Change of Scenery in Italy

By Lavinia Graziano

Lavinia Graziano is a member of Trinity Church, and in May 2009 she decided that she needed a new challenge! So she contacted family friends in Naples, Italy and arranged to volunteer in a Pentecostal church members of her family attend. Here she shares her experiences of her three months in Aversa near Naples.

Linking Up With Pastor Remo

IIn May 2009 I decided to launch myself into something completely different to my life in England, and headed off to Italy for three months.  Being of Italian origin, I’m fortunate enough to have family in Italy I could stay with – I saw this trip as a great opportunity to practise the Italian language and eat plenty of delicious, real Italian food, and that I did!   But there was another objective to my trip.  In 2001 by father stumbled across a church in my mother’s hometown of Aversa, a small town just north of Naples.  The name of the church is Chiesa Nuova Pentecoste and was founded by Pastor Remo Cristallo in 1973. It has since grown to about 2000 members; for a nation that is predominately Catholic this was quite a find!  So on my visit to Italy, I wanted to have a chance to see for myself what the church was like.

After my parents met Pastor Remo for the first time, they worked hard to establish links with Trinity Church in England, and in time forged a God-centred friendship that has since continued to develop. Little did I know that this relationship would make a way for me later on.  Furthermore, in 2007 Pastor Remo came to visit Trinity and preached in the church in England, and mamy found his message inspiring and challenging.

Settling In

After numerous phone conversations with Pastor Remo before I left, I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to work in the church playschool for two days a week.  And to prevent myself from eating too much pizza and ice-cream on my days off I also managed to secure a number of one-to-one English lessons for various family friends; this provided a great way to meet new people and help them learn English, and also to earn some useful Euros.  So on 6th May I was all set for my journey to Italy!

On my first day at the playschool, I was greeted by Pastor Remo with open arms and the traditional Italian greeting of two kisses on both cheeks!  He welcomed me into his office and there we chatted about why I was here and what I wanted to get out of the experience.  Pastor Remo told me about the young people in the church and how he has a real vision for them. He went on to say that there is a real focus on this group not only because they are the church of tomorrow, but because it is important for them to have a place to turn to, somewhere they can find faith and hope to help them deal with all that life has to throw at them.

A Passion For Young People

He clearly has a real passion to reach the young people.  We met on common ground as his heart mirrored much of the work at my church in England; the young people at Nuova Pentecoste are a major focus and the church is working hard to establish a support network to encourage and guide them.  Pastor Remo also spoke about numerous building projects coming up. I’m hoping that some time in the future, some young people from Trinity Church can give their time to help with these projects, but we’ll have to wait and see what opportunities God opens up there.

Going forward, there is a real keenness and enthusiasm for Nuova Pentecoste and Trinity Church to work together, to create links and build a relationship geared towards the work of God; one of those links is through young people.  It would be great, at some point in the future for young people from Italy came over to England to see what God’s doing here, in churches all over Essex and the UK, and likewise folk from England to go to Italy. It's great to see how different churches work and to meet fellow Christians. 

Working in the Playgroup

After our chat Pastor Remo gave me a quick tour of the church building.  The church itself is a converted furniture factory with church services taking place in the basement in order to accommodate the congregation in the hot summer months.   Church offices and the playschool itself are located above ground and this would be my office for the next three months. The playschool team is great, and the director of the playgroup is one of Pastor Remo's daughters. The team is made of both permanent employees and voluntary helpers, and on a full day there are up to 20 children. The work was hard, being on your feet the whole day and occupying the children was pretty much non-stop.

Increasing Faith and Enthusiasm

However, the children were wonderful, full of beans and character – they did keep me on my toes the whole time but seeing them smile back at you was special and rewarding.  I forged a great friendship with the team and the girls working in the playgroup made the experience even more worthwhile.  We had many giggles, singing and eating together, frequently spending our lunch hours talking about God and the church. I found this a great opportunity to share about the things of God, the church in England and what God has done in my life. It was a great chance to exchange stories and I found my faith and enthusiasm for wanting to go the right way and contribute towards God's church increase more and more. 

Free and Open Prayer

Church services at Nuova Pentecoste take place over the weekend, one on Saturday night and two on Sunday.  Throughout my stay I was really glad to attend both Saturday and Sunday services.  Like my home church in Brentwood, the preaching is very biblically based, sermons were scripture led with emphasis on teaching the word of God, providing guidance, hope and encouragement. 

There were a few differences to Pentecostal churches in England that I did note; all the women wore head dresses and I believe this was more of a cultural than a doctrinal difference. But it applied to all women, both young and old.  In addition, during the service many members of the congregation would come out the front and pray into a microphone. This was totally unexpected and I was taken aback at how open and forward they were in praying and sharing in church; English people are much more reserved!  But a common theme was becoming apparent in most of these public prayers: a real heart for the young people, both Christian and non-Christian, further emphasising Pastor Remo's drive to reach this portion of the population. Many of the ushers were young, I was really touched by this – that’s a really practical way for young folk to be actively involved in the church.

God’s Tangible Presence

The singing was lively and many of the songs were familiar, so I was able to join in, even if I did make some words up!  There was lots of praise and worship which often made way for members of the congregation to speak in tongues.  In fact, one Friday night the church arranged a meeting specifically for young people only.  During the singing, as if one by one, the young folk started bursting into tongues; I was really pleasantly surprised to see young people my age speaking in tongues. No-one was holding back and you could really feel God's presence. For me this really was a special night and I give thanks to God that I was able to be there and be a part of it. 

Fellowship and Friendship

Every Saturday after church all the young people would go out together, usually for a pizza and you never struggle to find a pizzeria in Italy!  On the first Saturday I joined the group, there were 89 of us, all aged between 18 and 30 years old.  We took over entire pizzerias at times and I quickly become accustomed to eating pizza at midnight (it's quite normal to have your dinner very late in Italy!) But the thing I enjoyed the most about these times was fellowshipping with like-minded people who live life to the full and had a true desire to do what was right and what God wanted in their lives. I forged great friendships with many of the young folk and the more time I spent with them, the more our friendships grew. What I really appreciated was how welcome they made me feel; they included me into their group very quickly and made me feel like I’d known them all my life. I really feel this is a good lesson I’ve learnt – that it’s so important to make new people in any church feel welcome and part of the fellowship.  In Italy, I was the new person and it was actually quite a scary thing going to place where you don't know anyone!  I realise that feeling welcome in a new place is a two way thing, but I feel it's so important to put the effort in to make someone new feel welcome from day one.

Aversa Gospel Celebration Week

During my final week in Italy Chiesa Nuova Pentecoste held a week long open air conference called the “Aversa Gospel Celebration Week.”  I managed to get along to some of the meetings and each night there were different pastors speaking and singers from various churches across Italy. It was amazing to see so many people in one place, and on the first night there were nearly 1000 people there – it really was amazing.  I even managed to get my cousin to come along. She’s a Catholic but even she was moved by the whole experience, and I was thankful that she got to see the church and understand a little more about Christianity and my beliefs. That night we didn't go to bed until 2am, because we were just chatting about the things of God.

Home From Home

I really feel that my time in Italy was invaluable. I loved every minute and I've learnt so much about myself, and God.  My visit made me realise that there are churches all over the world that share the same values and principles, and where God is really working. It was also amazing and encouraging that this work of God is in my mum's home town!  I was very fortunate to be able to give time to the church in Aversa; I was given a great opportunity to see God's work in another country, to work with children, to meet new people and start friendships that I hope will grow and grow.  Going to Italy was like being at home from home: the church, family, friends, both old and new, but of course with a lot more mouth-watering food and sunshine thrown in for good measure! I’m looking forward to going there again very soon.