Italian Style


Did you know that in Northern Italy, specifically Torino 
(the site for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games), there is a statue of Lucifer?  
Most know Italy for its history, art, food and wine, but it is a very dark, 
secularly influenced country.  Not just Italy but most of Europe can only be 
described as post-Christian to the point that less than 2% of the population is 
classified as evangelical.   

The Italian culture has influenced Western culture as well as cultures all over the world through the legal system (Roman Law), language (Latin), the arts (Renaissance art and music), and innovation (clothes and cars).  Yet Italy is in deep spiritual need.  After the 4th century collapse of the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church became a political, as well as a spiritual, power.  The political power of the Church deeply impacted the politics of Europe.  The Church’s temporal power was in conflict with its spiritual responsibilities — destabilizing, dividing and impoverishing Italy in the process.  Most Italians are culturally Catholic, but deeply cynical about the Church, to the point where most do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is thought that there is only one in 20,000 to have a relationship with Christ in Verona.  

Occultism is widespread now.  The last four decades of religious freedom have been met with indifference.  Ten million people have been lost to New Age thinking.  It is believed that there are 100,000 consulting magicians in Italy — nearly three times the number of Catholic priests.  Satanism is growing stronger in the north.  Turin (Torino) is a global center for Satanic activity, which includes praying for the removal of all evangelical missionaries from the country.
 
How beautiful are the
                                                        feet of those who bring the good news.  Hebrews 10:15 

The world is a much different place than that of your father’s or grandfather’s.   
Technologies change, governments change, culture changes.  
Should the way international ministry is done change? 


In an ever changing world where nothing can be taken for granted the idea of
relocating to a nation and being able to stay there for a life time has changed. 
How do we reach the communities of the unreached?  How do we maximize our
efforts and trust in the power of the gospel to change lives?  Keenly aware of the 
winds of change and turmoil that grip the world today, Avant Ministries is 
committed to exploring new models of church planting.

Short-Cycle Church Planting is a strategic approach that seeks
to continuously shorten the time needed to develop a mature church.  
Through ministry teams, this method utilizes and values the creative 
synergy a team of individuals produce.   It takes the “lean thinking” 
of the manufacturing world and implements it in the church planting
process so every element of the process, from language learning to
evangelism to leadership development, is done as efficiently as possible. 
The apostle Paul spent one, two, or maybe three years in one place. 
In that time he spread the Word, selected able men to carry on the work,
and ultimately left behind a visible and viable local church.



Verona survey - 007.jpg
Penny and I are leading a team in Verona, Italy.  Verona is located in the 
Veneto region of Italy and is about an hour-and-a-half drive west of Venice.   
The city has roughly 270,000 people living in it, yet only has two evangelical 
churches in which Italians are attending.  Verona is a city with .045% 
evangelical Christians.  What does that look like?  You would have to 
stop approximately 20,000 people to find one person who has a on-going, obedient relationship with Jesus.  The “church” in Italy has become a museum.  It offers little relevance and is spiritually dead.