Search Party has developed a field-based training course to be completed over the course of one year in Catania on the island of Sicily in Italy. This training is designed as a Phase 2 implementation based on the Phased Equipping Communities program promoted by 24:14 to prepare and transition mission workers who wish to engage immigrants and refugees who have come to Italy from unreached parts of the world such as West Africa, East Africa, North Africa, South Asia, and other regions.

Search Party has identified cities throughout Italy where we will send workers once they have finished their coursework where many refugees and immigrants have settled. We have prioritized the need for catalytic movement workers in these areas. This course has been developed to equip and prepare workers to move to those areas and meet this need by starting new disciple-making and church-planting movements.

Our training focuses on preparing the worker in the following ways:

• Intensive Italian language learning
• Daily practice of prayer and building a prayer movement
• Practical, hands-on Gospel sharing and discipleship of immigrant non-believers and believers
• Participating in active “Field 1” engagement programs and envisioning new programs based on anticipated needs in the worker’s final field
• Learning experientially by working together with mission team workers and local partners, both immigrants from multiple countries as well as Italian nationals.
• Dependency on God’s provision in daily life including perseverance through challenges, perseverance through suffering, and laying down of rights.
• Developing and reproducing leaders who can lead ministry work
• Introduction to the home countries and cultures that the immigrants come from and their reasons for immigrating to Europe
• Introduction to Islam, the religion of many of the non-Christian immigrants who have come to Italy.
• Biblical, reproducible church formation
• Development of your missional team by connecting with missional workers and local partners, understanding the need for the gifts of Jesus given to the church.

Throughout the worker’s time completing the course in Catania, we provide several periods of rest and reflection as well as times for honest feedback from leaders and others participating in the course.

If you would like to see the specific details of the course, you can do so on this document that walks through the course week-by-week showing the activities at each step along the way.

If you would like to learn more about partnering with Search Party and participating in this course in Catania, please get in touch with us using our Contact page.