Brief summary of the spiritual climate in Italy

While there is no longer a state religion, it is clear that the Vatican and the Pope continue to strongly influence the country's spiritual climate. At the same time there is a fair amount of disillusionment with religion, especially among the young people where existentialism seems to dominate. The disillusionment often leads to a frantic materialism seen in the buying of possessions, cars, second houses, etc. It is further seen in the rise of cults, especially the Jehovah's Witnesses who have become the second largest religion at present in Italy.

Strangely, interest in cults and the occult has grown to the point where the two combined have more ministers than the Catholic Church has priests. This should alert us to the fact that the predominant religious influence in Italy has been inadequate for preventing these religions from invading the country while simultaneously standing as a barrier to Truth.

Historically, Italy has been a united country since 1870. Frequently and especially of late, there are particular tensions and mutual distrust between different regions, especially between the wealthier North and not-so-wealthy South. Unfortunately, this disunity is also predominant in the church and should be of major concern to the Evangelical Church which is weak and divided with one of the largest denominations refusing to work with any other denomination. For clarification "evangelical" is synonymous with the definition of "protestant" in America, but does not necessarily mean that all believe in personal salvation. Regrettably, the disunity results in an ineffective witness to those we are trying to reach and provides them with rationale for not accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior regardless of their religious affiliation.

Of the 2000 churches in Italy 1,000-1,500 are in cities south of Rome. Only about 1% of the population claims to be evangelical. While the South is seeing more people coming to Christ there are regions in the North with no effective evangelical witness. Too many ministers have only part-time involvement in building the Kingdom and this results in fewer converts and fewer believers which means less support for full time workers. It is a cycle which must be broken. The ministers must develop a passion to become mission workers and then the believers must participate to see church growth.

Politically, Italy has been a Republican Democracy since 1945. Since then there has been a succession of at least 50 different governments made up of coalitions of different parties. Understandably, this leads to instability and has led to clientelism and recently a bribery scandal that rocked the country. Thankfully, this is leading to political reform, but the shaking has not yet moved the people to open up to seek the Lord continuing to depend on the secular system. Ironically, the political instability is offset somewhat by the underlying strong family unit, however as with other industrialized countries we are beginning to see erosion of this precious foundation. Surely this is due to spiritual oppression and we Christians must intensify our prayer efforts for the family unit and especially the families of our spiritual leaders.

It is generally known that Italians are a warm and hospitable people. If they accept you as a friend they will do anything for you. They are tolerant and peaceful by nature. On the other hand, the spiritual climate is quite hard and resistant to the Word of God. Methods of church growth that work in other countries do not appear to work well here. Many missionaries do not last long and and they go elsewhere. And so, there is a great need for intense spiritual intercession for this country. There is greater spiritual openness in those area where there are problems of poverty and Mafia (e.g., Naples and Sicily) where life is more difficult and precarious. In these places the churches are large and growing.

The number of Catholic charismatic believers is growing, but most are still influenced very much by their traditional teachings which cause them to continue being very involved with Mary and how she is regarded/worshipped. This is reinforced by the Pope's declaration in his book that the hope for Europe is in Mary. Prayer to the saints, Mary and for the dead are in contrast to what is contained in the Bible.

In recent times Italy has experienced a large influx of immigrants and refugees due to wars, poverty and political problems. Many come from Yugoslavia, Albania and North Africa and even some from as far away as Senegal, China, Malaysia and Indonesia. Many are Muslims and need to be reached for Christ.

Frequently, we have persons who have a vision for Italy and the Italian people. They come here with attitudes and misunderstandings that actually prevent them from being effective for Christ. Perhaps it is unique to Italy, but Americans and others cannot show up and say "Here we are!" It doesn't work. What is needed is a servant heart and desire to surrender to a local church or mission agency and demonstrate love for the people before effective ministry happens. Sometimes a year or two is needed simply to prepare the way through friendship evangelism, learning the language and the culture, humbling oneself regardless of one's present position in life and even in the church. Knowing the language before coming can shorten the integration time.

This incubation period of learning and training should be considered as an investment of our lives that will ultimately produce desired fruit and not a waste of time. It is as important as the ministry itself.

We would be remiss in this summary if we did not ask for prayer for the things mentioned above and in particular for the country's political leaders. Please, include

• President: Napolitano
• Prime Minister: Berlusconi
• Vice Prime Minister: To be elected
• Presidents of Camera and Senate: To be elected
• Minister of Labor: To be elected
• Chief of Military and Police: To be elected

We are from different denominations. We are different colors, speak different languages and are of different national origins. Our common denominator is our belief in God...Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We know that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us while we were still guilty of unconfessed sins and reconcile us with God so that we can have a personal relationship with Him here on earth and in eternity...His whole reason for creating us. When anyone accepts this gift of life attained through the cross of Jesus they are born again and enter into the personal relationship with God and commit to follow Him.