Like many other missionaries working in urban areas around the world, Worthy remembers feeling overwhelmed at the number of people in the neighborhood surrounding his apartment building. More than 20,000 people can live in an area of less than two square miles.

"It doesn't take much to stand on the castle in the middle of the city that's been here for almost 1,000 years and ... [you] realize that vast sea of lostness below you," Worthy said.

"It is considered the densest city in Western Europe. You've got people on top of people."

Since moving there, the Worthys have immersed themselves in their community -– reaching out to people in their apartment building, the schools, shops and everyone else they encounter daily. The missionary couple hope to begin their first church group in Naples in the coming months.

Being the only American family in their neighborhood has helped strengthen their visibility. Worthy stepped into a nearby coffee shop one day, and a woman he'd never seen before proceeded to tell him where he lived.

But he doesn't seem to mind the notoriety. Living in a social culture, where meals can last four hours and everything centers on the family, Worthy and his wife encounter daily opportunities to talk about Jesus Christ.

"As we go to the market, the post office, the shoe store or the bank ... we're going there to talk to people," he said. "We're not just going there to get food, money or clothes.

"Inevitably -– at least eight times out of 10 -– [the conversation] will turn to something spiritual, especially over those three- or four-hour dinners.”

Worthy believes some of their closest friends may be on the brink of turning their lives over to Christ.

"When those three or four families come to faith, I think it is going to bust the seams of our neighborhood," he said. "That is what it is going to take."

Reaching a heavily populated urban area is a monumental task, Worthy acknowledged, but the eternal reward of more people coming to Christ is far more spectacular than the cathedrals and views outside his front door.

Shawn Hendricks is a writer with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. For more information on becoming involved in international missions, go to imb.org. To see other stories of what God is doing around the world, go to commissionstories.com.
© Copyright 2007 Baptist Press