LA SFIDA DI ELIA: A VISION TO REACH ITALY

Leia and I have been preparing for a youth and young adult initiative to sweep Italy. The Challenge of Elijah was birthed out of a prophetic dream and a word from the Lord, which came to John Cava of F.I.R.E. School of Ministry about a year ago. This vision for Italy was burning in the hearts of several leaders and missionaries like ourselves, who have embraced the vision and plan and we are preparing to run forward.

The Italian Church still struggles deeply due to a very slow growth. More and more young Italians fall into drugs, homosexuality, alcoholism, crime, etc. While idolatry is growing, true worship is weak. While mysticism is exploding, true intimacy with the Creator is hard to find. While anger and confusion are rising, holy desperation for a move of God Almighty is wearing thin. While Islam and other religions are spreading through the country, authentic Christianity seems to be loosing the battle... But the Bible says, "Where sin increased, grace increased all the more" (Romans 5:20). This is why God is challenging the young generation to live a life that glorifies God.

Just as Elijah challenged Israel to choose between the Lord and Baal (1 Kings 18), God is challenging the Italian Church to consecrate their lives to Him. Just as Elijah "made it harder" for God by pouring water on the altar before he asked Him to send His fire from heaven, we have high expectations for this generation and believe that it is possible for them to be saved. Also just as God challenged Elijah to believe that the rain will come after the drought, He is challenging the whole Church to believe that He will pour out His Spirit again in Italy. "The Challenge of Elijah" is therefore a call to believe that God will visit Italy and come in all of His glory and holiness and bring drastic change throughout the nation.

Churches have done what they could to keep their young people. We do not pretend to be better than them or to have a better heart than them. We do believe that God is revealing to us a new way to reach this generation. While going to church is "boring" for the new generation, God is showing us to BE the church in their homes and among their friends.

"La Sfida di Elia" (the Italian translation of   "The Challenge of Elijah") is a service to the Church of Italy to bring unity among the young people across the country and to use their potential. Our goal is " to win, " " to equip " and " to send ."   Our strategy is to start " Jesus Clubs " all over Italy.

A "Jesus Club" is a group of friends who hang out together. The Christian(s) of the group will be responsible for talking about Jesus and salvation with their friends and lead them to the Lord (" to win "). We will train them to be disciples (" to equip "), and to be able to start other "Jesus Clubs" (" to send ") so they then can disciple other young people. Besides that, the "Jesus Clubs" will have a strong mandate to reach out to other young people, start new friendships, and make new disciples. The means for this mandate will vary from one-on-one ministry, street evangelism, Internet broadcasting, and even mass outreaches.

Depending on the location of the "Jesus Club" it will be decided whether the Club will turn into a cell group as part of an existing local church or to start a new house church with the group of new Christians.

The key of the project is that it is a service to the Church. We want to work with the local churches and their leaders so that we may reach the young people for a common purpose- to see this generation redeemed and the local churches grow in number and maturity. We also believe that the Lord is joining the generations in co-laboring to bring a spreading passion and church planting movement across Italy. He wants to do this using missionaries and nationals together, "turning the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers" (Malachi 4:6).

Let's take on the challenge and believe that God is starting some mighty things in Italy!