mi manchi bella italia

Italy is a country rich is scenery, culture and history. From the food to the Alps, there is no denying the breathtaking beauty this country has to offer. One of the famous hot spots in Milan, Italy is the Duomo. The Duomo is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world. It’s Gothic and Baroque architecture can leave the viewer in awe. Many would say this is a testament to the religious influence in Italy. Italy is definitely not unreligious. The role of the priest was to originally be an intercessor, but has now, in many cases, only become a hindrance to the true spiritual intimacy God has intended for us.  Salvation is gained through good works, not grace and faith. Many Italians, however, completely do away with the idea of religion. One missionary described them as being not post-modernist, but post-christian. They’ve been there, done that and are not interested. Most are agnostics and atheists. Palm readers, psychics and other esoteric activities are active in much of the nightlife in Italy. Prostitution is also a large problem in Milan. Many of the parks that are filled with families and couple by day are swarmed with drug dealers and prostitutes by night. As spiritually dark as the city may seem, there is also a thirst and openness to the gospel. Our team did a lot of street singing and evangelism. One day, after singing the precious song Jesus Loves Me (Gesu Mi Ama) a woman approached us and started asking questions. She said she had never had hope, and we sang with hope. She accepted Christ that day on the side of the road at Moscova Plaza. She asked us to pray for her husband who was in prison in Iran. She now has hope. After singing in church Sunday morning, the pastor informed us that four people were saved, two requested baptism and a 5^th person was on the verge of understanding and accepting Christ. One day we went to work with Youth With a Mission about 30 minutes outside of Milan. We evangelized before the concert and two women accepted Christ. They said we sang with the songs of angels and wanted to know why we sang. After the concert that night two more women were saved.

Many think of the founders of the protestant faith when they think of Europe, but unfortunately the same is not true within Europe itself. Many governments label evangelical churches as cults and are creating laws to ban house groups and gatherings of “cults.” Most don’t even know who John Calvin was. In Italy, although 85% of the population claims Roman Catholicism as the religion as few as 15% of those actually attend church. There are proportionately fewer born-again Christians in Spain than in Japan. In more than 50 nations of highly secularized Europe, many people who are numbered as Christians have never heard the gospel.

Why should we pray for Europe specifically? First, Europe is a key to impacting the world. With the European Union, and its historical influence on the world, it is safe to assume the trend will continue. Impact Europe, Impact the world. Second, there are nearly 400 unreached people groups within Europe. One of these people groups are the gypsies. A missionary in Italy told me there is a growing church movement among the gypsies in Milan. Her church is currently working on reaching more gyspy groups. Lastly, God is on the move through Europe. As sad as the situation may appear, God has his hand on Europe. That was evident to the group as we sang through different cities within Italy. As one of the young men of a church in Brescia said to me, “We, the youth of today, are God’s instruments for change!” Milan is the second largest city in Italy with about two million people. For those two million people there are 100 Italian churches and about 30 foreign churches. There are almost 3 million in the whole state in Mississippi. For those 3 million people there are about 2500 southern baptist churches alone.

  

I could give you statistic after statistic and fact after fact. We could read every book on the market about missions. Missions for youth, for college aged, for baby boomers for senior adults. No book is going to “solve” anything. What is boils down to is this: are we going to surrender to the mission God has for our lives? Will we accept the Great Comission? God didn’t say if you want to, if it’s convenient for you then go into the world. He commanded us and said GO! He also said to go into all the world. That means Hattiesburg, Laurel, California, Italy, Peru, China, Japan and the rest of the world. We can make any excuse we want to...I don’t have the money, I’m too young, I’m too old, I’ve never flown. Do we not know that our God is bigger than our finances, our age and our fears? In our weakness his strength is made perfect! How shall they hear unless they have a preacher? God has called us...us. His church, His children. He wants to use US! How marvelous to be wanted by God. He wants to use us for his glory. He wants us to seek his face and His will and let ourselves be guided by Him like Moses was. Let’s stop making excuses and start responding to Him.