Hello there,

I am Luca. I come from Italy, and I have just graduated from the University of Manchester in BA Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. I have now been awarded a Trustee Scholarship from Princeton Theological Seminary to proceed my studies with a two-year Master of Arts in Theological Studies commencing September 2022. I consider this a privilege as I aspire to bring my heart and intellect to the service of God’s plan for the renewal of the Church and for Christian unity.

This academic year, though, I have prayerfully decided to be a full-time Ministry Volunteer for The CAMPUS Project. Passionate about prayer and unity, I am committed to fostering a culture of prayer, dialogue, and collaborative work between different church denominations and student ministries on campus. This would involve organizing events such as One Name on Campus – a united space for prayer and worship in the form of both evening celebrations and 24/7 prayer rooms open to students from all Church denominations, including Evangelicals, Catholics, and Pentecostals. 

Almost five years ago, whilst I was in China representing Italy at the international finals of a Mandarin Proficiency Competition, a new friend representing the UK saw past my façade to a crushed and ultimately empty spirit. I was at my lowest. He saw me, and he prayed for me. As I was listening to the words of my new friend’s prayer for me, I experienced the ‘beautiful exchange’ that Luther refers to when he speaks about the cross. What joy filled my empty heart that evening! Until that night, little did I know of what being filled with the Holy Spirit meant, or what an encounter with the risen Jesus would look like (to be honest I didn’t even think it was possible). Yet, I went to bed knowing my life was never going to be the same and that Jesus was Good News for me! 

Two days after that encounter, I flew back to Vancouver in Canada where I was studying for my semester abroad. There I found a local church, I started reading the Bible, and I began to pray with my new Christian friends. I then realised that what I experienced a few weeks earlier in China was precisely what happened to believers in the New Testament – a tangible experience of the Holy Spirit revealing the beauty of the Gospel and the reality of Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour of my life. Jesus was alive. He cared for me. He died for me. My broken and anxious heart was mended and freed at the cross, undeservedly. Grace. The world had to know. We had to tell them. 

I am convinced that as we long for people to hear the Good News, for the love of Christ to transform the lives of university students, and for the Kingdom of God to advance in our generation, then we need to take Jesus' call for unity very seriously. Indeed, He has given us clear instructions on what will make the world believe: ‘become perfectly one… so that the world may believe’ (John 17:23). To be perfectly one, though, is only possible by the work of the Holy Spirit that pours into out hearts the love of the Father (Romans 5:5). For this reason, I believe that as we lean into a culture of fervent prayer and a desire for the Holy Spirit to awaken sons and daughters and to empower them as ambassadors of Christ, then we’ll see a move of God in our generation.