1. How did you become a Christian?
The gospel came to our family through a Swiss missionary couple who were going door-to-door as part of a church plant. My parents were converted; my older brother and I took some years to respond to the gospel. My conversion happened at a summer camp.
2. What lessons have you learnt since that you would want to pass on to a younger Christian version of yourself?
In making plans for life, look for God’s approval through serving the local church (it ordinarily works), be prepared for an incremental growth in different areas of ministry (rather than just focusing on one or two), stick to real relationships and communities (not giving too much weight to your social-media image and virtual groups).
3. How would you describe your prayer life?
Barely decent but insufficient.
4. Which two or three Christian books apart from the Bible have most influenced your faith?
Prospettive su Dio by Pietro Bolognesi, of the Calvin’s Institutes, The Doctrine Knowledge of God by John Frame.
5. Who or what have been your biggest Christian influences?
The local church in Mantova, where I made the first steps in the faith. Operation Mobilization, where I was thrown into all kinds of ministry adventures. The annual theological conferences at IFED (Padova), where I learnt that it is possible to do evangelical scholarship with humility but with no minority complex.
6. What are the main challenges you believe Christians face today?
The tendency of being too priestly (soft, empathic) at the expense of being royal (living out the reality of the kingdom and according to its standards) and prophetic (speaking to ourselves and to others the word of God which comforts, yes, but also provokes and convicts). It is important to maintain our priestly, royal and prophetic roles in balance. If we are too prophetic and less royal and priestly, we risk arrogance. If we are too royal and less priestly and prophetic, we risk legalism. But it we are overly priestly, we might be ‘kind’ but invertebrate in terms of Biblical truth and example.
7. What encourages and what discourages you?
I am encouraged when I see kids happy to come to church and asking their parents: ‘When are we coming back?’ In our church there is no special programme for them, but they somehow enjoy church life. I am discouraged when I see older folks who have been around in churches for years, but are still locked into life-situations, or sin, that they don’t want to change.
8. What makes you laugh?
Watching Italian politics (after the laughter comes the anger…)
9. What would you want to say to the wider evangelical world?
Watch out for all the fuss about ‘unity’. Rome yesterday talked about unity ‘with Peter’ and ‘under Peter’ (i.e. the Roman Catholic institution) and now talks about being ‘all brothers’ regardless of faith in Jesus Christ. On the other hand, the ecumenical movement talks about ‘unity’ assuming we are all good people, and depriving the gospel of its exclusive claims. Both types of unity are camouflages of the Biblical unity. As evangelicals we should appreciate the unity among believers in Jesus Christ, while being good neighbours with all.
10. Which Biblical person (other than Jesus) do you most look forward to meeting in glory and why?
Paul. He had the courage to rebuke Peter. Being involved in helping the evangelical church to assess the reality of Roman Catholicism, and seeing so many people being unwilling to speak words of truth in love to Rome (which claims Petrine authority), I admire Paul’s evangelical boldness (although I am not sure if he or Barnabas were right in handling Mark… ).
