Rome

Rome turned out to be an excellent and even ground-breaking mission, even though it started in great weakness.  Our original plans had fallen apart and our Italian friend in Lyon, France, came to the rescue at the last minute and put us in touch with a small church in Rome, which then decided to go with the mission.  So a team of 14 from Britain arrived and we had the training evening in this small church, with a congregation of about 20, of whom 14 were there. 

The next day we were supposed to do a mission in a nearby town, but permission was refused by the authorities.  So we now had to wait until the last evening to do a singe-day mission in Frascati, the lovely town on one of the hills of Rome, where the church is.  But rather than just wait, the Italian and British teams decided to gather again in the church and pray and have fellowship together.  There we started hearing about the history of Frascati.  It turned out that, apart from its excellent wine, it had three claims to fame.  The Pope who originally set up the Inquisition came from Frascati.  In the Second World War, the Germans made Frascati their Italian headquarters for both the Army and also for the Gestapo.  Nowadays, the town is recognised to be the centre of Satanism in that region of Italy.  And, just for good measure, all attempts to plant an evangelical church there over the years had failed, and this church of about 20 people was the latest effort.

Well!  What a history!  It was there, in the church garden, that Gina had one of her prophetic moments!  (I relish these because they have brought remarkable fruit in the past - and always have such a sense of anointing on them at the time).  She stood up and gathered the dirt from the ground with her foot into a pile, and said that in this way God was gathering the mess of the history of Frascati and was sending his fire upon it, to burn up the things of the past and obliterate their hold on the present.  It felt 'electric'.  Then, as she spoke about the words 'fire', I happened to look up and see fire all across the sky, catching the most intense moment of a fiery sunset. It certainly felt good, and the team was brought together in a very special way.  I also felt led to pray out loud that this brave church's congregation would be doubled through the mission.

Saturday evening came and we took out position in the town centre with a worship band and invitation cards, hurriedly printed that day.  There was such an openness!  People were filming us with their camera-phones, watching, smiling...  Then we went to the park a few minutes walk away where people were starting to arrive for the meal.  The numbers were never great.  About 250 were fed in all.  But the church leaders said that they for the first time felt received by their community.  At the end of the meal, there was some profound ministry going on and three people gave their lives to Christ, and others were deeply touched.  Many addresses were collected. 

And the result?  I phoned them soon after:  'Guess how many people we had in church on Sunday', I was asked.  'FORTY THREE!'  Which just happens to be about double the usual!  And there is, in addition, a group of ten young people, met during the mission, who are due to come 'en bloc' next Saturday to discuss how the church could help them, with a view to possibly forming a youth ministry!  They are also planning to do another free barbecue this month.

So we praise God for his goodness and his power.  Sometimes it is in the smallest missions that you see most obviously the work of God.

M.G. May 05