Ethiopia Recap with Pics
Dear friends and family,
I’m back and recovered from 14 days of teaching, traveling, and enjoying some good fellowship with the other international trainers at TLI.
I spent three days at our bi-annual staff meeting in Minneapolis, with Dr. Jim Plueddemann. He is the resident expert on cross-cultural teaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. We enjoyed his presentations and discussion designed to help us better equip pastors in other cultures to teach and understand the Bible. I stayed with another TLI international trainer and his family. We enjoyed a great time of fellowship and I really appreciated the accommodations!
I left with the team on Thursday afternoon from Minneapolis, overnighted in Washington D.C., and arrived in Ethiopia on Saturday morning. After a full day in Addis, the capital, we left on Sunday morning early so we would be in Ambo in time to check in to the hotel and preach in nearby churches. I preached to a very full and enthusiastic crowd of 160! This is huge in the non-health-and-wealth church in Ethiopia.
On Monday morning, we began teaching. The students were bright and engaged in the teaching. We had lively discussions and many, many aha moments. Now that I have taught the “Story of the Bible” course 2 material, I can say – WOW!! It is very well-written and incredibly insightful. I am reading the Bible with new eyes myself. If anyone would like a copy of the teacher’s manual let me know, I can send a PDF version, it would be eye-opening. The Bible is truly a grand story of the King, the story that oversees all other stories, and God has called us into it as participants. My students understand this now. Thank you for your prayers and support!
We teach the story using symbols (see attached picture). The central symbol is the Cross with a Crown above it. At one point in our training, I took them down and tried to continue teaching. The students objected strongly and would no allow me to continue until the King was in His rightful central place. Probably my best memory of the week, see attached picture.
The rest of the courses in our 9 series curriculum builds on this, story, telling it in more detail while equipping pastors and church leaders to interpret the different types of literature in the Bible (wisdom, poetry, history, prophecy, gospels, narrative, epistles, etc.) and preach/teach/lead their people.
Great time! Grateful for your support. Grateful to be home.
My next trip will be in India in December. I need a little break, it’s been a whirlwind of activity through the summer and September.
Thanks,
Bob and Vickie
Ethiopia September 2019
Let’s Read the Bible Brothers and Sisters
Great article, life changing habit! I agree 100%!!
I found this post on another blogger’s site. John and Laura are long time friends and you would do well to read her writing. Here’s a link to her site
https://stirfrylaura.wordpress.com/2019/09/06/gold-star-friday-2/#like-372
It says woman of the Word, but we can expand that to men and boys and girls and dads and moms and grandparents and uncles….and you.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/make-me-a-woman-of-your-word
And it’s not just Africa
Our team August 2019
Conrad Mbewe hits a home run in this article that diagnoses the disease in the church in Africa called “the prosperity gospel”, “the health and wealth gospel”, or “name it and claim it”. Whatever you call it, its not what Jesus taught and it has given millions a false hope by a false gospel. Unfortunately, this gospel has invaded the U.S. also. Not only overtly as typified by TV preachers and others, but also under the guise of Christian niceness, comfort an
Conrad writes,
“It is a well-known fact that state governments in Africa are deciding that enough is enough and are moving in to arrest the rot taking place, largely in Charismatic churches. The stench cannot be ignored any more. This has already begun to happen in Kenya under President Uhuru Kenyatta. South Africa and Zambia are also preparing legislation. It will not be long before other African nations join in.
Why are national governments beginning to do this? Because their citizens have been sexually raped and financially defrauded by so-called men of the cloth with impunity. Rightly, they can no longer look the other way. Sadly, this predicament is a result of the church doing little to nothing to address the trend.church in Africa. That why TLI goes.
“It is a well-known fact that state governments in Africa are deciding that enough is enough and are moving in to arrest the rot taking place, largely in Charismatic churches. The stench cannot be ignored any more. This has already begun to happen in Kenya under President Uhuru Kenyatta. South Africa and Zambia are also preparing legislation. It will not be long before other African nations join in.
Why are national governments beginning to do this? Because their citizens have been sexually raped and financially defrauded by so-called men of the cloth with impunity. Rightly, they can no longer look the other way. Sadly, this predicament is a result of the church doing little to nothing to address the trend.”
The rest us here:
https://africa.thegospelcoalition.org/article/stop-pastoral-self-appointments/
Training Pastors Worldwide 