| Italy?...... Missionaries?...... Italy? |
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OK so I have been out of it lately and now I am back with new boundaries and a renewed sense of priorities in my life. I would like to share with you all a cause that is near to my heart.
The Righetti Family
The Righetti Family consists of a family of 4 who lived here in California and felt the call to sell everything they owned and move to Italy to spread the good news to a country kind of over looked, as far as Evangelical missionaries are concerned (that is just my opinion). When I heard of these people I said.... ITALY?!? Why ITALY? I always associate the word Missionaries to places like Africa and South America and places that are third-world. The Lord really opened my eyes to other people who need to be reached before the Second coming of the Lord. And then I sat in on a presentation they did for my sister Clara's Girls of Faith bible study and heard their testimony and their call. I saw the passion and compassion in their hearts for people to not just know of God but to know Him personally. They are so dedicated they have saved and saved up and sold everything they owned just to go live and pursue people and ministry in Italy.
They have moved their children from the comfortable lives they lived here in California for a life of wholeheartedness. With a definite plan in set for their lives they have set off to train with a Ministry called CRM Leaders Who train missionaries to come along side the churches and plant new churches and spread the gospel.
I had no Idea how small the amount of Christian Evangelical population there was in Italy and that it consisted of mainly people of other countries who needed a place to worship when they moved to Italy and not very many Italians.
According to ECMI.org
Today Italy has almost 60 million inhabitants
Spiritual Climate
"To be Italian is to be Catholic" but many don't want anything to do with spiritual things.
How do you reach a nation who are Catholic by birth and deeply skeptical of alternative expressions of the Christian faith? This is the problem posed to those who work in Italy. Catholic traditions and mindset permeate every aspect of national and personal life, but only 5-10% of those professing to be Catholic actually practice their faith. The church has lost millions of adherents to New Age thinking, cults, the occult and materialistic secularism, so that even the Pope has stated that Italy is a mission field. Religious freedom has been met with indifference and church growth has been slow. Moreover, the Protestant witness is weak and divided, with most congregations being small and ineffective.
Religion: (Operation World 2001) Catholic 77.4%Non-Religious 20.0%Islam 2.4%Protestant 0.6% |
I know that I can relate to knowing of God but not knowing Him at all. Tradition was always something ingrained in me but relationship was non existent. I never even knew that was possible outside of the priests. I am not bashing Catholicism but I am advocating for people to come to know the whole truth about God and come to know Him intimately and personally.
So if the Spirit leads you, Check out their website and help their cause or maybe even send up a prayer or encourage them, send them an e-mail if you feel led. I know that they would appreciate and could use any and all of our support that we can.
Click below to Go to their site
P.S. The Girls of Faith (8-13 bible study) were moved to action and they decided to sponsor them Monthly and to do it, they were going to fundraise every month so that they can send their support. So if you see them selling homemade beaded bracelets or selling singing grams for your sweetie or some other kind of get rich quick scheme (just kidding never schemes) would you consider helpin' them out?
Thank You so much for reading this through! And May The Lord Bless You. Love, Amy Ure na
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