are all interdependent elements in my opinion and have played an important role in my faith and academic journey . But they are also elements that largely constitute the identity of a Church . The challenges they pose are certainly not immediately resolved and require a certain ability to know how to renew without distorting one ’ s identity . How to do it ? I don ’ t know , even if it is a request that I had to face several times and which each time has presented itself as new and with different characteristics . But there is a verse from the Bible that has often accompanied me along this path of life and faith : John 8:31 ‘[...] If you abide in My word , you are My disciples indeed .’ A verse dear to me because it reminds me that the part of me as a believer lives on this cohabitation with the Word and in the Word which continually shapes me if and when I let myself be shaped . So even when everything changes , when the world and the people around me change , when I change and when my relationship of faith with Christ changes and evolves , it always remains a starting point , a point of arrival and back . Because many things , even if it is painful , can change and must change . But there are some aspects that are mine alone , that do not fall away and that allow me to recognise myself for what I am , because they are born and live in relation to our Lord whose loyalty does not fail .
There is no candle that when lit does not give light
It often happens ( too often ) that pastors and members of our congregations prefer to live out of the time of reality . Seeing congregations becoming fewer and fewer in number , one might be ( badly ) tempted to take refuge in memo-
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