Reading the Bible in A Whole New Way
/Every time we come to Zambia we learn new things. This year, we’ve learned the power of modeling intensive and in-depth Bible study with our students. Don’t get me wrong, all of our training is biblically based and even includes a twelve hour class called Understanding the Bible. We teach and preach, to the best of our ability, from a sound doctrinal perspective which is grounded in systematic biblical truth, no matter the subject of our classes.
This year, however, we have taught Nehemiah and the Psalms by spending time with the text, going verse by verse with our students, adding historical, grammatical, and theological depth when appropriate in a systematic way. And, it has had a major impact on them. One student put it this way: “You’re teaching me to read the Bible in a whole new way, to read it more deeply and more slowly. I never knew there was so much in these verses.” Another said, “I’ve never read the Bible like this before. It has changed me. It will change the way I teach and preach.”
We’ve also learned again the necessity of teaching with a strong understanding of the context in which we train. It is simply impossible to teach effectively without a firm grasp on the cultural and personal context of our students. We have to know them as people, to learn their names and listen to their stories. And they need to know us. They are not students, they are Kenneth and Gift, Esther and Grace, Innocent and Ossy, to name a few. We have to get to know their personal lives, their struggles, and their local questions. Otherwise, our training becomes simply information dispensed and loses, to a great extent, the power of transformation through relationships. When this contextual shift happens in a class, it’s palpable. The room becomes more relaxed, the faces more eager, the questions and discussions more significant, and the laughter (and tears) more natural as we are relationally transformed by God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Percy Muleba, our dear Zambian son and GTN colleague, puts it very frankly when he describes our relationship: “You have destroyed me!” Yes, we have, and he has destroyed us. We are not the same because of the thousands of hours we have spent with him, hosting each other in our homes, sharing meals together when on the road in Zambia, sitting under a tree just chatting, and talking deeply about the things of God. We know him and he knows us. We know each other’s families, each other’s histories, each other’s victories, and each other’s failures. And we have come to love one another as family. And it has, indeed, destroyed us!
So, we have learned to take our time, to allow relationships a chance to develop and mature. That’s why we go back to the same students several times. For example, over the last five or six years, we have visited Musokotwane several times to teach and preach on Sundays. Once, several years ago, we also spent a week together in training. This year, we began our formal Phase 1 training with twenty leaders from the Musokotwane and Mwiinga churches. Because we had already begun to know one another, the atmosphere was changed from that first week of training years ago. The conversations flowed. Key questions were raised. Personal stories were shared. Worship was richer. And, real transformation happened. To all of us. For this, we are very, very grateful.
In closing, as you might imagine, we had a very meaningful week of training in Musokotwane and with a new group of young leaders from House of Kings church in Livingstone where Abby and I also taught and preached this past Sunday. If you’d like to watch that service and see Abby and me in action, it’s available on Facebook. Just search for Royal TV and look for Live Sunday Service where you will find separate clips of Abby and of me. And, several more of our training videos have now been uploaded onto YouTube. Just search on YouTube under Biblical Worship Training Centre, Percy’s ministry for which we are consultants.
This, our last full week in Zambia, will be spent with strategic planning meetings, meals with students and friends, packing, and culminate on Sunday when Abby and I teach and preach at Musokotwane once again.
Thank you for making it possible for us to experience this, our twenty-fourth trip. We are deeply appreciative of your prayers and financial support, and for your many encouraging words. You have no idea how much these mean to us. And remember, where we go you go!
This is the Room we met in for worship and training in musokotwane, a small village about an hour northwest of livingstone. The larger structure behind is the church they have been slowly building one brick at a time for years.
Abby loves teaching bible stuDy (with percy translating) during combined worship with the musokotwane and mwiinga churches!
Our training in musokotwane has taken on a new, more intimate, dimension this year.
Its a joy to watch our students dig into the word together!
This is the poRtable kitchen outside the church in musokotwane where nshima or rice, roasted chicken, and an awesome gravy were prepared.
These leaders are from two Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAOG) churches in musokotwane and mwiinga. The paog came to zambia many Years ago Through missionaries sent by the canadian assemblies of god denomination.
We loved training these Vibrant leaders from house of kings ministries in livingstone. L to r: Pastors innocent and ossy, emmanuel, jr., percy, steven, prisca, cecilia, grace, kyle, asiatu, and emmanuel.
Over fifty years ago, my uncle Jack had these two shirts custom made for himself by an african seamstress In south florida. He found them recently, unworn, in the back of a drawer as he and my aunt Lani were packing to move. He gave them to me to bring to Zambia. I think percy muleba and i look pretty good in them!
