Spring Training at ITA

The month of April at ITA has witnessed the beginning of a new season of training, spring training, in Italy. Classes have begun again in what is our third and final year of pastoral training in three cites, three cities actually, in southern, central, and northern Italy, Messina, Rome, and Mantova.

This year the men learn to go from exegesis to exposition. Moving from one discipline to the next, while attempting not to lose sight of the main point of the text, is never a simple process. The training involves practice, practice, and more practice.

Hence, the year operates like a series of consecutive preaching labs each time the classes meet. The final class is the final exam. Students preach twice before peers and professors (two) listening and grading. The criteria sought after for a passing grade is essentially good content and good communication. Does the sermon relfect the authorial intent and doctrines discussed in the passage? Is the sermon interesting, preached with a logical flow of thought and conviction.

This may sound like very familiar training and work done in sermon preparation regularly in many churches perhaps around the world and among many pastors. This may also sound like the common type of preaching heard Sunday in and Sunday out, once again, in several countries around the world, particularly in local churches in the United States, and among many pastors.

In Italy, however, this is not common. It is quite uncommon preaching, both preparation and delivery. Much will be topical and devotional. Sermon prep will lack the theology of the passage. It will not reflect the context. It will also risk being content light. Much of the preaching heard will perhaps be communicated in a manner that does not possess a flow of logic. It will not ultimately aim at giving the

In fairness, the church culture in Italy has historically been driven by a philosophy of ministry that has not aimed at expositional preaching and teaching. It has generally not viewed the local church, especially Sunday morning worship, as a time of equipping the saints.

Rather, church gatherings have been considered much more from an evangelistic mind set, as evangelistic outreach moments. In addition, the majority of the men preaching and teaching in local churches, be they elders or in church leadership of some form, have secular employment beyond local church duties and pastoral ministry. The time, naturally, to invest in accurately handling the word of truth, is much less than the average pastor in full-time pastoral work.

Italian Theological Academy is privileged to be in God’s good providence called to serve the Italian Church and local men of God, striving to be faithful, at such a time as this.