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For English language visitors

Thank you for your interest in my sermons. For many years I have been producing a weekly online worship service in Italian, as Italian speakers are my primary audience. It is published on my main website: https://www.tempodiriforma.it/wp/.

I make each service available in two main formats. The first is a complete audio worship service, following the Swiss Reformed liturgy, with different voices, prayers, Scripture readings, music, hymns and my sermon. The second is the sermon itself, which I also publish separately in both audio and written form. By extracting the sermon from the full service, I hope to offer different audiences the format that is most convenient for them. I normally keep the sermon to about twenty minutes. More recently, I have also begun providing an English translation of the sermon in written form. In addition, I publish the worship service on several online platforms in order to reach a wider audience. The English version of my sermons, however, is currently available only in written form (see bottom of the Italian ones).

The purpose of these online worship services is not to replace attendance at a local church, but rather to support Italian speakers who, for one reason or another, are unable to attend a local congregation or a Reformed church where they live. At present I have no plans to extend this ministry to English-speaking audiences, although I am always happy to share the English translation of my sermons with anyone who requests it.

Paolo Castellina

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Why “Tempo di Riforma” (Time for Reformation)?

Since 1995, for his biblical-theological online material, Pastor Paolo Castellina has adopted the slogan “Time for Reformation”, not only to connect with the timeless principles of the Calvinist Protestant Reformation but also inspired by the biblical verse from the Letter to the Hebrews, which states: “…since they deal only with food and drink and various washings, that is, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation” or “valid until the time when they would be reformed” (Hebrews 9:10).

The ancient Hebrew worship had not been rejected but reformed by the teaching of the New Testament. How many “carnal rules” have been (and still are) imposed throughout the history of the churches that do not conform to the teaching of the New Testament (which is the normative Word of God)! We must free ourselves from them: this is why it is always Time for Reformation!

In this regard, it is significant to recall the motto dating back to the 16th century, inscribed on the facades or inside the Reformed Churches of the Italian-speaking Switzerland, which reads: “Christian Evangelical Church reformed from human errors and superstitions”, accompanied by the names of Italian Reformers such as Pietro Paolo Vergerio (from Koper) and Girolamo Zanchi (from Bergamo). The biblical principles rediscovered by them—alongside the better-known Reformers like John Calvin—are truly timeless and foundational for our faith. We would ignore them only to our own detriment. Many today have merely “applied a coat of paint” to that ancient motto, believing they are “updating” it. In reality, they have not progressed but regressed from the biblical thought of the 16th-century Reformers. This decline can be avoided by critically resisting modernity and by rediscovering and living out today the biblical principles they uncovered, as contained in the Confessions of Faith and the Catechisms of the Reformation.

The purpose of the “Time for Reformation” ministry is not simply to convey biblical information, comment on current events, or offer opinions on theological, cultural, and social issues. Its fundamental aim is to contribute to the formation of Christian consciences: individuals whose minds, judgments, and discernment are progressively shaped by Holy Scripture under the work of the Holy Spirit. Mature faith does not consist in having a pre-packaged answer for every problem but in acquiring a renewed mind, capable of evaluating every aspect of life in the light of Christ’s lordship.

For this reason, the articles, sermons, and reflections presented here do not intend to replace the reader’s conscience or impose a particular personal vision. Their purpose, rather, is to place the Word of God before the conscience so that each person may learn to think Christianly, to discern truth from falsehood, good from evil, and right from wrong—not because they are guided by cultural trends or the ideologies of the moment, but because their conscience has been educated by the truth of the Gospel.

In an age when numerous voices seek to shape the way people think, the vocation of the Church remains to make disciples of Jesus Christ. If this ministry succeeds in helping even a few believers to read reality with greater biblical wisdom, to exercise more mature discernment, and to live with a conscience ever more sensitive to God’s will, it will have achieved its purpose.