  Just got my photos back from our week in Rome, so I thought it might be a good time to set down some reflections on our time there. urlLink 24/7 Mission I think the trip helped me understand what it means to live a missionary lifestyle. Marco, Cinzia, Luca and Debora seem to have allowed the call to mission to permeate everything they do. So something as small as a trip on the Metro is an opportunity to speak to people and make conversations. These guys just don't stop. Luca took a few of use to the new Games Workshop one evening.
He had started playing Lord of the Rings games simply as a chance to build up links and relationships. Now I talk about that kind of thing; but doing it is very different. Before, I used to pray for opportunities to share God's love. Now I'm just desperate for courage to go with the ones that come up every minute of the day. God's kingdom grows in strange places. One of the coolest things we did is visit a refugee/asylum seekers camp on the outskirts of Rome.
It was a hard, poor place and people had very little. Some of the houses were just shacks. But at the centre of this community was a Church that looked well cared for and growing. God's kingdom was at work there, on the fringes of society and people were responsive to him. Talking to strangers isn't so bad If you do it in the right way. Asking questions, showing interest in peoples lives, finding out what they believe is actually quite good fun.
I don't think there was a single English speaking person I talked to that was not happy to share their beliefs with me. I left feeling that the best times I had were when it had been a conversation rather than a sermon. The sharing and challenging should be 2 way, not just one. We just need obedience, God strength is enough for the rest. Yeah, it sounds like a big cliche but this is what I learnt most of all. We can have big plans and schemes, or we can have nothing at all, it doesn't really matter.
Its doing what God says that is the key. The guys in Italy and trying to plant emerging generation church and it is growing. But along the way God's called them to do other stuff as well. We were in the refugee camp simply because Marco had felt called there and so had gone and built up strong friendships. God can mess up our plans and ideas. But its probably better to let him do that.
As a team, I think the days we saw the most happen were those that we were most tired and frazzled. Not because tired a frazzled is good, but because we had to just wing it on God - and he showed up. That is what has been the biggest encouragement and challenge to me coming home. To not try to rely on my own abilities but instead rely on God's grace, cos that is enough. 
