GBU Turin

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
Praise
  • we held a conference at Turin Polytechnic on 26 March entitled, “UNDER PRESSURE! Managing stress amid commitments, demands and expectations” given by Dr Susanne Waldner. It went very well. Lots of people came from outside (around 100) who, in addition to everything else, were able to hear a short but effective testimony by Susanne. We had some positive feedback, so we are thanking God for that and we hope to be able to bring some students to God.
  • Lorens (local GBU staff worker) has come back after being absent for a long time due to his broken leg
  • the opportunity that Paula (coordinator) has had to go on a mission trip to Greece
  • for everyone who has stayed faithful to the GBU by getting involved with us, and for those who continue to come along even though they have slightly different beliefs from us
  • for the opportunity to organise conferences on the Einaudi Campus
Prayer
  • for the mid-week meetings and for the group to bond because fewer people are attending
  • for those who we came into contact with us through the conference held in March, though not exclusively through that, that they would come to the GBU and to Jesus
  • for the upcoming conferences, there will be one in April on scientific topics (given by Prof. F. Shaeffer) and one in May on the subject of “Why I don’t do what I want to do” (given by Paul Chatfield)
  • for Lorens who broke his leg in August 2018, that it would heal completely and quickly.

GBU Palermo

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto

In Palermo we are resuming GBU activities and introducing a few new ones for the spring.
In our weekly meetings over the last few months we have focused on the first chapters of the book of Acts in order to understand the features of the early church. At the last meeting, our staff member, Domenico suggested dedicating a day to all praying together and so that we can take some trips outside the university since there is in any case already a group of young adults here in Palermo who organise themed meetings. Therefore, we will be meeting in a church tomorrow which is hosting us for the morning so that we can begin these “new meetings”. Our next meetings will continue to be dedicated to prayer combined with going out into the university grounds to ask questions, do surveys etc. This will enable us to get known as a GBU group, understand what the students think about Jesus and talk about him.
Thank you for your prayers. Let’s pray for GBU Italy.

GBU Bari

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

We are full of enthusiasm in GBU Bari but there are only a few of us to sustain it. Sadly, the difficulty of managing to find suitable times for most of the members persists, hence we continue the meetings with two or three people at the most. We had thought about running two GBU study groups, one in the Polytechnic and one in the Polyclinic, hoping there might be a solution, given that the lecture times are completely different from one another, but that has not yet proved effective. We are unsure whether to keep to this idea or go back to the former plan of one weekly meeting.
We are asking for prayer for this because we would like to form a big group which, at the same time is constant. In the meanwhile we will not give up because the Lord is with us and we cannot do anything else other than make ourselves available for Him.

In addition to the GBU study, we have introduced a new meeting where we can meet and pray fervently, not just for GBU Bari but also for the various initiatives of other local GBU groups and, if we are informed about them, also the international GBU groups. We will do this twice a month at the home of our local staff members, the Cowell’s. Prayer is the best weapon available to us!

An idea we have been mulling around and which we are getting ready for is to put on conversation courses in English led by a member of our staff, Simon, who is a native speaker. The idea is to promote a social activity without aiming to evangelise, through which to spread news about the GBU’s existence which would indeed promote it.

On 25 January we managed to give out over 900 Gospels in conjunction with the Gideons in the province in the various Polytechnic foyers, and we put a tract about the GBU inside them. Despite the cold and the rain that day, we noticed that many young adults from the University appreciated the public gesture and were grateful for it, as they posted stories referring to it on the University Instagram profile. They had worked out the importance of the Person who had motivated us to do this (it really was a roller-coaster day!).

Another event that took place was the Spring Training, a joint project with GBU Foggia and GBU Chieti, on 23 March. During the meeting the topic of which passages to highlight while evangelising was covered. Aside from the worship and prayers said about the projects and difficulties facing three GBU groups, the day was structured by dividing us up into pairs and simulating an imagined conversation between an atheist or agnostic and a believer, and afterwards reconvening to share the points raised from the individual conversations as a group. It really was such a pleasure to see and hear the young adults encouraged to go back in a different spirit, more prepared to evangelise and more certain of how to go about it. It was also good to catch up with old friends and make new ones ready to share the same goal: to spread the knowledge of Jesus from student to student. We hope to put on another event like this again in a few months’ time.

GBU Cosenza

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
Praise
  • We thank God for how we’ve got going again with the meetings and for the appreciation we get from students involved in the student activities and the academic staff overall.
  • We’ve been getting invitations and have been able to promote the Christian message in various ways and from multiple standpoints. God is opening the doors as we continue to work.
Prayer
  • We do not currently have a local student leader and often, when people offer to take on that particular role, more problems arise in their minds than exist in reality.
    Would you please pray that we help potential leaders overcome these kinds of obstacles that frequently occur in the various Italian groups.
  • Pray for the freshers and students who want to take part in our meetings, but who haven’t yet been able to be present.
  • For all those who’ve experienced the goodness and joy of Christian life, but now have different priorities and are living through times where they don’t have real serenity. Pray they’d be restored again and moulded by the great love of God that we’re proclaiming on the campus.

 

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GBU Rome

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti
Tor Vergata
  • We thank God for a good start back again. There are some new young believers who take part in our meetings, but more importantly, some non believers have started taking part! Some came along to events organised last year, others have always been invited to the Bible studies and this year they decided to come and have attended them regularly!
  • Pray that compromises would be found over when to hold the studies and that God would cause us to expand on the campus.
Roma Tre
  • This year the Roma Tre group kicked off again with a whole new group of students! In fact there wasn’t a group at the this university last year.
  • Pray that it would continue to grow in numbers and that our young adults would have the courage to speak to their friends about Jesus so that they can invite them to the meetings.
La Sapienza
  • The year started really well! At the first meeting we held of all the universities, there were 4 Colombian Erasmus student guests, and some of them still attend the Bible studies. We thank God that the weekly meetings have been well attended and that there has been a good rapport among us in the group. We had the World Student Day evening where we were very encouraged by seeing the broader view of universities in the world.
  • In November we’ll have a “My Hope” evening, where we’ll watch the film with Billy Graham, “The Cross” together and we’ll invite our friends.
  • Around mid December the GBU group in Rome will also put on The Mark Drama after a gap of some years! Pray the event will glorify God, lots of university friends will come and the whole organisation will go well.
  • In March we’re doing an outreach week, and this isn’t easy when the campuses are so large and so distant from one another. Pray that new people would be reached over these days.

GBU Foggia

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
Praise
  • Despite the fact that the Foggia group started very recently, there are a lot of us! Already ten or so people come to our meetings.
  • We’re really grateful to God because we’ve really seen how He is in control of everything, this year 2 girl believers moved here from other towns to study in Foggia, and the GBU provided them with a great way of integrating and getting to know believers they didn’t know.
  • Thank God for making a cafe available to us with a room where we can hold our meetings in peace!
Prayer
  • We’re looking for a university that can give us an available teaching room, so that it will be easier for our non-believer friends to come to the studies.
  • We’re planning an event for around Christmas time (1st event for GBU Foggia) which we can also invite our friends to.
  • We have a few contacts who are interested in getting to know God but are blocked by shyness or shame… Let’s ask God to convince them to come to our meetings.

GBU Turin

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
Praise
  • We want to thank God because we have a lot of new people and we can see that they’re very pleased with the group and excited about it.
  • We also give thanks that the activities have started up again so well.
  • But we’re especially thankful for the fact that one of our GBU members who converted last year, got baptised last week.
Prayer
  • For Lorens’ health (GBU staff) that he manages to recover more quickly than what the doctors are saying.
  • Pray for the new people, that they would make a commitment to Jesus.
  • Pray for the student committee, that we would grow as a team and work well this year to the glory of Jesus.

GBU Bari

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
Praise
  • Even though only a few of us have managed to meet up, we have succeeded in forming a tight-knit group, well in tune with one another, like a proper family.
  • Thanks to the Lord, we managed to get organised with the weekly meetings straight away.
  • We’ve also made contact with non-believers who were interested in taking part in the meetings.
Prayer
  • For a girl, M-E, who we met in a cafe during one of our meetings, and after we included her in our bible study, we left her our contact details. Pray that she’ll come to find us at our next meetings.
  • That we’ll find a way to involve most of the young adults who are interested.
  • For the giving out of GBU invitations at the universities, which we’ll be doing soon.

GBU Milan Polytechnic

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
Praise
  • For the new arrivals in the group, because they’ve just started university and will therefore still be at the Polytechnic for the next 2 or 3 years, which will guarantee group continuity.
  • For the students who started to come along in the past and are now our friends, that they too will keep coming to the meetings.
  • The Mission Convention at the start of November where we have been able to have a stand where we can publicise the GBU, speak to some students and make believers from different churches aware of our vision.
Prayer
  • For each group member to be more involved in the activities, that we could be united and happy about the freedom we have to witness at the university.
  • More participation in the weekly studies, that students would come regularly and manage to balance their GBU commitments with those of the university.
  • The end of year event which should be in mid December, that lots of people will come and for those giving biblical talks.

GBU Pisa

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
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).