We believe that a Missional life is not just for the select few, but for everyone who calls themselves a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus' famous last words were to go into the world and make disciples of all nations.
During these weekends we went to a few different places to inspire young people to live a life of Missions. To inspire them to share their faith with the people around, and to invite them to join in with the epic adventure that is called: the great commission! As a group of YWAM Trentino staff, we were joined by 3 Italians from the past DTS. It was great to have Italians mobilizing Italians for missions!
Sabaoth Bergamo, Italy:
On Sunday, March 17th, we got to run the church service at Sabaoth Bergamo. It was fully in Italian, no translating, even though our worship leader was Canadian. It was beautiful to see a church with multiple nationalities worshiping all united in Italian, carrying a heart for this nation. While worshiping both the pastor and a member of our team got the same impression: To to join in with Heaven, worshiping all in our own mother tongue. On earth as in heaven, we had at least 6+ languages being sung. This was a beautiful time of worship and transitioned into a message from a past Italian DTS student, Catarina. She shared on her experience in missions. It is important to have Jesus at the centre of your life. He is the one who satisfies. We closed off the church service with a time of responding to the call of God, ministering to the congregation and praying for God to send us.
Celerina, Switzerland:
On Friday, March 22nd, we came together again for another exciting adventure! We had been invited by Ursin, another student from the past DTS, to come to their youth service. So we went and enjoyed the amazing hospitality of the Adank family: A True Swiss experience with the famous Zopf (a white buttery fresh bread). Saturday, March 23rd, was the day of the event. It was incredible to see what God is doing in our neighboring nation Switzerland. So many young people came to worship God and be encouraged, to continue to live for Him! Our team was able to serve in helping lead worship and sharing testimonies during the service. Ursin delivered a very encouraging message on how to live in the time we're living in! Lots of young people from this event were sharing how they had been impacted by YWAM. A few even expressed a big desire to go into a life of full-time missions, potentially through doing a DTS.
Varese, Italy
On Sunday, March 24th, we packed up early in the morning and departed Switzerland to drive down to Varese, to a youth group we’ve been able to serve in the past as YWAM Trentino. This youth group is very special, all of them having such a heart for mission and carrying such a pure desire for knowing God. We started off with a lunch together, and share life around the table. We got to reconnect with old friends, and make some new ones! After lunch, instead of giving another sermon, we had a live panel on Missions. In a more interactive style, we got to share about missions, inspiring them with stories and testimonies of how we’ve seen God at work in the Nations. We also got to share how we’ve seen God work in Italy, and through that got to invite them into a life of missions. Afterwards we finished with a time of worship and comissioning. We got to pray over every youth and tell them that they are not just spectators, but can be participants in the Great Comission.
Verona, Italy
On Good Friday March 29th, we gathered with several churches in Verona. We had a time of intercession and encouragement, where Tom got to preach. Got wants to use ordinary people for extraordinary things. We prayed for the event we had on the next day, Saturday March 30th. We went out to the streets of Verona to share about the resurrected Jesus. The beautiful thing was that we got to walk with young people and demonstrate how to do Evangelism and teach them on the go. So while we were sharing about Jesus, we got to teach young believers how to do so. Two birds in one stone!
Süd-Tirol, Italy
April 1st. The last event we got to attend was in Süd-Tirol. We went with 13 people from our base! It was a youth-night of a new movement that is happening in the German speaking part of Italy. It was great to connect with many new youth, and share that we are very close. God is doing something big in that area as many youth were gathered from different denominations and backgrounds. Sonia was invited to share her testimony on stage and it was very impactful. At the end we tried to hang out for as long as possible to meet new people and simply encourage them in following Jesus whole-heartedly.
All in all this was a very succesful month of mobilization. We are excited to see what God is doing and to keep inviting others to join in with the ride!