Bible institute sees addition of new textbook and greater opportunities to train church leaders.

Italy (MNN) — Rome, Italy is known to be the center of Catholicism, but for Evangelicals, Italy is in great need of the Gospel.

Training pastors and church leaders in Italy for 20 years, Greater Europe Mission’s Paul Currin has recently developed a first edition in exegesis to help with that training. Currin says it was a great need: “There’s very little from an evangelical point of view published and available in Italy. So for each of courses that we teach at the Italian Bible Institute, we basically need to develop our own textbook.”

The new textbook on exegesis will be a great benefit to the church leaders in Italy, and Currin says, “It’s a real satisfaction to know that that’s now available to Italian believers who really want to learn to dig deeper in God’s Word.”

GEM is excited to see Italian believers growing and reaching out, says Currin, “Our students are constantly out evangelizing as part of their Christian service assignments. The typical Italian believer has much more of a vision for evangelism as a local church and as an individual than we would possibly imagine.”

The institute is impacting lives for the Gospel, and Currin is encouraged to see it firsthand. “The beautiful thing about that for me as a teacher is to see our materials – you know exactly where he is in a course, because he takes what he’s learning and converts it immediately into ministry in the local church, and people are blessed by that. And that’s a real encouragement to us.”

A lot of work goes into the course planning and development at the institute. Pray for God’s grace and provision to continue moving forward, especially in the area of electronic courses. Pray that God will continue using the Italian Bible Institute to impact lives and build His church in Italy. Pray for the students who are actively involved in ministry, for growth, development and maintaining a balanced lifestyle.