CMS missionary Gillian Law is the staff worker in Rome with the Gruppi Biblici Universitari (GBU), where she models evangelism to students and disciples them. Here, Gillian reflects on the importance and challenges of local church partnerships.

“These connections and relationships must be built on trust, which doesn’t happen overnight.” 

Strong, sincere partnerships between the GBU and local churches are so important. We hope to serve them by raising up university students and graduates in Italy, and we want their support, too! These connections are vital to our ministry efforts – but in Rome, they can sometimes be really challenging to build. 

Far and wide

The first challenge is simply that there are so many local churches. This year, we’ve had 21 students regularly participating in GBU Rome. Between them, they come from 19 different churches – and then there are the churches of the many occasional students! Planning church visits can be quite a juggle when there is only one Sunday in a week and I have other ministry commitments. And this is just for the congregations with which we already have a contact, in a city of over 1.6 million people. It’s a big task!

Exercising patience

Another challenge is that most of Rome’s churches are either independent or in small networks with another one or two churches. As a result, they can be hesitant to begin a partnership with external ministries. This reluctance is often (and understandably) because they don’t know enough about the GBU. Therefore, an important part of my job is to explain what GBU is and does – which takes time, as these connections and relationships must be built on trust, which doesn’t happen overnight.  

Even as we begin to build these relationships, it is counter-cultural in Italy to ask churches to financially support a ministry that is outside of their network – especially ones that are not project-based. But Italian ministry staff (like my recent GBU trainee Manuel) rely on the generosity of ongoing financial contributions for as long as they are serving the Lord through the GBU. I have adopted a few strategies to introduce myself to prospective partner churches, such as aiming to visit a potential partner church once a month which, given national holidays and summer break, is at most ten times a year.  

I also offer to meet a pastor or leader for a coffee to explain the ministry and intentions of the GBU and let them get to know me. Because many pastors have full time secular jobs and are unavailable outside of Sundays, leaving little time for coffee, it can be hard to line up our diaries, but when they can happen these meetings are mostly received well. 

Looking ahead

Whenever there are city-wide ministry events in Rome, I do my best to attend. I’m not a natural networker, and these events tend to be on Saturday nights – my day off! God continues to surprise me, though, always granting me energy and courage to participate. 

The GBU also runs Testimony and Thanksgiving evenings, where we invite church members to come and hear from students about what they have learned and done as part of the GBU. These evenings are a cause to rejoice and pray (as reported by those who attend)! It’s an ongoing challenge getting people to come along, but I’m always encouraged by those who do. 

I’ll continue to try different approaches in this new academic year. God strengthens me to be at peace with the elements of ministry that are hard but important! The Lord has his plan for the kingdom and is not bound by human limitations.  

PRAY

Pray with Gillian for deep, fruitful relationships with the GBU and local Roman churches. Ask for new financial supporters and church connections, especially to congregations with university students. Praise God for Gillian’s perseverance in seeing an Italy that knows Jesus.

To read more about Gillian’s work with the GBU and her ministry traineeship with Manuel, get in touch with your local branch for the November edition of Checkpoint!