Updates from the Kyra Karr Foundation! Summer 2022

We are excited to share a couple exciting updates from Rome, Italy.

1) In May 2020 Loci Communes (LC) was launched. LC is an online magazine that addresses current and relevant cultural issues, while providing an Evangelical reading and perspective of them. Most of the cultural issues addressed are Italian in nature, but LC also addresses international issues, especially when they are global in nature and impact. In a country such as Italy, where the Protestant Reformation never took root, and in fact was where the Counter Reformation was birthed out of, Evangelical culture is not at all understood. LC is an effort to provide insight into Evangelicalism, while interacting with important cultural issues. 

The name Loci Communes derives from the Protestant Reformation. More specifically, it derives from two key Reformers. One was a close friend and colleague of Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon. He was a brilliant Greek scholar who was an invaluable resource to Luther, especially in his development of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. In 1521 Philip systematically organized key Evangelical themes and topics and provided an educational reading of them. The second Reformer was the Italian Peter Martyr. Soon after Martyr's death in 1562, a French Reformer went through Peter's commentaries and gathered together various theological quotes that had been arranged systematically. They were entitled Loci Communes, and became one of the standard Reformed textbooks of doctrine for the next 100 years, perhaps second only to John Calvin's Institutes. Loci Communes, therefore, recalls the Protestant Reformation, including the Italian Reformer Peter Martyr. In the logo - which you can see below - men are carrying Bibles on a cart. It is from a real photo that has men carrying Bibles into the city of Rome after the breach of Porta Pia in September of 1870, when Bibles came into the city for the first time. 

Since its launch in May 2020 we have been extremely encouraged by the results we have seen, which have been the fruit of constant writing and the contributions of many. Since May 2020 the Loci Communes magazine has been viewed over 165k times! Of those visits more than 36,500 different people are represented. In that time period over 500 highly contextualized articles have been published by over 30 different Evangelicals, majority Italians. That is hugely encouraging! Please pray for this small, but meaningful and significant ministry. May the Lord use it to spread the gospel through Italy. The KKF has contributed financially to this ministry and has helped ensure it has the resources it needs. So thank you for your giving! As we always say, it is making a difference! Please continue to pray and to give. To God be all the glory. 

2) We are getting closer and closer to the launch of the new church plant in the neighborhood of Prati, which is in the direct vicinity of Vatican City. Lord willing the first service will be celebrated in September of this year. Please pray for this important church plant. It will be a tremendous challenge and will require the Lord to be at work in a great way. One of our partners with the KKF, Clay Kannard, made a logo for the church, which is similar to the other Breccia logos, but is also unique to the neighborhood of Prati. You can see it below. The church will be called Breccia di Roma Prati, and the logo is an aerial view of one of the key landmarks of the neighborhood, Castel Sant'Angelo. One of the walls of the Castle is "breached" in the logo, which represents a breach of the gospel in the neighborhood, which is what we are praying for, and ask you all to do the same. Your generous giving is helping to provide for key needs for the startup of the church. Thank you! 

As always, thank you for your continued support and generosity. It deserves to always be said that the Lord is at work and your support is far from in vain. It is being used to serve and build up the local church and see new churches planted. Please continue to give! Thank you very much! 

A Dio sia tutta la gloria (To God be all the glory)!

The Kyra Karr Foundation