Allen Family Update: November 2024 Survey Trip

So, what were we doing in Italy from October 30th to November 13th, 2024? At the request of the church of Christ in Vicenza, Italy, we spent two weeks on a survey trip to meet with the church there. During this trip, we learned about the incredible work the Vicenza church is doing in Padua (or Padova, as it's called in Italian), and how we might be able to help.

We are extremely grateful for the people and churches who sponsored this trip, and we could not have done it without your partnership:

-Lake Cities church of Christ (in Roanoke, TX)

-Eastridge church of Christ (in Rockwall, TX)

-Burleson church of Christ (in Burleson, TX)

-Lindsay and Cody Jackson (Brown Street church of Christ in Waxahachie, TX)

-Ronald Watson (Riverside church of Christ in Kerrville, TX)

The Prospective Mission Work

There will be a lot of work to do in Padova, and we are very eager to get started! This is a brief overview of the types of work that we'll be helping out with and starting. I'll explain more about each one in this blog, as well as in future posts.

1. Managing the new student center for the University of 70,000+ European students.

2. Carrying out Bible studies through Let’s Start Talking and other community evangelistic efforts

3. Preaching regularly in English and Italian

4. Starting a Children's class on Sunday mornings

5. Several other opportunities that we'll have in Padova, Vicenza, and around Italy.

*If you would like to see, download, or share our information packet then please click here!

That link will take you to the "Mission" section of our website where you could learn more about the history of the church in this region, as well as provide you with more details that this article won't go over.  

Background Information

The city of Padova, Italy is in the northeastern corner of the country, just a 30 minute train ride west of Venice. Padova has 300,000+ residents (which makes it around the same size as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cincinnati, Ohio), and has a very prestigious university of 70,000+ students right at its center. Sadly, however, the church of Christ in Padova only has between 2-5 members. After visiting on our survey trip we found out it may just be 1 or 2 soon, which leaves me (Richard) being the person who teaches every time we get together and Wife to be the one coordinating the Children's classes!

The church of Christ in Vicenza, Italy is about 40 minutes west of Padova, and they have invested a lot of time, energy, and resources into this work. When Wife and I lived in Italy from 2016-2019 we spent a lot of time with the wonderful members in Vicenza and even stayed at their houses, visited their places of work, served together at Summer camp, and worked alongside one another in various capacities. When we went on our survey trip this past November we stayed at the Vicenza church building for the entire two weeks, and spent many hours around dinner tables and walkabouts learning of what their plans are in Padova. A member of the church in Vicenza, Francesco, was the one who picked us up at the Venice airport when we arrived.

The church in Vicenza, Italy

New Campus Center and Lectures

The church building in Padova has recently been renovated, with the help of the Lake Cities church of Christ in Roanoke, TX and the Vicenza church of Christ in Italy, in order to become a Campus Ministry Center for the students of the University. A Campus Ministry Center is a new concept for European University students, and is already proving to be worth the investment. Students are already reaching out to use it as a place of study, respite, and a home-away-from-home as they are miles away from their countries of origin.

Another outreach effort that the Italians in Vicenza have already put into place is to invite American professors to come to the church building to speak on a certain topic and to invite students from the University to attend. This is a way that the students will be exposed to the building, get to meet us, and hear about the free English classes that we'll offer and all the other events we'll be organizing and hosting as well.

To see scholars and professors talking positively about Jesus is a welcomed suprise to these students as they think the two worlds of higher education and religion don't overlap.

Bible Studies and LST

Our main evangelistic outreach will be to offer free conversational English classes by using Let's Start Talking materials (LST for short) and the Bible with our students. Many of the people we'll meet have either never opened a Bible, or they haven't opened one in a long time, due to the Catholic church's influence.

We will also be inviting and hosting individuals and groups from the States who want to help in having these lessons with interested students. There are several graduate and undergraduate students who are eager to begin studying the Bible, but since there aren't full-time workers in Padova yet they have been studying with whoever can come for a short time from the States. This has still been a good thing, but often times there could be several months that pass without any sort of follow up or continued studies. That reminds me of this passage in Matthew's account of the Gospel:

"...the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest

to send out laborers into his harvest.”

-Matthew 9: 37 & 38

LST Poster hanging up in the church building during the lecture.

Community Evangelism

Another main form of outreach will be to be out in the community to meet people. This is an extremely fruitful way of meeting people and gaining students who want to practice their English, and in turn are almost always interested in learning about the Bible as well. When we are out in the community, just giving someone a smile and saying "How are you?" can spark up a conversation and lead to setting up a time to meet. If you know our boys, they are very social and they love saying hi to everyone, so we naturally strike up conversation that way as well.

Also because of our social babies, we have the opportunity to meet other families with young kids, and one thing that Wife is excited to do is teach the children's Bible classes. We are working with a couple of churches from the Dallas/Fort Worth area to develop curriculum for this exciting work of reaching families around Padova. We are looking forward to inviting people into our home for studies, game nights, dinners, or kids play dates. We know that many Italians are nervous to step foot inside a place of worship, due to their upbringing, so making our home a place of comfort and hospitality is very high on our priority list.

Conclusion

We are so excited for all of these opportunities to spread the Gospel in Padova and throughout Italy. We are also thrilled that the Italians have initiated all this work and have put so much thought and effort and planning into all of it. We are so happy to be welcomed by them to work along side them in their love for their fellow citizens.

Thank you all who have encouraged us and supported us in all this transition that we've been going through. Your continued prayers and financial support are invaluable as we continue to raise funds for this work, and stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks as we share the ongoing preparations and progress.

"Greet all your leaders and all the saints.

Those who come from Italy send you greetings."

Hebrews 13:24