Tuesday, March 25, 2008

"How can I be praying?"

We value your prayers more than anything. In addition to the specific ministry activities, here are some of our biggest requests for now:

Close individual walks with God. This is the most important part of our preparation; as we get closer to going, distractions and temptations are sure to ramp up for each of us.

Strengthened team unity. Jesus said people would know that we are his disciples by the love we have for one another. And with 17 of us in close quarters for eight days, it's important that we get along.

The people we'll meet. Pray that God would prepare the students' hearts so they'll be open to having spiritual conversations and receptive to the message of Christ's love and redemption.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Beginning to take shape

We're starting to get more details of what our ministry in Italy is going to look like.

We'll spend most of our time in Florence, where we'll work with Eikon's overseas missions partners, Greg and Charmaine Lillestrand, and help with their college ministry. We're looking at several avenues where we can meet students, get to know them, and connect them with Agape Italia:

Running English clubs or classes. For the most part, Italian students know English, but they've learned most of it from textbooks. So they're often eager to learn American idioms and slang and practice their conversational skills.

Volunteering with service projects. Social justice is a big concern, or even a passion, for many Italian students, so we'd serve alongside them. In addition to being a way to meet students, this would let us show Christ's love to the poor and hurting, and show to the students that Italy's negative view of Christians isn't always true.

Helping Agape expand within Florence. Of the 12 University of Florence campuses, the ministry is present on only two of them.

We'll also get an opportunity to work in Bologna (about an hour train ride away), where an Agape ministry is being set up. We'd be helping "decode" the area: hanging out with college students and finding out where they live, study, eat, drink and socialize. This will help Agape staffers get the ball rolling in the fall — they'll already have an idea where to spend their time.

All of this is still just a rough outline; we won't know for sure exactly what we'll be doing until we're about to leave. (And once we do get the plans nailed down, they'll probably change again.) As in any overseas ministry, flexibility will be our motto. Thanks for praying for these preparations!