WHO WE ARE
OUR HISTORY
Milan Bible Church traces its origins to a Bible study for English speakers living in Milan begun in the mid- 1960’s by Southern Baptists and workers from L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland. By the mid-1970’s the group had changed its name to Milan Bible Church and had invited workers from UFM International, a church-planting group from the USA, to provide leadership for their weekly worship services. For the next twenty years, Milan Bible Church was led on a part-time basis by UFMers including Ray Whitlock, Ron Fisher, Al Nucciarone, Tom Job, and Jim McMahan. By the mid-1990’s the work had grown to the point where UFM International began to look for a full time pastor to lead the ministry. Jim Kutnow, along with his wife, Lynda, provided full time pastoral leadership for Milan Bible Church from 2000 until the end of June, 2015, when they took up new responsibilities with Crossworld in the USA. In .July 2015 Scott and Sharon MacLean, also with Crossworld, assumed pastoral leadership of the church through June 2019. We welcomed our new Pastor Roy and his wife Miriam Taylor to Milan Bible Church in January 2020.
OUR LEADERSHIP
Council of Elders
A self-perpetuating Board of Elders is responsible for all ministry decisions at Milan Bible Church. Those who serve as elders must meet the qualifications described in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Currently the board consists of four elders plus the pastor. Occasionally, men who have served in church leadership in their home countries and meet MBC’s qualifications for elder service are asked to consider becoming "Visiting Elders" during their sojourn in Milan.
Pastor
In January of 2020, Roy and Miriam Taylor arrived in Milan to become the new Pastor of Milan Bible Church. Roy and Miriam are from Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada and come with many years of pastoral ministry in Canada, the USA and most recently served as lead pastor of International Christian Fellowship in Warsaw, Poland. As Associates with Crossworld Canada, they join the Crossworld team in Italy with a focus on reaching the large international, English-speaking community of Milan.
OUR AFFILIATIONS
IN THE USA
Since the 1970’s UFM International, a US based church planting organization, has provided spiritual oversight and pastoral leadership for Milan Bible Church. In 2004, UFM International changed its name to Crossworld to reflect the goal of taking the message of the cross to the entire world. Currently 350 international staff members serve around the globe. The phrase, “Making disciples in the world’s least-reached marketplaces,” captures the essence of Crossworld’s vision.
IN ITALY
Milan Bible Church considers the following Crossworld planted, Italian speaking fellowships as sister churches:
Cristiani Biblici Insiemi Sesto Calende
International Bible Fellowship Sesto Calende (English speaking)