Hopera Church in Rome starts pastoral transition

When my family and I arrived in Rome in 2010, I couldn’t foresee every moment my dream of starting a new church there would bring. Almost 16 years later, I can recall countless memories of worship, prayer, friendships, baptisms, weddings, retreats, outreaches, Bible studies and so much love and joy.

But life is made of cycles, and in the past two years I realized the time had come to prepare our church to a new chapter. I will serve Hopera until the end of June, preparing the church for its new season and contributing to the search for our next Senior Pastor. In May, I will be honoured to pass the baton to Mila Palozzi, who has served the church with maturity and responsibility as Community Life Pastor and who will lead Hopera as Interim Senior Pastor until our next Senior Pastor is identified. (This page explains more details.)

When I shared the news with the church, people shed many tears and expressed various emotions, naturally. But I was delighted to find our congregation ready for the transition. After the service, we had a community lunch to process the news, and the atmosphere was one of gratitude for what our church has experienced so far, honour for the ways Sarah and I have blessed people, and responsibility and hope for the future. As a pastor, I was so proud of everyone!

My next ministry chapter is a still work-in-progress. As I attend to some family and health issues, I will continue to serve the Lord as a missionary, mentoring leaders, writing, preaching, and teaching more broadly. Translations of Stages of Maturity are underway to Spanish, English and Portuguese. I’m also working on an expository journey through the Book of Revelation that will help people understand it in its biblical and historical context, drawing on insights I accumulated while living in Rome and understanding the ancient imperial cult John denounces in the last book of the Bible.

The Lord is faithful and kind always, but we are more prone to taste this when we find ourselves in moments of transition, right? To me, it has been special to rest on our Good Shepherd in this season and receive his care both for me and our church. Like the Apostle Paul, I can say that ‘I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 1:6).

René Breuel, evangelical pastor and author.

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