Through efforts of the College Church of Christ and dedicated men and women of the church, the Avanti Italia program was founded in 1986 and has been an active mission for 26 years, serving the people of Italy by teaching them English and using God’s word to do it.
Avanti Italia is a two-year mission program for newly graduated college students who are passionate about forming relationships and teaching others about the love of Christ. The phrase “Avanti Italia” means “Forward Italy.” This phrase is significant to the program because the teachers at the Bible School spend each day forming relationships with their students in hopes that they might be able to come to share their faith and love for Christ with them.
“The relationships that you make are what is the most memorable,” said Emily Woodroof, a former Avanti worker. “I have people that I’ve met there that I never would have met otherwise and I will probably be friends with for the rest of my life.”
Woodroof graduated from Harding in May 2008 with a degree in French, worked for just over two years with the Italian people and is back to get her master’s in French and Italian.
In addition to teaching English, Avanti workers are involved in many opportunities to help the local church to reach out to its community.
“Our main goal is outreach to the communities that we work in,” Woodroof said. “We work with the churches that are in the towns that we live in and try to be really involved with what the church has going on to booster growth.”
With every year that passes, a new team is trained and sent to Italy to begin this new chapter of their lives. Senior youth and family ministry major Megan Lawson is a member of the 2012 Avanti Team leaving in January 2013.
“I heard about the program freshman year and thought it sounded cool, but then really thought about it last semester when [Associate Professor of Bible] Shawn Daggett always talked about Italy in our Missionary Anthropology class,” Lawson said. “Then, [a representative] came and talked to my Living World Religions class, and I started talking to my friend Kelly who works at the Bible school now and made the decision to be a part of it too.”
Stepping into a new culture can prove to be a challenge for someone who has never experienced a certain lifestyle, but Lawson said her passion for reaching the Italian people would not be shaken by this uncertainty.
“I’m just excited for the opportunity to build and have relationships with people who come from a different background and different culture than me and just be able to share life with them,” Lawson said.
For a college graduate, putting a career on hold for two years to work with a program like Avanti Italia is a big commitment. However, the participants said they hope that it is one that will leave God’s footprint on the hearts of many.
