IBS in Amuria

This past week, since our planned programs had not started yet, Anthony and I were looking for work to do and got ourselves signed up to help teach a couple In-service Bible Study (IBS) classes.  One of our friends from when were in Uganda before, George William, is in charge of this program for Amuria.  He and the pastor of the Amuria church, Robert, were helping us out with the "When Helping Hurts" training last week.  Since both of them are IBS teachers, they graciously let us each take on one of each of their classes.  Really, it was not so much of a sacrifice for them - even though they needed to translate for us, it relieved them of the preparation time and time spent grading the exams. 

IBS is a program for pastors who are unable to afford going to Bible college or who do not have a good enough grasp of English for going to the Bible College (which is taught all in English).  It is also much more accessible because the classes are taught in more rural areas which are easy for the pastors to get to.  They are able to get an overview of the topics that are covered at the Bible College (like Old and New Testament survey, Pastoral counseling, biblical doctrine, etc.), but in much more abbreviated form.  Although it is very basic, it is really good because it gives them a biblical foundation for their work in their churches and can be something to build off of if they get the chance to go to Bible College later.

Each class lasts only about four or five hours and is taught on one day.  The pastors come for a week of classes at a time.  I got to teach the community development class.  It was a lot of fun to be teaching again.  Preparing the lesson for the day was pretty easy because there was already a teaching booklet put together by the Pentecostal Bible College and I was able to combine that with many of the concepts we taught in "When Helping Hurts" the week before.  I also appreciated being able to teach on a topic I care about.

Anthony taught the class on Hermeneutics (how to interpret the Bible).  He is very passionate about this subject and really struggled to condense the information into one day of teaching.  With his extensive notes from when we taught it at the Bible College in Mbale, there was more information than can be covered in a one-semester class!  But he put lots of time into preparing his lesson and actually managed to finish the class on time.

Below is a picture of the teachers of the IBS classes this session.  From left to right: Max, me, Sam (the mayor of Amuria), Gideon (secretary of the Amuria pastorate), George William, Anthony, and Robert (the pastor of the Amuria PAG church).

And if you want to watch a quick video of what is (to me) a rather awkward video of me teaching, Anthony is happy to oblige that desire.  This was just the beginning introduction to the material and we went into much  more depth.  Here it is: