SPICE ROAD

SPICE ROAD is a movement committed to reaching Sri Lankan, Pakistani and Indian immigrants in Europe. SPICE is an acronym for Sri Lankan, Pakistani, and Indian Church in Europe. Spice Road continues to grow in North Eastern Italy. With its strong network of believers and missionaries, Spice Road is poised to spread across 22 countries in Europe in the next six years. As cities are reached with the gospel, and new church plants begin to take shape in the nations, Spice Road would be the Gospel Road in 85 countries worldwide, reaching over 300 million South Asians.

There are an estimated 7 million South Asians who have migrated to Europe. Currently, there needs to be more credible Baptist work among them. For example, in Northern Italy alone, with over 15 million people, no Baptist church is planted among the South Asian nationals settled there. There is not a single evangelical church in a city like Venice with over 250,000 people. The target cities for new church plants are Sanguinetto, Mantua, Venice (Mestre and Treviso), Verona, Vicenza, Padova, Ferrara, Bologna, Modena and

Spice Road has its first church plant in place in Sanguinetto, a town of about 4500 people in the Verona province of North Central Italy. Many of the laborers in the local farms were reached through the gospel ministry and they have been regularly attending worship services. We have two new Italian nationals who have become members of the church family. Every Sunday, the church gathers to worship with over 30 believers. 

Verona is called the city of love, the famous setting of Romeo and Juliet. Spice Road has reached three families in South Verona city. They are traveling to Sanguinetto to attend worship services. As the Lord provides a place, we plan to start worship services in the city of Verona. Also, we have a second church plant that is gathering momentum in Vicenza city with four women regularly attending a Bible study fellowship. We also have two new Italian families in the Mantua city area. The work continues to make inroads in the Salara area of the Rovigo region. There is a new church plant expected to gather for worship services by December 2023. They are presently meeting in homes as a Bible study fellowship. Salara, is also the home for our home for refugees. We help regugees seeking asylum with housing and food and help them with immigration paperwork. It also serves a sa training center to help them with skilled training so they can find jobs and relocate. 

Padova is the largest university in Italy for global studies. As immigrants turn up seeking to pursue higher studies, we pray God will open doors to connect with young people through our coffee kiosks. 

There are refugees seeking food, shelter, and job; blue-collar workers and laborers in

Kiosk- Connecting with University students agricultural fields seeking housing and employment, children of immigrants needing to learn English and more in need of hearing Christ. Every time we connect with people we are faced with a need to find solutions for their existing problems. 

The road continues south to Ferrara, Bologna. Then the road turns west to Modena and Reggio Emilia and Parma. Every city on the Spice Road features SOuth Asians who have given their lives to Chirst. Hojme churches are beginning to grow and soon we will see a multiplication of churches on the Spice Road. The Spice Road is indeed the gospel road of Europe.