Reaching Muslims in Italy
Interview with Francesco Maggioby Nancy Balma
Francesco Maggio is executive director of Arab World Ministries in Italy, an evangelistic work to Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East. Francesco was trained through the work of George Verwer, the director of Operation Mobilization (OM), and was sent to a Bible school in England.
Nancy Balma recently returned to the United States after serving with the Italian IFES movement for many years
NB: How did you begin your work through Arab World Ministries?
FM: My work began in 1991 during the evangelistic campaign at Milan, called Love Europe, lasting two weeks, and organized by Operation Mobilization. I had been a Christian only two years. I had a desire to put my life on the right road.
I traveled to Holland to a conference like a small “Urbana” with many missionary stands. I heard the teaching of George Verwer to a crowd which was like the crowd here at Urbana. He preached to young people the idea to make lives ready to serve the Lord, minds oriented to serve the Lord which might include missionary work.
I responded to God, “Yes, Lord, I am ready to serve. I will go where you want me to serve.”
NB: Were you already thinking that you would have to learn the Arabic language or to study English?
FM: No! With my little mind, I was only thinking to serve in Italy!
NB: Were you thinking that you had to study at a Biblical school?
FM: Yes, I went to a Biblical school in England. Then I went to work in an evangelistic campaign in Milan. I never thought of preaching to Muslims! I preached in the streets to Italians. In Milan I met people, Arabs, who never have the same possibility to hear the gospel. I said to myself, “Who speaks to these people?”
I believed that God put me in an area where the people needed to hear the gospel. I discovered that people who hear a message, spoken with enthusiasm, with passion, and with all the heart and mind, they will listen. They needed to hear a message given with this passion.
I began to hear the calling the God was giving me. I began to see Arabs opening their hearts to the Lord Jesus. I began to hear the confirming of the church. My church in Milan began to ask me to be the reference point between the church and the Arabic people in our area.
NB: Are you also saying that the young people of the church began to see you as a leader in presenting the gospel to the Arabs?
FM: Exactly. I became the public preacher of the gospel with the support of my church. I began to ask the Lord if I was becoming a worker among the Muslims. It’s not always enough to feel a burning in your heart, a compassion for a work. There was also the church that recognized my gift in the work.
NB: You have been speaking of what was happening in 1991-1992. Would you share one or two incidents of the last 15 years that were truly the work of the Lord, using you?
FM: One time I was in Tunisia; I was there to learn the Arabic language. I met two Algerians, called Berbers. The Lord had already begun his work in their hearts. They had fled from Algeria because of their own problems. They had seen the film entitled, Jesus. At that time, I didn’t know enough Arabic. After seeing the film and understanding the gospel, they gave their lives to Jesus.
NB: What happened later to these two Algerians?
FM: I don’t know. One of them emigrated to the United States and the other returned to Algeria.
NB: Please tell us one limitation that you have to face in your work with the Arabs.
(Francesco) The lack of Italian workers. When a European comes to work among Arabs in Italy, he first has to learn the Italian language and the Italian culture. Then he has to learn Arabic and the Arabic culture in Italy. This means many years of work. Thus we look for Mediterranean workers. Workers from Spain, Portugal, France, Greece, or North Africa can adapt to Italian culture and Arabic culture more quickly than the Northern Europeans. We try to recruit Mediterraneans. We are Latins; we can understand each other better. Our thoughts are similar. We can work together more quickly. But if someone from the USA or North Europe speaks Italian, he can come to work with us.
NB: In your work do you always use the word “Arab”? Or do you also use the word “Muslim”?
FM: We can use more precisely the words “North African Muslim.” The Muslims who are living in Italy are usually North Africans.
NB: Are you saying that the work, Arab World Ministries, is usually done among North Africans?
FM: No, in the work, Arab World Ministries, Arabs are from North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
What are we doing now? We are often working in zones of high risk in Italy. The work I do is often during short term evangelistic campaigns. Before Christmas this year (2006) we preached the gospel in a risky area of Padova, where some Muslims sell drugs, where some are pimps who send and protect prostitutes. When we got the permission at Padova to work among the Muslims, the political parties tried to remove our permission. But the Lord, who gives us the vision, also gives us the power to remove the darkness. Finally they gave us the permission and they placed us between the mosque and the hang out for the drug dealers.
First we went to the Imam, the leader of the mosque, to come to visit our stand. Not only did he see our work in front of the mosque, but he declared, “What good work!” At the end of our evangelistic campaign, the Imam invited us to a dinner in the mosque. They gave us a dinner of couscous with them. Of course, they wanted to convince us to become Muslim. I helped my colleagues know the best ways to respond to the Muslim teaching. We were able to re-affirm the deity of Christ, the sonship of Jesus, and the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. My group was so happy to present the gospel inside the mosque and to give Bibles to the people who stopped outside to speak with us. We were so grateful to have had a dinner with the most respected leaders of the mosque. God uses us in the most unexpected ways!
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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