Overview of Italy
Italy is a country of 60 million people with only 1.3% evangelical Christian. However, of this 1.3% the vast majority are actually Americans, Brazilians, and Africans, not Italian people. In Northern Italy, the people group we often reach are the Friulian people. Only 0.1% of Friulian people are evangelical Christians. Most will say they are Roman Catholic but don't know who Jesus was or what he did to provide salvation for people.
Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and the eighth largest in the world. This prosperity presents a unique challenge for communicating the urgency of the gospel message. People who have abundant resources tend to be so consumed by material things that they are less willing to consider spiritual things and eternity. As Jesus said, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."
While Italy as a nation is largely unreached, the most spiritually destitute region is northern Italy. This is where the Friulian people live and where we share the gospel. Saints Equipped to Evangelize plants churches here where we connect new believers.