urope and Italy are often not considered a valid or needy mission field, since it is “post-Christian”.  But in reality, there is tremendous need for the Gospel in Italy and all of Europe.    Italy has only about 1.1% evangelical believers.  While the Catholic church is perceived to be strong in Italy, it has unfortunately become only a cultural identity, and few Italians are practicing Catholics.

In Northern Italy there are even fewer true Biblical believers in Christ.  And at the universities and among the young people of Italy there is very little Christian witness and very few Christians.  In Torino there is an estimated 100,000 university students.  Apart from the ministry of Il Rifugio, there is one other Christian group called GBU (Gruppi Bibblici Universitari) with about 20 regular participants.

A further detailed description of the spiritual needs in Italy can be found in Operation World,  The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation, by Jason Mandryk.  Below is an excerpt from the 7th edition which was released in 2010.

Spiritual Needs and Prayer Requests for Italy

This information can also be found online at Operation World website.

Recently we have been pursuing opportunities in the Western Balkan countries.  There is tremendous needs in all of Europe, but especially in the Western Balkan countries.  Below is a graph showing the number of evangelicals in the US as compared to Europe, Italy and the Western Balkan countries.  You can see some ideas concerning this needy part of Europe on the page “Balkan Peace in Jesus”.

This information can also be found online at Operation World website.