Europe, mission and GBU

Tempo di lettura: 3 minuti

I have been involved with GBU for 15 years now. Throughout  these years our mission has not changed, but the world around us has. For us to share the Gospel effectively, it is always helpful to understand these changes. 

Today the Italian university is changing,  not as an organism in itself, but separate from the context in which it grows and develops. It is changing in relation to what is happening in our country, or, even moreso, in relation to the winds of change blowing through Europe.

About three years ago I was invited to take part in a major event that was to be held in Poland in 2020. It was a continent-wide conference that would bring together about 1,000 evangelical leaders from across Europe. The Lausanne Movement, promoter and organizer of this event, has now existed for nearly 50 years to further the advancement of the Church’s mission in the world.

But 2020, the year of cancelled events, forced the organisers to postpone the event to 2021. In fact, perhaps a bit naively , they hoped that we would soon be able to return to holding major events in attendance (easy to say in hindsight!), a luxury that the coronavirus, to date, is not yet allowing us. Lausanne Europe 20/21, then, turned into a major online event (another one!) that took place in November between the 17th and 20th and brought together online more than a thousand leaders from across our continent to reflect, pray, learn and plan for the advancement of Christ’s mission in Europe and to the ends of the earth.

After the Cape Town Global Congress in 2010 and the Young Leaders Gathering in Jakarta in 2016 (both sponsored by the Lausanne Movement), I also had the privilege of attending this event, and doing so in person. How so? How can one take part in person in an online event? Well, the answer lies in the fact that I was asked by the organizers to be one of the hosts of the different sessions, and this required gathering in person with a small group to attend the event in the city of and from which the event would be streamed in Southampton, UK.

There were many inputs, as can be expected from an event of this magnitude. For instance, there were a number of different speakers on “stage” who brought to our attention to which major challenges and opportunities are facing the European Church right now and which ones we may face in the coming decades. Here I would like to highlight three challenges that I found particularly relevant to us as we carry out our Christian ministry among university students:

Europe is becoming increasingly international and the church must respond to this trend

Our cities are changing their look, many people from all over the world are coming to Europe in search of work and a decent future. As society changes, so does the university and it follows that our GBU groups are also becoming more international. Our group here in Siena (to give one example) is made up of about 60% foreign students. This brings with it new challenges, such as having to deal with different cultures and ways of doing things and holding meetings in English, etc. It is not always easy to do all of this, but it is one of the challenges we face in the new Europe. Let’s try to do our best!

Making room for the next generation of leaders

Luke Greenwood, one of the many speakers, challenged us to consider and make room for the next generation. This has always been a strong point of student work, which sees its groups led by very young people who are new to the concept of leadership. GBU Italy follows its student coordinators, invests in them, gives them confidence, trains them and encourages them to carry out their role. What a privilege to be able to work alongside very young people and see them take their first steps in Christian ministry and leadership!

Giving voice to people whose voices have long been suppressed

One morning we were encouraged (and admonished) to listen to those whose voices have been suppressed by European Christians. Among these is the voice of women who for too long have been overpowered by that of men. GBU Italy is attentive to giving space to women, involving them at the forefront of ministry among students on a par with male students (at the moment, more than half of the student coordinators in Italy are women!). How wonderful to see female students flourish and grow as they put to use the gifts God has given them in service to the gospel!

May God bless Europe, the European Church, and the evangelistic ministry among college students in an ever-changing Europe.

Giovanni Donato (GBU staff worker in Siena)

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Fresh Wind

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

Soon you will be reading the latest news from GBU students all over Italy. You will probably find reasons for praise that you have already read in other newsletters, prayer requests that you have prayed for in the past for a group, news of events from an enthusiastic group that, however, are not exactly new to you. In fact, they are often activities that have already been done in other cities, by other groups. Activities and prayer requests that you yourself have prayed, if you are a former GBU member, or that you know about because in the very last newsletter you read, another GBU group had done or asked for something similar in some other city. 

But why, then, would you read this newsletter? What’s new about it?

If you’re in a hurry, don’t read it. You might not find anything new. But if you devote a few minutes of concentration to reading, if you pay attention, you may be able to catch the spirit in which the students wrote those few lines. You will be able to find expressions such as “supercharged”, “finally”, “restarted” that powerfully express all the joy that  the students have  now they are getting back to meeting in person , relating  with other students, organising creative events, Bible studies and prayer meetings. In short, to Share Jesus from student to student, as they have always done, even during the pandemic, but with a new enthusiasm.

And that enthusiasm will sweep you away!

Then you’ll understand that the GBU still has that ever-new enthusiasm  typical of the young, new generation of believers, which is renewed from year to year, particularly in this post-covid restart year (we hope!).  You’ll realize we’re on track, we’re charged up, and you will feel involved, eager to do something: to pray. The Holy Spirit will guide you, speak to you, and with your prayer and support you can continue (or begin) to be a part of this mission, the mission of GBU, to make the Lord Jesus known in universities.

Domenico Campo (GBU Staff worker in Sicily)

Read the news from the groups
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Environmentalism needs God

Tempo di lettura: 3 minuti

According to an old theory, already implicit in Heiddeger’s writings on technology and popularized by a well-known article by historian Lynn White Jr., the Judeo-Christian tradition is the cause of the environmental crisis we are experiencing. If animism and paganism promoted a form of respect for the environment based on the belief that behind the natural elements there were spiritual beings, their defeat would have caused the desacralization of those elements and their transformation into resources to be exploited by man, prince of creation and its ruler. Without the need to historically analyze the validity of this theory, we can recognize how a superficial reading of the Bible may have led some Christians to take an inconsiderate attitude towards the environment.

On the other hand, careful reflection on what the Bible says about our relationship with nature represents the most solid foundation for a commitment to the protection and safeguarding of creation.

It is true that man is created in the image of God and his relationship with Him places him on a different plane from the rest of creation since the beginning of the biblical narrative, yet it is precisely the beginning of Genesis that suggests to us that man has always had a role of responsibility towards the environment:

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden, to work it and take care of it.”

(Gen. 2:15).

In confirmation of this high value that natural elements have in the Christian worldview, we can recall that all of creation has been subjected to the effects of sin and is awaiting the return of Christ (Rom. 8:19-23), for “all things were created by him and for him” (Col. 1:16). Modern environmental concerns should not be foreign to any Christian who takes the truths just mentioned seriously, but there is more: without God, humanity risks losing any valid motivation to protect the environment that does not lead to anti-humanism.

Without God, it seems difficult, if not impossible, to find the balance between anthropocentrism, which has given support to the senseless exploitation of natural resources useful for economic development, and anti-humanism, which, by denying man the right to consider himself more important than other forms of life, turns him into the problem to be contained or eliminated. Neither atheistic materialism nor modern pantheism can provide a solution to this dilemma. Both fail to provide any basis for ethics, or end up equating human life to that of other animals, if not plants (or viruses!).

  • Why should I care about the survival of someone other than myself?
  • Why would it be wrong to eliminate even a small minority of human beings, if it would bring undoubted well-being to all other life forms on the planet?
  • Why would it be right to eliminate a life form like Coronavirus?

Questions for which the answer seems obvious and intuitive suddenly become difficult, if one excludes God from the picture.

The Bible does not resolve questions of environmental ethics with a form of anthropocentrism limited by God’s law, but instead by placing Christ Jesus at the center of all things.

The purpose of creation is to glorify Christ, and God’s plan culminates not in the salvation of man but in the unity of all things under one head, Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:9-10).

Christianity proposes a theocentric humanism that assigns a special role to man and a great value to his life, which, however, is not the ultimate end of things. Human beings are called to contribute to the realization of God’s plan, and they are called to do so also by taking care of the environment.

Francesco Schiano
(GBU staff worker in Naples)

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Special Days

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

The days spent at Formazione GBU were special.

They were rich and blessed because every activity that we experienced was useful (to me). One fundamental part of the training was learning from the interactions and confrontations between the students or between staff members and students; how important it is to know the thoughts of others and to learn from one another!

Formazione was not only theoretical, but also practical! Each student leader had the opportunity to lead a brief Bible study using the inductive method as well as receiving “input” that will be useful for evangelism at our universities.

Also valuable were the moments dedicated to international prayer for various brothers and sisters from different universities around the world; the seminars in which we focused on reflecting on certain ideologies that are taking root within the universities and what the Bible says about them; what methods can be used to to share your own testimony or what one should be aware of when one wants to start reading the Bible with a friend.

All of this was set against the backdrop of Formazione’s theme – The Time is Near.

These words are found within the first three chapters of the book of Revelation, a book that, amongst many other things, refers to love: the love of God that shines through the seven letters sent to the seven churches of Asia Minor, which are also valid for us today.

As student leader of GBU Salerno, a newborn reality, I return home satisfied and enriched.
Thanks to this experience in the grace of the Lord I was able to receive encouragement, as a university student, looking at the work of God within other GBU groups.

During the last few days I have been able to think about some points concerning my personal life that, in other circumstances, I would perhaps never have reflected on.

Guys, God speaks to our hearts and knows very well what our needs, difficulties and uncertainties are. We must never stop having faith in Him because at the right time He answers, at the right time He shows Himself.

I encourage the person reading this article to strive in their GBU, where we share Jesus from student to student. Our efforts in His name are never in vain!

Finally, a special thank you goes out to all the GBU Staff workers who work daily to advance the Kingdom of God within the universities; your presence, your encouragement and your dedication is something I will always carry in my heart!

May God bless us.

To Him alone be the glory!

 

Giuseppe Ambrosio
(coordinator of GBU Salerno)

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Ready, set, go – What to do with your life?

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

Figuring out God’s will for one’s life seems to be a common obsession in the lives of believers.

Perhaps this is because we suffer from a kind of “Sliding Doors” syndrome.
Just like the famous 90’s movie, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, we think that one wrong choice (in the movie it was a random event, but that’s beside the point) can change the course of our story, causing us to miss out on the best things in life.

Yet God’s will for us is crystal clear in the Bible. Jesus called us to be his witnesses, to the glory of God. Before he ascended into heaven, he told his disciples, “Go and make disciples” and his disciples passed on this same commission to those who believed their preaching. Making disciples of Christ is God’s will for every person who believes in him and follows him. The main answer, whenever we are faced with an important choice and we ask ourselves what to do, should be: “Go and make disciples of Christ.”

“You are the salt of the earth…”

This year at the Festa GBU we asked ourselves how to fulfill the great commission by reflecting on three famous passages from the Gospel of Matthew (5:13-16, 9:36-38, 28:16-20).
“You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world…” a disciple of Christ cannot go unnoticed, and the place he is in, he makes it a better place. His new birth and the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life clearly make him different. He is what the dry, dark world in which he lives needs.

So, shine! “That they may see your good works and praise your Father in heaven.”

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them”

The crowds that live around us should see our good works. What should we see in them? Jesus saw sheep without a shepherd, people who were tired and exhausted, he saw a great harvest, which prompted him to say “pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest that he will send out workers into his harvest field.”
The practice of fasting (not necessarily from food, but perhaps from the internet, smartphones, TV shows), solitude and silence might help us to be free from the distractions that keep us from seeing the crowds living around us. This will help us feel the compassion Jesus feels for them, as well as encouraging us to spend more time on our knees, praying with a greater vision of the Lord’s work.

Then we will be ready to go, to be uncomfortable, to take risks.

“Some want to live within the sound of a church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of hell” (C.T. Studd).

There is a great need to preach the gospel, to teach the Word of God. Those who have dedicated themselves to these things have always faced suffering and persecution, but “Surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age,” Jesus told his disciples after affirming that all power had been entrusted to him, in heaven and on earth.

We are not in a world driven by chance, in which our wrong choices can ruin our lives. We are in the harvest field of God, who has all things in his hands, and who asks us above all else one thing: “go and make disciples of me.” Nothing else is as important.

 

Francesco Schiano
(GBU staff worker)

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Everything the same, nothing like before

Tempo di lettura: 2 minutiMarch has arrived and for many of us it feels like we’re living in a movie we’ve seen over and over again, like a time loop from which we can’t escape. A year ago many in our country were scared, skeptical, terrified, hopeless, but we would never have guessed that a year later so many of these feelings would still be in our hearts and minds. The fact is, although time has passed, for many, the situation seems to be unchanged.

Students are still in distance learning and universities seem to be functioning only online , with a few exceptions here and there. The thrill of stepping through the door of the university classroom for the first time for many is gone, for yet another semester. For others, however, the experience of online graduation will become a bittersweet memory to be recounted in the future.

The daily life of GBU groups has also changed now. Online Bible study meetings, thousands of messages in chat rooms, social promotion, and online events have become part and parcel of a normal GBU day. But don’t let that fool you. The essence remains. That desire to share Jesus with one’s friends, the commitment to witnessing the gospel, and the fellowship that spurs growth in one’s own faith and the faith of others is there for anyone who wants to see it.

In times like these, where challenges against our faith are piling up, we cling to the Word and the hope we can find only in Jesus. He is the one who assured us that He would be with us until the end, pandemic or not. My invitation to you is to go and read the news from the different groups. You will see that instead of complaints or ‘defeated tones’ there are many reasons for joy and hope. There is news  from large and consolidated groups but also stories of the challenges from small groups that have just been born and who enthusiastically recount every small victory. There are many reasons for praise and there are requests for prayer, because the students have now realized that in their life of faith they will not be able to go much further without the prayer and intercession of their brothers and sisters.

What has changed then since the last news report? If we look at the circumstances, not much. But if we look to the One who works every good work in us, who acts when no one else can, and who changes the lives of students every day, then there is much to be seen. So I invite you to read the news, praise the Lord for His work, and pray for the groups, with the assurance that Jesus has not stopped in time, but is at work making all things new.

 

Carol Rocha
(GBU Staff)

Read the latest news of the groups