Vince and Cathy Costa
 Vince and Cathy Costa have ministered in Italy since 1975. The Costa’s ministry emphasis and purpose has stayed the same for these many years: To communicate the Gospel in key un-reached cities of Italy in such a way that Christ builds clusters of reproducing churches. They have ministered in teams and planted churches in the cities of Rome, Catania, Siracusa, and metropolitan Milan.
Our background:
The Lord responded to Cathy's deep desire to tell others about Jesus by leading her into missions at 24 years of age. The Lord used a missionary emphasis weekend at her home church, Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, to solidify her interest in witnessing full-time. This led her to join Greater Europe Mission's experimental church-planting project in Rome, Italy called the Cornelius Corps in 1975. Through this intensive two-year Italian ministry in evangelism and discipleship the Lord confirmed in Cathy's heart to go into full time ministry in missions.
Vince also decided to go on the same project from his home church, Park Street Church, in Boston. Vince had been thinking about mission work in Africa using his engineering skills, but after some counsel he decided to return to Italy, where he had been born and raised until the age of 8. The Lord not only blessed the ministry in which Cathy and Vince were involved - establishing an evangelical church that stands to this day but the Lord also blessed their relationship. Vince and Cathy became friends while overseas and decided to marry when they returned to the United States in 1977.
They were married at Peninsula Bible Church, Ca. Afterwards they went back east to seminary, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, where Vince was graduated with a Master of Divinity.
In 1982 we joined an existing church-planting project in Catania Sicily. Vince was at first the discipleship coordinator, but as time went on, Vince was made the field leader and responsible for the planting of the church in Catania.
The Lord blessed the ministry in a wonderful way. The church grew in local leadership and Antonio Trovato became the church’s first pastor/elder. The Catania brethren became self-governing, self-sustaining and self-propagating by the end of July 1993. The leadership in the local church had grown to the point of releasing the Costas to spear head a new church-planting ministry in Milan. Vince also co-labored with another World Team missionary in Siracusa from ‘92-’95 to bring that fellowship under the leadership of the local brethren like the brethren in Catania.
From 1992 to August 2000 the Costas ministered in the cities of Catania, Siracusa, Broni and metropolitan Milan. In the metropolitan cities of Catania and Siracusa the Costas were working through the churches that they had planted to plant cluster of churches in their neighboring areas. In Broni the Costas sought to equip a local evangelical assembly that lacked leadership to understand the ministry of the local church with emphasis on - worship, body life and evangelism. In metropolitan Milan, they sought to establish a movement of reproducing cell group churches with emphasis on “cell - small group” ministry.
The Costas last ministry assignment in metropolitan Milan was curtailed when the family came back to the United States in 2000 for Cathy’s health problems and the girls schooling. The Lord blessed the Costas first, by finding a wonderful and warm church family at Central Peninsula Church with whom to fellowship and secondly, Cathy's medical situation was stabilized to the point where it was no longer a health issue- PTL!
As for the girls, Catie and Christie, the Lord blessed them in their schooling needs in a wonderful way. The transition from the Italian school system to American home schooling went very well. Catie, now 21, is a junior at Columbia International University in South Carolina working on a double major (Bible and Youth Ministry) and working part-time at the juvenile prison. Christie, now 17, is in her last year of high school and looking forward to returning to the U.S. for college.
Presently, the Costas are living in metropolitan Catania and networking with existing and emerging churches throughout Italy and Western Europe seeking to raise trained leaders for church planting and church growth.
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