GBU Foggia

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto

At GBU Foggia we were even more raring to go this year than last! God has blessed us so much, giving us just the right amount of energy to start up again.

We’re more or less up to our fourth meeting now, but we’ve already had good results. Two unbeliever female friends came along to one of the meetings. We had been urging them to come for quite some time, but they were finally persuaded, and they also joined in the Bible study.

In addition, new young adult believers have joined who are studying here at Foggia. Our work is proceeding, and God is showing us how to move forward, one step at a time. In the meantime, we’re starting to plan some special events for December!

Finally, we have an important prayer point to do with where we hold our meetings. Up until now we have been allowed to meet in a cafe, where we were given a calm area, but sadly the cafe is closing on 31 December. Therefore, we’re asking God to help us find a new venue, cafe or teaching room where we can meet. We’re sure He’ll find a solution to the problem!

GBU Rome

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto

We’re full of ideas and ready to serve the Lord in Rome. God is helping us learn a lot from studying the letter to the Romans in the weekly meetings in the three faculties.

Moreover, we’re already arranging a Christmas-themed outreach event for 2 December. To involve more people and have more “fun”, we thought about having an Open Mic event where we can sing carols, recite poems (bringing back memories of primary school productions) and/or other things, drawing the evening to a close with a brief reflection.

We’re asking for prayer that GBU Rome members will help out as much as they can and that our colleagues at university join in.

Aside from the outreach event, we’re asking for prayer for all the students in Rome, that God would remove the indifference that there is among them to the Gospel and spiritual matters.

We thank God for having got to know students as a result of distributing the Gideon Bibles, and we’re thankful that there are two coordinators per faculty to encourage one another.

Finally, we’re thankful for having international students among us too. However, we’re also asking for prayer about this last point, because structuring bilingual activities is quite a challenge for us.

GBU Pisa

Tempo di lettura: 3 minuti

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 Cosenza

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto

We started the meetings a while back and we’re seeing a lot of interest on behalf of those who were already coming in previous years.

Moreover, we were able to make an announcement during a meeting of the Calabrian churches to let everyone know about the GBU and we’ve had an excellent response!

Pray that these new people come every week and that the group becomes ever more tightly knitted together.

GBU Florence

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

The year started off fantastically. The group is tight knit and we’re grateful to God that new believer students are there, attending regularly and assisting with the prayer.

New students, who are curious about the Gospel have also been coming along to the Bible studies, joining in and asking questions.
God really is guiding every detail and we’re seeing his plans go ahead in a truly wonderful way. The local GBU staff member has been in touch with some of the city’s churches and has introduced the GBU to the church leaders, who seem keen to help us and collaborate with us in a practical way as well as through prayer.

On 12/11 we showed Giosuè Petrone’s film, “Imperdonabile” [Unforgiveable]. We organised the evening in conjunction with two other associations in a bookshop cafe in town. The outreach event was patronised by the town council of Florence and was attended by the Councillor for Education.
We’re asking for prayer for the 20 or so new people among whom there were several who asked the director some very deep questions. Let’s pray that the Lord causes them to ponder the amazing truth of forgiveness, so they want to go deeper with that Bible topic and come to believe in Jesus and receive forgiveness for their sins. We’re also asking for specific prayers for:

  • The series of Bible studies on forgiveness that we’re doing in the GBU
  • Those currently in positions of power within the city who know about the GBU in the university
  • The PSI, the Academic Association of Psychology, one of the two associations involved in putting on this outreach event
  • The association, Agape Italia, who asked for our collaboration in organising the evening
  • The people who work in the bookshop cafe, who attended the event and were very moved

A final request is that the group members would pray continuously and would have wisdom to know how to welcome and involve all the international students well.

GBU Naples

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto

GBU Naples is thanking God for the beginning of this new year. The group was going through a difficult time due to low student involvement, but two new female students joined the group during the first Bible readings, showing interest and enthusiasm in the mission of sharing knowledge of Jesus within the university.

We’re asking for prayer for the groups located in Policlinico and Fuorigrotta who weren’t able to start meeting again, due to the low involvement of students in the area. We know that even a small witness can make a difference to a place, so we’re hoping to be able to return there.

Shortly, we will be sorting out the surveys and the one-on-one outreaches, so that we can meet students who are interested or other believers. We’re therefore asking for prayer for this and for God to guide each detail of it.

GBU Bologna

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto

We’d like to thank the Lord for this season in which we’ve been asking ourselves who Jesus is, through studying Matthew, where we’ve been able to identify His true identity and mission as well as who He is for us.

We thank Him for the new contacts who’ve come to the meetings and the new people we’ve been able to talk to about Christ.

Another reason to give thanks is for the international meal which allowed us to spend time together, get to know one another better and share something of our cultures.

Prayer Requests:

  • For new students;
  • For the new study on the letter to the Philippians;
  • For the end of year party;

Let’s keep sharing Jesus, passing knowledge of him from student to student.

GBU Venice

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto

We thank the Lord for the new freshers who are coming along to the GBU and for the growth of the coordinators in facilitating the Bible studies and discussions, in English too!!

Pray for our new series of Bible studies on Unlearn Religion, Relearn Jesus (Luke’s Gospel), that it will be an opportunity to bring friends along and get to know Jesus Christ better.

GBU Padua

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto

We thank the Lord for how this new academic year began, with the Lord giving us a lot of new participants, enough to have to arrange two weekly Bible studies this semester!

Pray for our friends who don’t yet know Jesus and pray that as a result of the evangelising training we received, we will be prepared to explain the reason for the hope and faith we have.

GBU Palermo

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GBU Palermo is going fairly well!

We meet regularly every week to share some Bible passages. We began by studying the 7 “I am” of Jesus.

Moreover, as we’re not often able to meet in person, we’ve started facetiming each Saturday to pray together. This allows us to keep staying in touch.

We have some prayer requests:

  • For new believer students to join the group;
  • For the GBU students’ friendship relations with their colleagues and neighbours;
  • That God will bless the academic studies of the GBU members.