Serving the Strong Tower in the city of the leaning tower
An insight into church planting and reaching out to students in Pisa, by Michel Di Feliciantonio.
I live in a city which features one of the world’s most famous landmarks. Alongside New York’s Statue of Liberty, Paris’ Eiffel Tower, Sydney’s Opera House, and Rome’s Colosseum, Pisa’s Leaning Tower is one of the world’s most recognised symbols. Everyone I have talked to knows it.
Italy is full of great buildings; full of ancient towers. What makes our tower so unique is not its size or height, nor its adornment or bell, but rather the fact that it is leaning. This unique feature was obviously not intended. What makes Pisa famous is a crooked tower: a human effort that turned out to be flawed, imperfect. And yet people around here are so proud of this imperfect tower.
That is a common feature of humankind, who proudly rise in rebellion against God, thinking that their crooked nature and leaning trajectory is something worthy. But when Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us, we saw his glory and realised that our self-righteousness was incomparable with his glory. Our eyes were opened by his light, and we tasted the goodness of the gospel. We realised that there is only one strong, straight tower:
‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.’
Proverbs 18:10
For us who have been made righteous by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, not only is the name of the Lord a strong tower where we individually take shelter, but the local church, our family, also becomes a small tower – an outpost of his kingdom that lives out his gospel, light, and glory.
The Need in Pisa
That is why we have planted a new church in Pisa. Like many other cities in Italy, there are very few churches in Pisa, and it is surrounded by a number of highly populated residential areas with no church at all. The need is huge!
Pisa is also home to one of the biggest universities in Italy, with over 40,000 students who are largely unreached and who are our main target group, alongside local families. Our hope is that we may have the opportunity to share the gospel with those people who have never been exposed to it before. And we believe that this happens at its best through local churches and church plants.
Chiesa Cristiana La Torre (The Tower Christian Church) was officially launched in January 2019, with financial support provided through Union Mission. Our style is quite informal and relational. We have started our work here with simple dinners in our homes followed by discussions on biblical passages. We have then organised a variety of different events in the community: from American Thanksgiving meals to visits to nursing homes; from surveys among students to Christmas parties. The pandemic has given us the opportunity to try new things, like podcasts or online events. Some things have worked well, others less so, but through it all we have learnt that often we are not able to discern exactly what is happening behind the scenes and understand what occasions, people, and messages God decides to use by his grace.
The soil is hard to work because of a mixture of Catholic nominalism, a strong socialistic and atheistic voice, and a growing postmodern pressure. And yet we are confident that our all-knowing and all-loving Father is leading us and giving us exactly what we can handle, while he continues to grow us, as a church, in his image.
We are confident that our all-knowing and all-loving Father is leading us and giving us exactly what we can handle, while he continues to grow us, as a church, in his image.
Highs and Lows
Church planting is incredibly hard and exhausting and at the same time exciting and life-giving. In these few years we have welcomed with joy people whom God brought into our community, and we have said goodbye with tears, and sometimes disbelief, to people who have left. We have prayed for leaders to form a plurality of elders with the pastor, and have not seen that prayer answered yet. In January we rejoiced for the appointment of our first deacon and we celebrated even more, in May, for our first baptism.
Chiesa Cristiana La Torre is a church that lives out the gospel in the heart of Pisa. Our prayer is that, through the church, Christ, our strong and straight tower, may be glorified among people who are dwelling in the shadow of a leaning tower.
Our prayer is that, through the church, Christ, our strong and straight tower, may be glorified among people who are dwelling in the shadow of a leaning tower.
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