For the month of September, our new missionary Jead, a short-term missionary from Calvary Chapel Dumaguete City by the name of Bem, and myself were able to
teach at the Bible School at the Mae Ra Moe refugee camp. This opportunity had opened up through the short-term team (also from Calvary Dumaguete) who visited there to teach and administer medical care in July. For this trip Jead taught the first year students English and Christian education, as well as English for the “pre” students, who hope to begin study next year. Bem taught English to the second and third year students, and for the first year group he taught World History from a Christian perspective. I was able to teach Ecclesiology, Homiletics, and Missions. Aside from the English lessons, we didn’t know what we’d be teaching until the day we arrived at the school, and were asked to begin classes the following morning.
I really enjoyed the Ecclesiology class as we looked at the various aspects of what the Bible teaches about the Church. Who it is founded on, what it’s purpose is, leadership, membership, etc.
Homiletics was also great. We looked at not only the structure and mechanics of preaching – but the content of all good preaching: Christ. Not moralizing, not platitudes, just Jesus. So we considered how He really truly is in all the scriptures in one way or another, not just tacked on or forced in (John 5:39, Luke 24:27, Col. 2:16-17). For the final, the students had to present a 5-10 minute message for the class, based on the text of their choice. When one of the first students to present announced her text as Genesis 2:10, “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers,” I got a little nervous. I needn’t have been. The essence of her five-minute, two-point message was this: “God provided a river for the animals of the garden to drink. He didn’t leave them to die of thirst. Likewise us sinners, He has provided living waters to drink for all who will come to Christ. But the river didn’t just stop flowing and stagnate there in the garden, it went out, divided, and provided water for the rest of the earth as well. We also then, cannot just settle to taste of Christ, but let’s go out and share what we’ve discovered in Him with the world around us.”
Best of all was the Missions class. I had a few library books to help with the layout for the Ecclesiology and Homiletics classes, but for Missions class there was no curriculum, no syllabus, nothing. So we had our Bibles – from there it turned into a two week lecture series concerning: The Biblical Basis For Missions, The Biblical Method For Missions, and The Biblical Message of Missions. One particular highlight from the class came when the lessons on what the Bible says about missions and evangelism were through, and we considered some practical ways to apply them. We discussed the most relevant missions situation for the Karen people: evangelizing Buddhists, and nominal Christians. At the end one of the students came and found me, “teacher Eric…I’m a nominal Christian. I’m like what we talked about in class today. I want to be a real Christian. I’ve known it forever, that’s why I came to Bible school, because I thought maybe that would help.” So he and I spent quite a bit of time together looking at the scriptures and praying together.
All in all it was a very fruitful trip, and we are looking into how we can begin teaching there on a more regular basis. The students and staff gave a very nice parting assembly, part of which I grabbed on my little point and shoot camera:
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