Ambassador Institute Ambassador Inquiry
|
INQUIRY June 2008
What would you say to Simon? Simon is a pastor in rural Africa. He came to know Jesus in 1987 when he heard a traveling evangelist. Three years later, with no training, he was put in charge of the church. Simon doesn’t read well and only speaks the local language, but there was no one else to lead them. Since then, Simon has been raising his family, farming his land, preaching, and starting churches, yet he asks, “How can we have training classes in God’s Word?” Simon has eight children and his oldest son went off to school last year. They have had two seasons of intense drought and famine. Last summer his wife passed away. He would love to have a brick home or a bicycle. He would love a suit or even money for his son’s school fees. Simon has many needs, but surprisingly only one main request; He and his fellow rural pastors want to study the Bible.
Disciples Who are Teachable There are many people like Simon in our world and there are answers to his question on how to study the Bible. Those answers are as old as the Bible itself, but the concept of oral instruction was brought to light again in 2004. The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization published a booklet titled, “Making Disciples of Primary Oral Learners.” It explains the need of training church leaders with oral teaching methods rather than the typical classroom setting. On the last trip to Uganda, the Ambassador Institute used oral teaching methods to do some sample classes. After telling one of Jesus’ parables, Pastor and Missionary Nathan Jore asked the students if they could retell the passage in their own words. A student stood up and repeated the parable nearly word for word as it had been told. After that Word was in the student’s minds, the teachers were able to use the parable to apply it into their daily lives. These five teachers are developing classes right now: Martin Mkwaya – What is a Pastor?Ludigo Charles – Romans and Galatians Sos Peter – The Gospels Wilberforce Bampalana – The Books of Moses William Kireri – The Word, Jesus and the Holy Spirit These five Ugandan pastor / teachers will be going with Nate to the Eastern Africa Oral Conference in Nairobi, Kenya June 17-19th. It is sponsored by the International Orality Network. Pastor Kevin will attend the conference in Dallas, Texas in September. Along with the work in Uganda, the World Missions Committee has stated that India will be the next country of focus for the Ambassador Institute. Over the past four years a number of teaching teams have gone to India for two week intensive courses. The Ambassador Institute will be joining the work in India to help them develop a full training program of their own. Presently, Luther Sastry Dasari is teaching Hermeneutics and Pastor Devasahayam is teaching Pastoral Epistles. Pastor Kevin will be planning a trip to India in the near future.If you have an interest in hearing more about the work of the Ambassador Institute, or would like to schedule a congregational visit contact us. |
