One of the blessings of the way we teach is that it affords the opportunity to get to know our students. We teach small classes, allowing for interaction, discussion and relationship building. Abby & I both teach daily with our distinctive styles which tends to keep things interesting. For the past two weeks, we've been teaching a group of students in Livingstone, Zambia and it's been great!
Abby focused on family and church systems, encouraging the students to reflect on the relationship between their family of origin and the ministry to which the Lord has called them, and to think carefully about their church families. She then spent time helping them understand God's plan for our walk with Jesus from the book of Titus, building a pyramid of being in Christ, becoming with Christ and doing through Christ, in that order. She then taught them how to use Psalms as a prayer book to deepen their walk and ministry, and finished by leading them in a reflection on the question, "Who built you?" In other words, who built your walk with Jesus and what do you remember most about them? Abby always amazes me when she teaches because she makes it easy for students to open up, even while she's teaching such key content.
I spent the entire time on understanding the Bible, teaching them the biblical basis for Bible study, the Bible as revelation, the structure, subjects, story & world of the Bible, characteristics of healthy Bible study, general guidelines & practical rules of biblical interpretation and ending with tools for Bible study, both written and online.
Throughout our time, many local issues came up and we had serious discussions about their personal experiences and what's happening in their churches. It was exciting to work with students who care so very deeply about honoring Jesus in their ministries and who want to build healthy churches!
As to the impact of our training, one student commented, "Where have you been all these years? If I had had this training when I was younger I would have avoided so many mistakes!"
We're grateful that the Lord has allowed us to do this, and grateful that you have joined us in our mission. Thank you!
Please pray for our students as they continue in their ministries, and for us as we turn our attention to the coming shipment of supplies from the U.S., followed by a visit by two GTN teams who will come on the 27th to do two days of training in Livingstone.
