Today was the first day of teaching, and we began after lunch, allowing the students who had to travel to Sisophon to travel today instead of on Sunday. So today we had one session (1:00 – 4:30). Tomorrow and Wednesday we’ll also have morning sessions (8:00 – 11:30). Thursday, we’ll have only a morning session, allowing the students to return home that afternoon.
We are teaching material that was developed by the Biblical Training Centre for Pastors by a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, Dennis Mock. The material is designed for missionaries to train national leaders who may not have access to many materials in their own language. The 10-book course offers an overview of all the disciplines necessary for men in pastoral ministry — Bible study methods, OT survey, NT survey, Survey of Theology, Biblical preaching and Pastoral Ministry, Personal Spiritual Life, Church History, and Missions and Discipleship among them — and in the last couple of years, Jack has overseen the completion of this material into Kemher, so the Cambodian pastors can use it. We will be teaching “Teaching Prinicples and Methods” (i.e., how to teach the Bible).
These materials are of great worth in a culture like Cambodia. The Cambodian church has very few materials available in its own language. They have a respectable Bible translation, but no materials that we would consider foundational. No study Bibles. No concordance. No Bible dictionaries or encyclopedias. No Biblical maps. No archaelogy books. And of course, no commentaries. So for a pastor to have the kind of information available that is in this course, is an invaluable resource to him.
Each session (morning and afternoon) will begin with a time of worship (singing), followed by a devotional led by one of the students, and then the teaching time. Additionally, the students at the children’s home will be out of school this week for a national holiday, so the high school students will also be attending some of the sessions (and leading the worship time, as they also did during the worship services yesterday).
Today we began by covering the topic of how to teach by providing some foundational material —
- A definition of teaching,
- The Biblical basis for teaching,
- Goals of teaching (Equipping the saints for works of ministry, Conforming believers to image of Christ, Training believers to “feed” themselves on God’s Word and
teach others, and Developing a biblical world view), and - The Holy Spirit as Teacher
It was a delight to be able to teach so many who have such an interest in passing on their own faith to others, and to remind them of hte foundational goal of all Biblical learning and instruction — transformation. The Word should transform first the life of the teacher and then the teacher should always teach with the goal of seeing the learners lives transformed also.
ASIDE: Since Elizabeth spent the night last night at the children’s home, and our teaching didn’t begin until after lunch, I was on my own for breakfast. I went to a local restaurant and on my return to the hotel, I was passed by this taxi — a pretty common means of transportation in Sisophon.
Words of Grace 