GBU Pisa

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Praise
  • We are profoundly grateful to the Lord for the encouraging answers to prayer and the blessings He continues to pour out on us.
  • Thank God, our activities and programmes are going well without any particular difficulties.
  • We are grateful to the Lord for how relationships in the group are strengthening and deepening, giving us increasingly more opportunities to spend time together as friends.
  • We thank the Lord for answering our prayer about a new member of staff.
  • We praise God for the two non-believers who in particular have been participating in our meetings.
Prayer
  • Pray God would unite the group, making us grow, not just in number but especially in His Word. That He would bless the coming meetings, allowing opportunities to get to know one another better and strengthening our ties.
  • We’re asking God to increase our non-believing student contacts, through friendships and events taking place at the University.

GBU Pisa

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After being on hold for years, GBU Pisa has finally started up again!

Praise

There’s no shortage of believer students, so we can arrange events that are well attended, where we can cultivate a good atmosphere.

Prayer

We’ve already had some non-believers at our meetings, let’s pray they’d come back and go deeper with the Gospel message!
Our meetings are evenings only, which means choosing a suitable venue has been hard and has obviously impacted on how much people can get from our meetings. Let’s pray God would guide us in these logistical matters!

GBU Pisa

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GBU Pisa is up and running again! Following some years after Covid, we’re happy and grateful to God for being able to share with you the joy of seeing the local group start meeting up again.

Almost all the students are in their first year and some of them had been to Revive, thanks to which they’d got in touch with local staff in Pisa. A young, enthusiastic group, keen to be together, it has already organised some Bible studies a a café in town and it looks like they’re wanting to to carry on doing so regularly.

Let’s pray that some of them would want to become group coordinators. Perhaps the
Festa GBU itself might be an opportunity for great encouragement and growth! Let’s hope someone from Pisa takes part!

GBU Pisa

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In Pisa this year the GBU starts more shy and uncertain than in the past years. This is due to the Covid situation, but also to the lack of a real group of believing students.

For this reason, we decided to take these first months of autumn to pray together and ask the Lord direction, wisdom and creativity in creating a group and reaching new students at this difficult time.

Our first meeting was on the occasion of World Student Day, where we prayed for the students of the world and specifically for the situation in Pisa. Our desire is to maintain these prayer meetings regularly throughout the academic year and we ask you to pray that we can be constant in this.

Among the reasons for our thanks:

  • Sara, new coordinator,
  • the cohesion that we have immediately found as coordinators
  • Alice, new staff in training.

In the coming days we would like to meet to start thinking about an online event and we ask you to pray that we can design something that will reach new students and communicate Jesus at the same time.

Another one of our goals in these months is to reach new student believers, to create a solid and cohesive group.

We ask you to pray that we can find ways to get in touch with new student believers at this difficult time from the point of view of social contact, and that the Lord can raise in their hearts the desire to participate in this mission.

,

Alice Trinari

Alice was born in Perugia, where she lives for most of her life, except for a brief experience in Alicante, Spain, for her Erasmus program.

When she returnes to Italy she becomes passionate about missions and church planting, serving with the church Il Perugino.

In 2017 she marries Zach (NZ) and in 2018, after their wedding in New Zealand, they decide to return to Italy and move to Pisa, where they currently live. In this same year they are part of the church plant Chiesa La Torre, a small local community of young people and their current church.

After working alongside Zach (GBU staff worker) as a volunteer, she decides to committ officially in student ministry, trusting that the Gospel will powerfully change the lives of Italy’s next generations.

GBU Pisa

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We’re sending you news from our group in Pisa, overjoyed to know that there are people praying for the Lord’s work in this town where many things are on the move!

We began this year with two weekly studies in a university lecture theatre, one in Italian and one in English. Our idea of wanting to start up a study in English came from the fact that there are a lot of international students in Pisa, and in particular, there were three Christian girls who wanted to get involved in this. We’re asking for prayer for them, that a desire would grow within them to serve the Lord in a country other than their own and for their witness among the international students who they’re in contact with on a daily basis.

This week we’re beginning a new series of studies in our meetings which will differ from the classic inductive studies, they will be more like discussions leading on from questions such as, “how can a good god allow suffering?”. We’re asking for prayer for wisdom for those who, from time to time, will facilitate discussions in this new format, and that God’s Word will be at the centre and included in the right way by the moderator.

There are two non-believers in particular who have been coming to our meetings: M is a girl who regularly comes to the meeting in Italian and R is an international young man who comes to the meetings in English. Both of them actively participate and both are very rational thinkers. Pray that the Lord would break down their intellectual barriers and give us wisdom and grace to answer their questions.

Last week we had two outreach events, a seminar entitled, “Does science point to God?”, held in a university lecture theatre, where a biologist researcher gave a talk followed by a time for open questions. Many students we had never seen previously came along, who had found out about the seminar from the tracts and through the social network. Pray that what was said will work in their hearts and contribute to the journey God is taking them on, even if we are no longer part of their journey.

The second outreach event was a more informal meal at one of our staff member’s home to which we invited friends we had been talking to about the Lord for months as well as the same biologist who led a reflection followed by questions on the subject of “Why the Christian God?”. Pray for our friends, who have known us for some while and have heard the Gospel message in different ways and that we would continue to witness in the right way through our lives, having patience to wait for God’s timing.

Group unity: each one of us has many and varying commitments, and it’s hard to meet outside the weekly Bible studies. Starting from this year, we would like to arrange regular prayer meetings so that we can also grow as a group as well as in our desire to witness in the university. Pray that every believer member would become more aware and would grow in wanting to be part of this mission together as a group.

New coordinators: this year I am the only female coordinator, helped by another (male) coordinator, Luca Basta who, however, is about to get married and is doing a PhD which is taking up a lot of his time. Next year it will be become very hard for me to carry on this role. Pray for new coordinators who want to serve the Lord in this way.

Thank you for your prayers, which are precious! It’s a privilege to be part of this family and to know that we are greatly supported by people who pray for us in this specific way. May the Lord bless you!

GBU Pisa

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti
Praise

We thank the Lord with all our heart for the encouraging answers to prayers and blessings that He gives us:

  • we confirmed the reservation of a teaching room for the whole semester, in a very central area of Pisa which is convenient for most of the students. This allows us to prepare flyers, having certainty of the venue;
  • the recent event on the topic of “Who is your #influencer” was very good and encouraging. We learned what works and what we could still improve on, and we thank Giovanni for his support! A sizeable group of students from the University halls of residence took part and are interested in future events too!
  • Young adults interested in the Word of God have been also attending the weekly study on the book of Ruth, to whom we are able to witness;
  •  Thank the Lord for the connections in the group which are developing and deepening. We have increasingly more opportunities to spend time together as friends.
Prayer
  • Thank you for your prayers, for having sustained us this far! Thank you, and keep praying for GBU Pisa:
  • We have thought out the next two GBU events, one on an historical subject and the other on a science-based one. Pray that God will guide us as we run it and inspire those who lead the reflection. The former will be the last event for this academic year, while the latter will be the first event for next year;
  • We are trying to encourage all GBU members to take part in running events. We are praying that everyone would be more involved and for a deep conviction of the GBU’s mission;
  • We are trying to include more and more students in events and in the weekly studies. We are praying that the Lord direct those who are seeking Him and that our witness will be effective!
  • In relation to the last point, as a group we want to grow in our ability to talk about Jesus with our friends, colleagues and also with people we do not know. Our local staff worker (thanks Zach) is preparing material for one-to-one training on evangelism.

“May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”– Ruth 2:12

GBU Pisa

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Praise
  • We’ve started to meet up and there is already a big group of us (10-15 people).
  • Thanks to the good weather, we’ve been meeting outdoors on the university premises (even though we don’t yet have a teaching room we can use).
  • For our staff member (who is helpful and encouraging) and for opportunities to meet up for the weekly study even at varying times.
Prayer
  • That more people would come who haven’t yet encountered Jesus.
  • That we’d manage to hire a teaching room for the whole current year (and be recognised as an association next year).
  • That we’d also reach the university through events and initiatives (such as student surveys).

GBU Pisa

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Praise
  • Thanks to God, group members are now more involved
Prayer
  • We’ve divided into two groups in order to establish ourselves in two of the main faculties and be more easily reached. Let’s pray we’d be better established in both faculties and that this will bear fruit.
  • We’re without a permanent venue and subject to weather conditions. Therefore, let’s pray we’d find a place where we can meet.
    Let’s pray God will guide us in planning events and that they will happen and be used in His work.

GBU Pisa

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Praise

  • After two long years of taking a break, GBU Pisa is back again thanks to God’s faithfulness and the prayers of those who have had it on their hearts at this time.
  • We thank the Lord for the various student believers who are sharing the GBU vision in this launch. Around ten new students joined the first two meetings and are interested in carrying on!
  • We are able to have even more new contacts with other student believers, potential GBU members, because of various Christian ministries in Pisa and its surrounding areas.
Prayer
  • At the moment we’re meeting in a quiet little room in a café for the studies that’s very centrally located and well-known. We’re continuing to look for a university venue for the weekly meeting which can be a fixed reference point for the whole year.
  • We’re asking God to unite the group, making us grow in size but more particularly to grow in His Word. That He’d bless our next meetings where we’ll get to know one another even better.
  • We’re praying for more contact with non-believer students through friendships and initiatives at the universities.