In the context of its annual General Assembly, the Italian Evangelical Alliance published and interview with investigative journalist Julie Roys.

Roys promotes through her information platform a culture of transparency and accountability in the life of churches and evangelical networks, especially in her home country United States.

After a brief introduction, “Roys wanted to point out that Christ did not save us from the bondage of the law so that we could break that law, but He saved us so that we could be filled with His Spirit and his law written in our hearts”, said the AEI in a summary published in Italian. “God is holy and he wants his church to be holy. Many Christians (in particular referring to its American context) exploit the mission to build their own ‘business’ and this has led to scandal after scandal”.

“It is God's reputation being tainted, and as in Bible times, the Lord is more interested in his reputation today than ours”, the AEI adds.

Referring to Ephesians 5:11 (“Do not participate in the fruitless works of darkness; rather denounce them”), Roys said that this is exactly what she does as a Christian investigative journalist.

“I tell the truth, I expose the sin”, Roys said. “And then I pray that the Christian community will do something about it”.

A full participation of Christians in the public arena

At one point, the interview also addressed the issue of the relationship between evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics, referring to the document “Is the Reformation over?”. She was also introduced to Italian Evangelical Alliance’s commitment to “building an open and pluralistic society in our nation, in which every worldview can be present in the public arena”.

In this regard, Roys said she fully shared that vision and concluded by encouraging the Italian evangelical church to embrace the truth in order to be truly free.

The full video interview can be watched here (Italian):

The 2021 General Assembly was held in Pescara but online participation of members was made available.

The programme also included an interview with Godfrey Yogarajah, director of the Religious Liberty Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance.

During the Assembly of 5 June, the members re-elected Giacomo Ciccone as President of the AEI, and elected Lucia Stelluti as Vice-President and Salvo Bonaccorsi as General Secretary.