| Christian Educational Work -- classes for new and growing
Christians 1. Ideas from JH, 2003 Excerpts from interview with Professor F: -
He
was there to set up the religion department -
The
school he worked at was set up an opportunity to share Jesus -
He
set up small groups and trained leaders to lead groups -
Used
small groups to get to know the other teachers through intriguing topics -
Chapel
weekly opportunity -
Wed.
morning small group bible study -
Christmas
time – a contest to decorate a tree that showed the true meaning of
Christmas §
-
Christmas song contest – presenting a Christmas choral §
Christmas
Program -
No religion class but used the English class to teach Christianity -
The
students didn’t effect there families greatly – there was no
relationship with the parents that allowed for getting them the message of
Christ Excerpts from the video Ee-Taow: - Transferring the bible message into the correct terminology is a key place to start before proceeding with an education. Basically educate yourself before you plan on educating the natives. -
Don’t start preaching the bible before you understand the people. -
When starting Christian education in New Guinea the approach was giving an
idea to the natives of the location as in tribal location to island
location to continent to the location they occupy in the world. Then the creation story was taught and the account of Adam
and Eve and how the concept of sin entered the world. For two months the Old Testament was taught before any
introduction of Jesus. And as a result excitement of hearing the gospel
and a response of belief ran through the village where the word was
shared. -
The approaches that have been effective in the rural villages of the
unchurched world have not been proven effective in the city presenting a
challenge for ministry in urban areas. Excerpts
from interview with Tim and Kathy R: What was your approach to witnessing? English Bible study was a tool in getting the message of
Christ out. On Saturday
mornings the students who wanted to work on their English where asked to
be advance students creating a desire for students who where looking to be
good in English speaking to attended.
So through the students desire to learn an opportunity to share the
gospel became possible. A key
link between the students and a church was through this bible study.
Relationships where built with members from the church coming to
the Bible study which was important being that once the American teachers
would leave there would be something still present, members from the
church, to keep students coming back.
Also there was a Coffee house held twice a month in which students
would come and hanging out eat food, and ended with devotion.
This coffee house was limited to English again encouraging students
to desire to be present looking to work on English speaking.
During Christmas and Easter time the opportunity to teach about
American culture – though it was the Christian message of Jesus was done
in class. Students learned
about the message of Christ birth in which the class re-enacted the story.
Also the message of Easter was taught allowing the message of
Christ to come full circle. Also
an English Worship service was provide which was a small outreach.
Tim made mention of one witness that hurt the ministry.
The pastor of the church supported by the school and who Tim worked
with was a male chauvinist. The
pastor was very unkind to woman who came to the church.
It was a barrier that hurt the witness that could have taken place. 1. Ideas from BP, 2003 From Interview with Jim Found: Jim’s job in Taiwan was to set up the religion program at the school he was placed at. He was not assigned to a class though. There were 2,300 students, grades 7-12 while he was there. Of the 350 7th graders accepted each year, only a handful of them had ever heard the Gospel. Of the 90 teachers he worked with, only 30 were teachers. He used small groups as his main strategy. Every semester he would come up with intriguing topics, and talk to all of the teachers one on one to ask them if they wanted to join the small group. Year after year, about 15% of the students became Christians. Most of the students went to University, and then became leaders on their campuses. There was a weekly chapel service at 7:30 on Saturdays (they had school on Saturdays). Many of the students came to the chapel services because of the music. The students could sign up for a small group- Wednesday at 7:30 am. He organized the teaching of Bible stories in English classes. The parents were happy because they’re children we’re learning English from Native English speakers. The school couldn’t have religion class because they would have had to take out another class, and then the students would not pass their university entrance exams, and no one would come to their school. He had youth group for the on-campus students on Friday nights -- Interview, Jim F Becky's
husband teaches English in a middle school
It is difficult to build relationships with the students because
they are so busy
The students go to school for most of the week
They do come over to play games sometimes
He teaches a conversational English class at the middle school
He is in a volunteer position there
There is a lot of pressure for kids to do well and be successful
He has a large class, 80 students
He has them write sentences or play games
He does not have a teaching or ESL degree- he's winging it!
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