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Praise

We, as GBU Turin, wish to praise the Lord for how He has blessed us thus far and thank all those who prayed for us.

Recent months have been truly fruitful from many points of view. Indeed, in December we managed to gain recognition as a Student Association for the GBU, both in the Polytechnic and at the University of Turin. We see this as a great response from the Lord, because we will definitely have new opportunities and it will make our ministry within the university easier.

Then, during the winter period we eased things up a bit, but did not stop. It was great to support one another in prayer as the exams approached, study together in the virtual lecture theatres, meet up online some evenings to chat and still read the Bible together between exams.

Springtime is now bringing many new things for GBU Turin.

Since March, we have started up our activities properly again, arranging all kinds of events: games evenings, prayer meetings, biblical discussions and webinars.

In particular, we have been trialling the opportunity to study the Bible in small groups. We have got our Virtual Cafes and weekly meetings going, which are currently taking place online, where we meet in small groups with a cup of coffee to read a Bible passage together. Virtual Cafes are a great way to get to know the individual group members as well as being a format for involving everyone more and it makes it easier for new friends to join in who are not yet believers.

Prayer

In April we will organise a webinar on the topic of anxiety, open to all students in the Polytechnic and the University of Turin.

  • Please can you pray for us that a lot of young people would join in and be intrigued by what they hear.
  • We are also asking for prayer for the group of young people who are starting to get to know God, that the Lord would continue to speak to them and lead them to Him.
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Here at GBU Bologna everything is well.

Sadly, the group is suffering from the fact that meetings are only online and from not being able to fellowship in person, but I think this is a problem we all face.  Let us hope God soon lets us go back to meeting up face to face.

In terms of the other things, the studies are going well. There are always five or six of us and we trust we can also be of help to some others who might be seeking the Lord during their time at university.

Now we are just finishing a study on the perilous faith of Daniel and his friends, which has been very engaging, while in April/May time we will begin studying Jesus’ parables.

Let us pray these meetings would reach as many people as possible, especially through the technological tools we have available

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Those of us in GBU Verona are thanking God that we have managed to meet in person for the first time!

In fact, since we started in October, every meeting has been online.  Sure, the meeting was on the last day of the “yellow zone” (tier 1) before we went into the “orange zone” (tier 2), but nonetheless it was a breath of fresh air that felt like normality!

Praise

We started meeting up again at the beginning of March after weeks of not meeting due to the exams, and now we are more ready than ever to get going again! Since October, the group has grown and there are now 15 of us, which we could not be more grateful for!

Prayer

That God would give us strategies for reaching non-believers among the young people, as they are currently in short supply in our group!

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Praise
  • Those of us in GBU Naples wanted to first of all thank God for not denying us His guidance and support this year as well. We managed to go ahead with our meetings and meet up before the orange/red zone arrived.
  • Let us thank God that we have seen our group strengthen and grow, and also for the emerging friendships.
  • We can also thank God that some students who had been absent for a while, are taking part in the online meetings again.
Prayer

We have one prayer request only: at the start of this academic year, we set ourselves the objective of reaching non-believing students in the second semester. This is definitely more difficult online, therefore we are asking for prayers that God would guide us and allow us to reach more students through His message of love, even with the universities closed. We are asking Him to help us be creative and resourceful in organising events that allow students to get involved who do not yet know God.

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It was an encouraging start to the year for GBU Florence, which saw many students leave but many new faces join, where we were compelled to manage relations and share the Gospel remotely.

We give thanks for the stimulating conversations and outreach opportunities had around the local universities and libraries for the “winter meets”, a series of meetings for the group on how and why to read the Bible.

Even though we we not able to do our well-known Winter Camp, we were able to hold a joint “winter breakfast” with GBU Bologna and GBU Modena, where there was a sharing time and a time for testimonies and games, as well as the training. We are grateful to be able to start up weekly Bible studies again on the quite topical subject of the unjust, shameful, lonely death of Jesus.

It has been wonderful to see familiar faces again in our recent meetings, to be able to share the hope and gospel message clearly, and to acknowledge how many group members have grown in knowledge and experience, and despite being scattered around the world, have continued to support the group in prayer and with exhortations and love. Truly priceless.

We are aware of needing God’s guidance and wisdom over the coming months. It is not easy to keep up with people, making new contacts and reaching new students in this era of social distancing. It is not easy to find the enthusiasm and creativity to keep up the activities.

Therefore we are asking for prayer support,

  • that God would help us deepen our friendships with believers and non-believers,
  • renew a deep love in our hearts for the students in Florence
  • and give us fervour to make Jesus known among the people He has put around us at this particular time.
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We have started up GBU meetings again after the winter exam session, and we are doing Bible studies on the importance of the cross. We have seen blessings and indeed the group has come together. New students have discovered the GBU.

Praise
  • We are there grateful to the Lord that He has given us new strength and new students to be able to talk to about Jesus,
  • the group has come together and new friendships have emerged.
Prayer
  • the new students who have just got to know the GBU,
  • for the coming year, given that many students are expected to graduate, that the witness could thus continue,
  • for the staff and coordinators.
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The Lord has done amazing things in the Milan State University GBU.

Praise

In the first semester His guidance was crucial in getting a totally new group going.

After this initial period, we were fearing it was not going to be easy to start up the meetings with the students again after the winter break, as we had all been focusing on exams for a month. But instead, the Lord renewed His blessings right from the first meeting and continues to do so time and time again, bringing curious young adults into the group, ready to get involved.

Prayer

Please pray that the Lord would continue to drive the conversations we have with the new students who are starting to draw near to Him.

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Praise

We thank God for how He has guided us over these last few months: He answered our prayers in a great way, bringing new people who were interested in the GBU each time (both believers and not)!

We did not hold any studies in January and February to allow everyone to concentrate better on their exams, but first we sent out a survey to the students to get their opinion on what we did in the first semester and two games evenings which were a great way for our group to become closer and to invite along new people.

We have been running the studies again since the beginning of March and we have also started training up new students to lead the studies alongside us.

Prayer
  • Please pray for greater involvement in the WhatsApp group (because few people reply to messages and this discourages us).
  • Moreover, as already mentioned, pray for the new students keen to join in, and for training others to lead studies.
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Praise
  • The Castelfranco group started up last autumn and had to start online because of the pandemic. However, despite the difficulty we had in making ourselves known and forming new relationships with the students, we managed to invite along various non-believer friends who are now coming to our meetings regularly, enabling a wonderful exchange of ideas;
  • we have started meeting online twice a week to allow everyone to participate, and although it has meant more work, people always join us;
  • as group coordinators we have formed a wonderful relationship which helps give us mutual support, strengthen our faith and continue serving with greater enthusiasm, more ideas and more collaboration.
Prayer
  • managing to help non-believers who join the meetings feel welcomed, and feeling prepared to answer their queries and questions lovingly, guiding them in the discussion;
  • finding the right activities to involve participants in, despite the restrictions which mean that most activities have to take place online;
  • managing to reach other students, form friendships with them and having the opportunity to look at the Word together, welcoming every opportunity for testimony.
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Praise

In the GBU group in Rome we are very grateful for the online outreach week we were able to arrange. We reached various people we did not know, and we are hoping to keep getting to know them and involving them in our weekly meetings!

Preghiera
  • We are praying for the meeting over the next two months, that the students would be keen to join in and that we would also reach new people despite all the difficulties.
  • We are also praying to be motivated in organising the various activities.