Paul had a great desire to go to Rome. Even as he served as an evangelist and planted churches throughout the Roman Empire in the East, his missionary journeys pushed further and further west. Paul leveraged his Roman citizenship to overcome some persecution and to eventually claim his right to appeal to Ceasar. Faced with Paul’s well-played trump card, Festus responded, “to Ceasar you shall go” (Acts 25:12).
This is not to say that Paul personally planted a church in Rome. His letter to the Roman church exists because he was eager to be with them in person and wanted to ground their faith in solid teaching about the Gospel. To this day, I frequently cite the words of Paul as I recount my own prayer in anticipation of speaking at a church: “For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; to be mutually encouraged while among you, by each other’s faith, both yours and mine” (Romans 1:11-12).
When Paul eventually arrived in Rome, it was in chains—figuratively, if not literally. But Paul understood that by impacting the capital city of the far-reaching Roman Empire, seeds of the Gospel would be flung far and wide to bear much fruit in the lives of individual believers and the churches they would establish.
Rome eventually surpassed Jerusalem as the focal point of the increasingly Gentile Church. Eventually, the catholic Church (meaning “all-embracing”) fractured and the Roman Catholic Church became centered in Rome with the Papacy and all it entails. And, once Constantine had embraced Christianity, the Roman government essentially imposed faith on its citizens. To this day, many European nations have state churches that are obligatory but devoid of real and living faith.
Persecution in the Heart of Rome
Which brings me to my point. In 2020, a new church was planted in the heart of Rome. Called Breccia di Roma (breccia means “breach” in Italian). The name refers to the aspiration to breach the Catholic wall of religious oppression in the city Paul longed to reach. This Evangelical church has become a beacon of light in a dark place.
A few years ago, the Italian government attempted to impose an onerous tax on Breccia di Roma, claiming that because their building did not look like a typical Catholic church, it could not claim a religious exemption. Lower-level courts sided with the Breccia congregation, but the government would not relent, appealing the case all the way to the Italian Supreme Court. In late May, Breccia di Roma was formally stripped of their religious tax exemption.
The handwriting on the wall indicates that governments throughout the West are becoming increasingly hostile to Christians and local churches. The same pressure is mounting in places like Germany, Great Britain, Australia, and Canada. Lest you think it could not happen here in the United States, government officials across the spectrum have demonstrated hostility toward Christian churches, such as threatening to revoke their tax-exempt status, just like Breccia di Roma. In 2014, Houston Mayor Annise Parker tried to force Christian pastors to submit their sermons for government approval.
We are praying for our Christian brothers and sisters in Rome—and many other Kingdom outposts around the globe. Pray for them, and speak out lest our own religious liberties be eroded away.
The Church really is all-encompassing. Built by Jesus Christ, it is a global body of believers that stretches back to the Apostles. Organized into local bodies and various denominations on every continent, the Church has been promised that even the gates of Hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
Talk about a breach! Let’s be bold and rescue those who are just a footstep (and a heartbeat) away from Hell’s eternal fire.
