While praying for God’s direction, in September 2010, God brought to mind the name of someone who had also worked at Campus Crusade’s headquarters, but was now serving with his family in Italy. His name is Lee Walti and after contacting him and sharing our hearts for both church planting and the world, Lee told us that his family was in the beginning stages of planting a church in Chiavari, Italy, a city in northwest Italy, about 30 minutes outside of Genoa. Lee explained that just .7% of Italy’s population identify themselves as evangelical Christians and he encouraged us to seek the Lord as to whether or not He was calling us to join them. Our family took a vision trip to Chiavari in November and throughout our trip and upon return, God cultivated a burden in our hearts for the Italian people and has continued to confirm this call in each subsequent step. Since Lee and his family work in connection with Italian Ministries, he is the one who told us about partnering with your organization.
What Will We Do in Chiavari?
We will be assistant church planters to the Waltis, who are planting an evangelical, non-denominational church in Chiavari. There are many roles we would fill, including evangelists, disciplers, ESL instructors, and teachers of God’s Word. Also, since we do not know Italian, much of our first year will consist of language learning.
What Organization Will Send Us?
There is an organization called ‘Italian Ministries’ who will be our ‘connecting’ ministry. They are structured differently than a typical American mission organization in that they will be the ministry through which we raise financial support and who will resource us on the field, but we will not be officially employed by them. They require us to secure a ‘sponsor’ church in the U.S. in order to meet Italy’s legal requirements for residency. The sponsor church then agrees to:
1. Having its name on Italian Ministry and visa documents as the sponsor church.
2. Allowing someone from the church (pastor, elder, or member) to connect with its missionaries on the field about once a month for accountability and encouragement.
An initial phone call to connect with Italian Ministries is also needed in order to answer any questions the supporting church may have. To find out more about Italian Ministries, please visit their U.S. website at: http://italianministriesusa.org/
Once the supporting church is in place, we will finish some administrative work with Italian Ministries and will begin the support raising process. The supporting church may also be a financial supporter, but this is not required. Our goal is to be on the field by Fall 2011.
