Rome Baptist Church is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-speaking

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

church located in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

Campo Marzio - p S Lorenzo in Lucina 35 - chiesa cristiana battista P1030806

The Rome Baptist Church building is located in a

palazzo A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

in Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina that was once part of

Palazzo Ruspoli The Palazzo Ruspoli is a Renaissance-style, 16th century aristocratic palace located on Via del Corso 418, where Corso intersects with Largo Carlo Goldoni and the Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina, in the Rione IV of Campo Marzio in central Rome, It ...

, originally built in the

16th century The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th cent ...

. The location where the church now stands was originally the

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

for the

Ruspoli family The House of Ruspoli is historically one of the great aristocratic families of Rome, but is originally from Florence. Following World War II and the fall of Fascism, the newly established Italian Republic officially abolished titles and hereditary ...

horses. The

Foreign Mission Board The International Mission Board (or IMB, formerly the Foreign Mission Board) is a Christian missionary society affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The headquarters is in Richmond, Virginia, United States. History Thousands ...

, the international missionary agency of the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...

, purchased the building in 1920, and deeded it to the

Baptist Evangelical Christian Union of Italy Baptist Evangelical Christian Union of Italy ( it, Unione Cristiana Evangelica Battista d'Italia) is a Baptist Christian denomination, in Italy. It is affiliated with the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy and the Baptist World Alliance ...

in 1994. The building consists of a first floor

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

seating more than 200, classrooms for

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

and meeting rooms on the second floor, and a third floor

apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

for the pastor. Twelve people met in the worship room at Piazza San Lorenzo on 12 August 1962, the first meeting of the congregation now known as Rome Baptist Church. The church was officially organized on 10 March 1963 with 15

charter member A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

s. Organization efforts were led by Rev. William C. Ruchti, the pastor, and his wife, Helen, missionaries sent to Rome by the Foreign Mission Board. Ruchti served as church pastor until June 1985 when he was replaced by Rev. Kenneth Lawson, assisted by his wife Irene. Lawson served until May 1998, after which the church relied on volunteer pastors and missionaries for several years. In April 2001 Rev. David Hodgdon and his wife Cathy arrived from

Buena Vista Buena Vista, meaning "good view" in Spanish, may refer to: Places Canada *Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador, with the name being originally derived from “Buena Vista” *Buena Vista, Saskatchewan *Buena Vista, Saskatoon, a neighborhood in ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, to serve as pastor and wife and they remain to this day. In September 2000 the church became independent of the

International Mission Board The International Mission Board (or IMB, formerly the Foreign Mission Board) is a Christian missionary society affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The headquarters is in Richmond, Virginia, United States. History Thousands ...

(formerly the Foreign Mission Board) and became a self-supporting independent church.

Services

Sunday services are as follows: * Bible study: 9:30am *

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

service: 10:30am *

Filipino language Filipino (; , ) is an Austronesian language. It is the national language ( / ) of the Philippines, and one of the two official languages of the country, with English. It is a standardized variety of Tagalog based on the native dialect, spoke ...

service:1:00pm *

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

service: 3:00pm *

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...

service: 6:30pm

List of pastors

# Rev. William C. Ruchti (12 August 1962 – June 1985 # Rev. Kenneth Lawson (June 1985 – May 1998) # Rev. David Hodgdon (April 2001 – )

External links

Church website

References

{{coord missing, Italy Baptist churches in Italy Protestant churches in Rome 20th-century Baptist churches

History

Services

List of pastors

See also

External links

References