Italy

Italy is home to roughly 59 million people spread across twenty regions, from the Alps in the north to Sicily in the south. It is a modern, educated, deeply relational culture built around family, food, and the town square.

We have been praying specifically for the region of Piedmont in northwestern Italy. Piedmont means “at the foot of the mountains” — the Alps surround much of the region, which borders France and Switzerland. It is home to white truffle hunting and to Fiat.

More than 4 million people live in Piedmont, and six of its cities have populations over 50,000. The largest is Turin, the fourth largest city in Italy, with a metro population of 2 million.

Italy is saturated with religion and starved of the gospel. Church buildings stand on nearly every corner, but there are very few independent, gospel-preaching Baptist churches. With over 75% of the population Roman Catholic, millions still need to hear a clear presentation of the biblical gospel — that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Piedmont is home to more than 4 million people without a single independent Baptist gospel-preaching church.

Branson’s grandpa was saved out of Roman Catholicism while he was serving in the Marines. Just as he received the true gospel of Christ, we are praying that God would open the eyes of many Italians to the gospel as well.

Our mission can be summarized in four words: Evangelize. Equip. Establish. Expand. We want to evangelize the lost by faithfully preaching and personally sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ; equip believers by teaching them the Word of God and helping them grow into mature disciples of Christ; establish New Testament, independent, gospel-preaching Baptist churches that can stand on their own and reach their communities; and expand by training men to start more churches to reach Italy for Christ.

After we complete deputation and arrive in Italy, we plan to give ourselves fully to language school. If we are going to communicate the gospel effectively and build real relationships with Italians, we need to learn their language well. We also plan to spend the first couple of years working alongside a veteran missionary as we learn the culture, the customs, and the practical side of living and ministering in Italy.

From there our goal is to build relationships with Italians, share the gospel with them, disciple those who trust Christ, and establish a local New Testament church. Once we have learned the language and culture we hope to host mission trips so Christians can see the need firsthand. We want to see churches planting churches, Italians reaching Italians, and the gospel furthered throughout Italy.