Article | Missions magazine

Groceries And The Bread Of Life: A Practical Ministry In Colle Di Val D’elsa, Italya

Feb 16, 2023
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By Charlotte Liotti

In Tuscany, Italy, the medieval town called Colle di Val d’Elsa— world famous for the production of crystal—consists of 21,541 inhabitants, including my family and me. Foreign-born people comprise almost 11 percent of the population. The majority are from Albania, Romania, Senegal, and Morocco. 

There has been a gospel witness here since 1984, first meeting in a private home. Then, shortly after we came to help in the work, in 1986, we opened a gospel hall. Our church has observed the poverty affecting nationals and foreigners alike—in our town and the country as a whole. 

Italy’s population is more than 59 million, with more than five million foreigners. According to Istat (Italy’s National Institute of Statistics), approximately 5.6 million people live in absolute poverty, and 8.8 million live in relative poverty. 

Essentials for families 
Our church has been involved in a food ministry for the past four years, to help families in need with food staples. Actually, it has been a gradual process. A young woman in the assembly, Frida, heard of a ministry through gathering food items plus gifts that a Christian association would then take to big cities and distribute personally to families. We all participated, bringing articles to be boxed and wrapped in Christmas paper. But we had various products left over, and we wondered whom we could help locally. So we contacted social services. 

To get us started, the mission we had helped initially sent someone to talk with the social workers since the Italian government recognizes the association. We received two or three families to start with. A social worker and people from the church met with one of the families and made a list of staple foods they needed. Everyone decided that each family would come to our church every two weeks with an appointment, and two believers would meet them. My family has given out food to the same family since the beginning. 

Our church now assists seven families. We don’t provide fresh food of any kind—only staples such as pasta, rice, sugar, flour, oil, coffee, packaged bread, cookies, and canned goods, including tuna fish, beans, tomatoes and tomato sauce, and shelf-stable milk. 

Creative expansion 
At the beginning, we bought what was needed with our money or asked for a refund from the church treasury. Then, after a couple of years, the government-recognized mission made an agreement with a chain supermarket so people can collect food from the shoppers. One Saturday every two or three months, teams of two or three people from our church spend three-hour shifts at the supermarket. (We have four shifts in total.) They give shoppers entering the store a list of items they can buy to be donated. Then, at the exit, someone collects the items. 

People have been very generous despite the COVID-19 crisis. They have donated an exuberance of pasta especially and articles not on our list for the regular families. So, when this surplus started happening, we had to think of how we could utilize it. From time to time, we ask social services for names of families that might benefit from a special gift. They give us the names and phone numbers of 25–30 people, and someone calls them to give them the date and hour to collect their bag of groceries. 

Obviously, our purpose in this ministry is two-fold: to help people in need, even in a small way, and to witness about the Lord Jesus Christ and His love. Most people stay for only a few minutes, so there hasn’t been much of a chance to interest them in spiritual conversation. We hope that, eventually, some will feel the need for Christ and come to Him for salvation. But I can tell you about one person who has felt the need, and for that, we rejoice.

Food and the Gospel for Mihaela
Social services gave us the name of Mihaela, a young Romanian woman who has quite a story to tell. She left her companion in one area of Italy to seek refuge with a Romanian whose name she found on Facebook. She came with a backpack and her 11-year-old daughter. (She also has a six-year-old daughter who is not under her custody.) Mihaela turned to social services, and eventually, a social worker put us in contact. Lucilla, a woman from our church, took a food package to Mihaela. 

Little by little, Mihaela showed interest in the Gospel. She told us how her mother prayed and read the Bible at home in Romania. As a child, Mihaela went to the Orthodox church with her mother but stopped going as she grew up. She led a life that was far from the Lord and suffered from depression and cancer, which led to fear. With Lucilla’s help, she realized she was like the lost sheep and needed to surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Now, Mihaela is a radiant Christian and trusts in the Lord despite her advanced stage four cancer. She had to move away from our area and lives in an institution with nuns until she can find a place of her own. Mihaela attends a church, and several believers take her to the hospital for chemotherapy and wherever else she needs to go, including to church meetings. This help is a great blessing, and we pray regularly that the Lord will sustain Mihaela and, if in His will, heal her from this terrible cancer and enable her to have her younger daughter with her again. 

Salt and light
As Christians, we desire to help others in a practical way as the Word of God exhorts us through Paul, James, John, and of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. As salt of the earth and light of the world, we want to be known as practicing Christians. Jesus said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) We are not the ones to be glorified for doing a few good works, but our heavenly Father is! 

Charlotte Liotti is commended from Curtis Gospel Chapel in Detroit, Michigan. She and her husband, Franco, serve in Italy.

Originally published in Missions magazine, February 2023. For more content, sign up for a free subscription (US) to Missions at CMML.us/magazine/subscribe.