I am excited to say that Igor has decided that it is time for me to get started teaching Inductive Bible Study Seminars (IBS Seminars). We have been talking about how we might be able to get me involved with but we could not get around the language barrier. Our friend Sveta, has been wanting to get involved with ICM. Sveta is an English teacher and it has been her desire to minister as a translator for a long while. It would seem that the Lord is bringing together a great well rounded team. Igor asked if she would be willing to start traveling with the team and translating for me till I am able to do the seminars on my own. She was happy to get involved since translating is what she feels called to do and she has been looking for some sort of ministry to get involved with.
We are all excited about what the Lord is doing and I am excited to be able to be able start doing what I came here for in the first place. I have to admit, at first I was hesitant to jump right in and start teaching because though I have done the course, have been studying the Bible inductively for a long time now, and have gone through a teaching seminar. However all that is different than teaching the course yourself, especially in a different culture and a different language. To prepare us to go out we decided it would be a good idea for Sveta and I to travel with Igor back to Moscow and observe him teaching the students there at the seminar we just did the conference at the IBS method.
Sveta hard at work.
It was a great educational experience. I learned a lot about how to teach, deal with skepticism, and at the same share the Love the Jesus. I learned firsthand why Russia needs to learn how to study the Bible so badly. There is so much false and contradicting teaching out there that people are hurt, confused, week and skeptical. To deal with this the seminary is teaching the student to be critical of everything new that they hear, and to view every teacher with doubt and skepticism. True, though we are encouraged in Acts 7:11 to check the scriptures and to be careful about what we are willing to believe, we are to have an open heart. We need to be careful not to be like the Scribes and Pharisees that refused to believe everything they hear that does not match what they previously believe or have been taught. Because of this at first the students were very resistant to what Igor was saying and did not have an open heart. But I was impressed with Igor’s response and how he was able to win their trust by pouring out his love on them. It did not take long before they were receiving with joy what he had to say.
I believe this is exactly why the mission to teach the IBS method around the world and in Russia is so important. We need to get people grounded and not wondering around in confusion caused by false teachings. If we can get Christians to learn directly from the Lord’s word then we will have a church that knows the heart of Jesus and can work together as the healthy body of Christ. There are so many errors caused just by taking things out of context and not paying close attention to what God is saying in his word.
We spent three days teaching the course, Monday through Wednesday. We had a great time learning from the word and fellowshipping with the students. They are a great group of students on fire for the Lord and I look forward to possibly working with them again. We are already talking about coming back and doing the course again and probably doing the second course where we then teach how to develop questions to lead a small home group and how to prepare a sermon.
This is what your support and prayers are going towards. I thank you for giving us the ability to strengthen the Lord’s church. And I look forward to what God does through our joint effort. I would ask that you would please continue to support us in prayer and if the Lord leads financially so that we would be able to continue this work.
click here to see more pictures
No comments:
Post a Comment