5 Signs of hope for the Church

a) Increased, but limited, cooperation - with the formation of the Evangelical Alliance

b) A Christian magazine, Comunicazioni Cristiane, has done much to bridge the divisions within Italian Evangelicalism

c) The evangelistic efforts of the 1990s

d) The birth in 1998 of Italy's first interdenominational evangelical missionary movement AMEN

e) Vision for the future

6 The infamous Sicilian Mafia and Neapolitan Camorra have infiltrated every level of society

7 The dearth of mature Italian Christian leaders in Protestant churches at both the national and pastoral level is crippling the advance of the gospel

8 The most unreached sectors of the population:

a) Only 1,500 of Italy's 33,500 communities have an established evangelical witness

b) The northeastern Veneto Region with the cities of Venice, Padova and Vicenza has 4,437,000 people, but maybe no more than 38 churches and 2,000 evangelical Christians

c) Sardinia, a Mediterranean island with a limited autonomy, has 1,660,000 people with their own language and culture

d) The wealthy, materialistic northern cities of Milan, Turin, Bologna and Venice have few churches

e) The 1,600,000 students in 48 universities are a needy mission field

f) An estimated 400,000 heroin addicts, with an increasing incidence of HIV+ infection, pose a desperate and demanding challenge only beginning to be met by Evangelicals

Peoples

Indigenous 94.7%; Non-indigenous peoples 5.3%.

Literacy 98%. Official language Italian, but vigorous use of nine regional languages akin to Italian. All languages 33. Languages with Scriptures 7Bi 3NT 14por.

Economy

Highly industrialized, Italy is the world's 7^th largest economy. HDI 0.900; 19^th/174. Public debt 125% of GNP. Income/person $20,170 (64% of USA).

Politics

United as a single state in 1870.

Religion

Roman Catholicism ceased to be the state religion in 1984.

Churches in Italy

Missionaries from Italy

217 in 19 agencies to 18 countries

Missionaries to Italy

549 in 94 agencies from 29 countries

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Geography

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Area 301,000 sq.km. A long, mountainous peninsula that dominates the central Mediterranean Sea.

Population (2000) 57,297,886 -0.01%AGR

Capital Rome 3.8 mill.

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