December | 2017 | Scripture Engagement in IFES

Guinea, July 2017. We were given training in Scripture Engagement. After thinking about our motivations and convictions about God’s Word, each participant wrote their own psalm. After writing for 30 minutes, we gathered back together and each person read out their psalm. It was a powerful time of worshipping God. When we had listened to all the psalms, we shared our experience. Here are some of our reactions: “I was led into a spirit of prayer.” “As each person was reading theirs, I wished it would never end.” “It was like being in direct contact with God.”

Read one of these psalms, written by Axel Aurenche Gbelia, a student from the Ivory Coast:

I’ve read many books
I’ve been civilised
I’ve read many books
I even try to be wise

But I’ve read the Book
God’s handicraft, his work of art
His own album, His manuscript
Transcending prehistory into the future

I’ve read the Book
That heavenly writing, heavenly design
The story of God relating to man
And of men and women experiencing God

I’ve read the Book
I know now where I am from
Who God says that I am
Who I am, where I am going

I’ve read the Book
God’s brochure, His paper
My deserts are flowering again
My tears turn to laughter

I’ve read the Book
God’s decree and sculpture
I can cry for joy
And even laugh in adversity

I know who He is
God of letters, the one glossator
Historian of the ages, supreme author

I’ve read the Book
I’ve read His Book
Beyond training
Beyond education
Beyond teaching
Beyond conviction
I am changed for life.

Listen to the testimony of one of the student participants in the FCSI Israel Bible Study Conference:
“Last year, I faced the most difficult circumstance in my life – the loss of my mother after a long battle with cancer. She was my best friend, my role model, my source of support and the greatest blessing God has ever given to me. I could not imagine my life without her. When I went to the conference, she had stopped responding to treatments and her condition was deteriorating very fast. At this Bible study conference, we studied the story of Jesus calming the storm; through it, Jesus met my paralyzing fears, sorrow, and brokenness and calmed the raging storms within me. His strong presence and overwhelming peace embraced me, carried me above this crushing situation and helped me overcome what seemed to me insurmountable.”
Our vision for the Mark Manuscript Bible Study Conference started in 2014; we wanted to see students who are both passionate about the Word and who know how to study and engage the Scriptures. We wanted students to meet Jesus through his Word and be transformed from within. Yet, the reality showed that our students were lacking the tools to study the Bible as individuals and with one another. So our desire was to offer them a study method which can help them feel comfortable studying the Bible with their friends and within their student groups. We believed that through this our students would also have the courage to start inviting their non-Christian friends to study the bible with them, offering them the chance to meet Jesus in his Word.

As we look back at these beginnings, we are filled with gratitude and joy to see God’s vision for the Christian students in Israel unfold. When we first invited students to meet Jesus through the book of Mark at this conference, less than 20 students committed to joining us. This year we had the third consecutive annual conference – for the first time, we had 110 participants altogether! Students have been sharing how this conference has shaped their faith and given them new eyes to see Scripture. More and more students are reading the Bible, leading to noticeable change in their personal lives.

Our prayer is to see the love of the Scripture and the passion we are witnessing among our students influencing the body of Christ in Israel.

Rasha Saba, rasha@fcsi.ws
Arab students’ ministry and training coordinator FCSI Israel