Every summer, Azusa Pacific University's Office of Service and Discipleship (OSD) offers a variety of Global Engagement trips that students can take part in. Each trip focuses on different types of ministries, and for those that participate, they are one of the most impactful parts of students’ college experience. Rebekah Krumpe ’26, a liberal studies major with minors in art and honors humanities, co-led a team of five students on a two week long trip to Italy this summer, giving students the chance to practice evangelism with migrant and refugee populations in Rome.
Krumpe had originally signed up to lead a trip to Southeast Asia because she wanted to participate in relational ministry, but the trip was cancelled. She worked with OSD to find another trip that would allow her to partake in a similar kind of ministry and was drawn to the Italy trip.
On weekday mornings, the team would work with the missionaries in Italy for training. In these sessions, the team was given encouragement and lessons on how to effectively evangelize within the context of the people groups they would be working with. The missionaries also shared how evangelism can turn into discipleship in the long term. In the afternoons, the team went to a park where many migrants and refugees were settled. There were 132 spoken languages in the area, but the team was still able to connect with people. Many of them were from North Africa, the Middle East, Bangladesh, and India, so the interactions became meaningful conversations about differences in faith. “Part of our training was how to share the Gospel with people of other faiths and have that interfaith dialogue,” Krumpe said. “The heart behind our ministry was to connect with people and show them that they are loved and cared for. It was a meaningful experience for the team to practice really seeing people and learning about the impact being seen can have on a person.”
Being able to hear stories from the missionaries and migrants about taking a leap
of faith to seek out better lives, find new jobs, and support their families inspired
Krumpe. “The missionaries we were with had experienced many people coming to Jesus,”
she said. One of the missionaries was from Bangladesh and became a Christian seven
years ago. Since then, he has spent time sharing the Gospel with others, especially
those from Bangladesh.
Krumpe hopes to lean into the idea of following Jesus by taking risks and being willing
to say yes to what life has to offer.
Outside of their time serving, Krumpe and her team spent time bonding over exploring the cultural aspects of Rome. The missionaries made sure that the team was able to go on tours to learn about the city and do some sightseeing. Despite the team having come together at the last minute, their experience in Rome brought them much closer. “We were a quiet team, so going into relational ministry where there’s a lot of talking and listening challenged us,” Krumpe said. “We had great moments of debrief where we got to hang out and relax which helped us to reenergize. The team got along really well, and we had so much fun figuring out ministry together.”
As a rising senior, Krumpe’s time in Italy has positively impacted her mindset as she prepares for graduation. “I have one more year of school left, and then I’m going to figure out what it looks like to take a leap of faith and say yes to Jesus,” she said. “Wherever He’s calling me next, I feel like He's already preparing me for it.” Krumpe plans to work with discipleship ministries on campus by leading a discipleship group during the upcoming school year. She hopes that she can be an encouragement to other people looking to say yes to Jesus by sharing her stories and experiences from Italy that impacted her in such a positive way.