Six weeks in Italy. You're thinking good tanning, great food and lazy days by the sea or exploring the countryside, right? This summer, 10 young Americans took it to mean something a little different. From mid-May through the end of June, students from Boston, Gainesville, Miami, Chicago and Nashville set their hearts and feet to work on the campuses of Milan, spreading the message of the kingdom of God. (shared from missionssociety.org)
Only one brother had been there before, and no one actually spoke Italian, but they transplanted their lives on faith and the tremendous spiritual and financial support of their home churches, family, friends and the International Missions Society.
Once in Milan, the Americans spent about 6 hours each day, alternating between two campuses (Politecnico, a design and engineering school, and Statale, the liberal arts and philosophy state school camp
us), sharing their faith, having Bible discussions, and meeting for personal Bible studies. In the evening they organized evangelistic aperitivo (buffet-style social dinner, to be sure they enjoyed great Italian food!) They took every opportunity to share the gospel-on campus, in the streets, on the Metro, in the open meetings of a powerful Catholic student movement on campus. They reached out with a passion to uncover open hearts and talked to thousands of people every week. Most days there were two Bible discussions and over the course of the campaign nearly 90 people came out to hear God's word, and many more joined them for coffee, lunch, dinner, worship services, and cookouts with disciples from Milan. On any given week, 15 to 25 Italian students were meeting for personal Bible studies with Americans and disciples from the Milan church. When the campaign ended, well over a dozen students were continuing to seek God and studying the Bible.
When we thought about what the mission field would be like in Italy, we knew it was the home of Catholicism, but we had no idea what to expect. When I would ask people what they believed, I was shocked to find that many described themselves as atheists, but when asked about their reasons for not believing in God they would say "Oh, I believe in God, it's just that I don't believe in the Catholic church." Young people saw no way to God except through Catholicism, and when that failed them, they concluded they must not believe in God at all. What a tragedy! It was thrilling to show people that God teaches us who he is through his word, and that they could look for themselves to find out the truth about him. Truly, Italian students are aching to know God! Of all the discussions we had (the equivalent of three semesters in my home ministry), only THREE failed to have visitors at them!
The Milan church is a congregation that is ready for growth and ready to teach people how to be part of the family of God. Brothers and sisters from every walk of life-single, married, teen and preteen-all came out to join in the work. The teen disciples joined us many days, sharing their faith with boldness and passion.
We saw ou
r prayers answered and met people who were praying for God to find them. Each morning we shared miracles and great news of God working from the day before. Seeing miracles became commonplace and we grew to expect God to do something incredible daily. During one afternoon discussion on John 3, two women came. One commented that it seemed crazy that infants could be "born again" when they have no life transformation to make. The other asked "what exactly do you need to do to be born of water and the Spirit?" Both women studied the bible after that.
Another day, when we had less than one hour before our first Bible discussion of the day and hardly any students were on campus, we decided to entrust our limitations to God and did a rotation with one pair of people praying while the other 4 pairs were inviting and sharing their faith with people. After those short 50 minutes, we saw the greatest discussion attendance yet at Politecnico! Again and again, God moved to increase our faith and direct us to open people. One man, Maxwell, was met on the train, and again found on campus at Politecnico, and after studying for a couple weeks he let the brothers know that before he was met he had been praying to find someone who would teach him and help him understand the Bible in a deeper way.
The stories go on and on, and so I can only leave you with the encouragement that God moved in Italy this summer and, based on the Facebooking and emailing that has continued since our return, he continues to soften and move the hearts of the students in Italy!
Christen McDuffee, Boston Campus Intern