Tag Archives: Scripture Engagement

Meeting with God in His Word: at World Assembly (or other large gatherings!)

Are you going to World Assembly? Or do you have another big event, e.g., Formación, in your country or region with many people and a busy program to which the Word of God is central?

How can we make the most of these opportunities to meet with God and hear His Word, in a fresh and relevant way, when there are so many things to get involved with?
Let’s take a pause now to consider how we can engage with the Lord in His Word.

Personal delight and public testimony

The Psalms (our focus at WA 2023) are a great mixture of personal devotion, anguish, and praise combined with remembering, declaring, and testifying to the character and deeds of God in community.

If you read Psalm 40, for example, David poetically remembers what God has done for him: hearing his cry, setting him on the firm rock, and giving him a new song of praise…this personal encounter becomes an overflowing public testimony!

At our large gatherings, we can sometimes feel lost in the crowd, or very busy with numerous meetings. Here are a few simple ideas, which may help as you and other staff or students gather together to call on, hear from, and be transformed by the Living Word in these good, but busy gatherings.

Personal: Be sure to set aside time to read and meditate on Scripture by yourself. Of course, you can follow your regular Bible reading plan, but you can also focus on the texts that are studied by everyone during the event. Having your own encounter with the Lord in these passages can prepare you to hear and better understand during the communal times of study. And, as you go through the conference, note down passages and thoughts that you want to spend more time thinking and praying over.
Companionship: It is also good to value small group spaces of interaction with others around the Word. In large events, with many people, it is often these more intimate spaces, in pairs or smaller groups, where the sharing of doubts and discoveries becomes a special way of mutual learning and encouragement.

“I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.”
Psalm 40:10

Community: Hearing from God through members of our diverse communities is a wonderful opportunity to learn from God’s Word through those from different contexts, who have different concerns, questions, and perspectives. As we study the reliable Word of God with other people, we might notice things about God, discipleship, and grace that would have otherwise gone unrecognised.
Beyond the conference: So, as we go to World Assembly, Formación, and the like, let’s arrive open to what the Lord wants to teach us through His Word — in our own devotions, in the main teaching sessions, and over lunch, as we share what He is showing us in our contexts.

At these events we can hear stories, have access to resources, methods, and varied approaches to God’s Word. Seek to listen, learn, and identify (while taking note of) good practices that can be useful or adaptable to the challenges of your own reality and culture. Be willing to share your stories, your difficulties, but also the ways you’ve successfully engaged with the Scriptures.

These exchanges will help us grow in how we love, study, live, and share the Word of God in our mission contexts.

Paula and Ricardo
Serving as leaders of IFES Scripture Engagement Global Team

Scripture Engagement eLearning

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

“I found it very helpful to be asked questions about Scripture Engagement during the course and not just be told what to think. This course also led to a breakthrough in my own engagement with Scripture. One thing I take with me is not to approach Scripture as a checkbox or research activity, but as a personal meeting with God.”
Testimony from Guyana

“Seeing the passion of the Psalmist for the Word in Psalm 119 convinced me – I want this passion and want students to be like that.”
Testimony from Italy

How can we grow in recognizing that Scripture Engagement pertains to every part of life? One way is to participate in a journey of learning together with brothers and sisters from our global fellowship. So, we want to encourage you to take the eLearning course “Foundations of Scripture Engagement,” which is designed to prepare those involved with the ministry of their national movements.

We see this as something other than a course where some people are teaching and others learning. In this, everyone is a student as they meet with God and learn from Him. This course takes place through listening to God in diligent study of the Scriptures, which in turn opens a space for: personal reflection, communication, sharing perspectives and experiences, and promoting mutual growth through the beauty of God’s message to us, as a community, through the Word.

We offer the “Foundations of Scripture Engagement” eLearning course in three languages. It is made up of two parts, each lasting four weeks with a week break in between.
There are two ways to participate.

Option 1: sign up for one of this year’s cohorts using the following forms:

English (starting on September 4th): link here.
Spanish (starting on September 4th): link here.
French (starting on October 2nd): link here.

Option 2: gather a cohort from your national movement or your region. This way, you can choose the dates and even adjust the length of the course to suit your group.
For more information on how to plan, or to clarify any other details, please write to scriptureengagement@ifesworld.org.

We look forward to having you on board too!

“I have gained a new appreciation and excitement about the Word of God. Taking the course was refreshing. The Word of God now feels more like a treasure than a chore. I finished each session wanting more.”
Participant from South Africa

“The course led to a shift in my attitude/perspective. I grew up as a Christian, but never stopped to ask: What are my convictions? Why do I read? For me, this course was a calling from God – calling into a deeper relationship, to go deeper with the Word.”
Participant from Ethiopia

IFES Scripture Engagement Global Team

Setting good models in Scripture

I took my first steps with the Bible in Sunday school as an elementary student and, simultaneously, at home through family devotions. It was during this time that I got my first Bible and started reading for myself the words that I heard others teaching.

It was very special to have the opportunity to grow in my understanding of how to study the Bible. Through my participation in high school and college student ministries, I became familiar with a method known as Inductive Bible Study. Following this, as staff with EvaSUE (IFES movement in Ethiopia), I learnt an approach called the Manuscript Study Method.

People often ask me to name my favourite Scripture passages; however, there are no particular passages that I enjoy as such. Rather, different passages become relevant at different times in my life. Having said that, due to the frequency with which I have studied the first half of Mark’s gospel, I have grown to appreciate and cherish how Mark describes Jesus’ teachings on obedience. This is particularly true of the parable of the sower (or should we call it the parable of the soils?), which speaks to this gospel’s larger message of discipleship. Jesus’ teachings on this theme inspire me to see the daily, practical, and seemingly mundane aspects of discipleship.

When reflecting on the needs of and challenges for this generation of students as they seek to engage with the Scriptures, I have two main observations. First, I think this generation requires solid grounding and discipleship in their basic knowledge of the Bible – both its meta-narrative and the smaller portions. This point also ties in with how our churches are doing discipleship. Second, the generation responsible for equipping students to handle the Scriptures must lead by example, where it concerns application of the Word in our respective contexts.

Finally, I would like to share some of my goals for how I will continue to grow in the Scriptures. First, I want to consistently observe my own quiet time, during which I can study the Bible. Second, I should be an example to students in obeying what I read, preach and teach.

Messay Imru
EvaSUE Scripture Engagement coordinator and member of the IFES Scripture Engagement global team

Unlearning and learning with Paul

For most of us in the African context, prayer and prayerfulness are an indispensable part of our spirituality. We pray, and we look to God for everything, from medical care to employment and bank loans. Nothing is left for granted or to chance because mostly our systems do fail us!

Prayerful as we are, some of our prayers are very much worrying. Their content is foreign to the language and the attitude of the Bible. The same can be said of the posture of our prayers and the people who pray them. The motivation is often fear and the desire to manipulate everything spiritual to our advantage.

Here are some of Paul’s prayers we looked at in a recent journey with staff of ESWAFES, the movement in Eswatini:

1) Paul thanking God for his people (e.g. Romans 1:8-10, 1 Corinthians 1:4, Ephesians 1:16, Philippians 1:3-4, Colossians 1:3, etc).

2) Paul prayed for their wisdom and knowledge (e.g. Ephesians 1:17, Ephesians 1:18, Romans 15:13).

3) Paul asked people to pray for him (e.g. 2 Th 3:1-2, Phil 1:22) and a range of many other issues.

As we looked at Paul’s prayers in our studies, we saw a lot of both learning and unlearning to do. We need to unlearn a lot of practices with which prayer has become associated in our context, just like how in their context, the disciples needed pray differently to hypocrites and pagans (Matthew 6:5-8).

Here is some of the unlearning:

a) God is not an errand boy we send around as we wish through prayer.

b) Prayer is not a weapon we use to change God’s mind and do our bidding.

c) Prayer is bigger than our own self-centredness; it is not about us.

These were very difficult things to unlearn because they have been part of our prayer economy for as long as our salvation and that of our pioneers! Praise God there were a lot of vital lessons learnt from Paul’s prayers including the following:

(a) God’s priorities must become our priorities in prayer.

(b) God’s sovereignty over the affairs of men and his creation are the basis of our confidence in prayer.

As we think about prayer, I would like to invite all of us to look at some of the great prayers God’s people made in the Bible. Let us try to learn from them. Paul’s prayers are such a wonderful collection for Christians today!

Mukululi Ncube, ESWAFES Re-pioneering Staff and member of IFES Global Team on Scripture Engagement.

The Bible in my life

The Bible is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. It is healing for the soul; it is the breath of God himself. Through it, God challenges and comforts, rebukes and restores, exhorts and encourages. It is, in its entirety, God’s revelation of truth to us.

But the Bible can also be misused. That is why the great IFES discipline of inductive Bible study is important: learning to understand Scripture on its own terms; respecting the context and obeying the message, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us feel.

Bible study can also too easily become an abstract exercise. That is why I love that one of the core IFES values is not simply “the Bible”, but “Scripture Engagement”. All Bible study should not ultimately and primarily be about us, but about God, his character and his invitation to use this Holy Revelation to get to know him better.

When Darrell Johnson was interviewed at the 2015 World Assembly, he shared how, before he opened a passage to prepare for preaching, he would ask himself (referencing the Song of Solomon) “what does this passage tell me about him whom my heart loves?”. That should be the question for all of us when we open Scripture at any time, whether we are preachers or Bible study leaders or not.

Speaking personally, my journey with Scripture has gone through various stages. I was privileged to be taught it as an infant sitting at my parents’ feet and was fascinated by it as a listener; it was a bedtime story for me. In adolescence as I committed my life to Christ and read it regularly as a spiritual discipline, I saw it as a story to me; a set of exhortations to help me live well as a disciple.

Then as I grew in the faith, I realised it was a story about me; I saw more clearly my own shortcomings in the lives of its flawed heroes and marvelled at the sufficiency of Christ to cover all my sin. As I studied it more deeply in seminary and embarked on a preaching ministry, it became (not always for the best) a story from me; truths that I felt commissioned to pass on to others. Eventually I realised that these strands all needed to come together and, as I grasped more firmly the depth of God’s grace, they became a story growing within me. As I engage with Scripture, the Spirit who inspired those authors is the same Spirit who is convicting and changing me. That is a journey I am still on, and if I can, I want to bring others with me.

David Montgomery, IFES Europe Regional Secretary

Leadership Transition

Being alive always includes change. In September 2021 Ricardo Borges took on the leadership of the IFES Scripture Engagement ministry from Sabine Kalthoff. Sabine will continue with IFES as Secretary for Spiritual Formation with 30% of her time, while putting the focus of her ministry on serving in a pastoral role at a local college. Ricardo and Sabine asked each other some questions regarding the upcoming transition.

Ricardo, what was one key experience of yours from the past four years as Associate Secretary for Scripture Engagement?

There were so many great experiences. One of them was seeing, in different parts of the globe, so many staff and students opening their Bibles to explore God’s Word in connection with the challenges of their context. It is indeed wonderful to experience that God’s Word is relevant to the whole of our lives.

Ricardo, what motivates you to continue in the global Scripture engagement ministry?

The fact that this is a global fellowship, with such a rich diversity of people, cultures, and different backgrounds. I look forward to seeing us grow in how these different perspectives help us to listen better to the Lord in the Scriptures. And to grow in our partnerships as we witness to the Lord in our different contexts.

Sabine, what is one precious memory from your past ten years as Secretary for Scripture Engagement?

Oh, there are so many that it’s hard to choose. One memory is from an IFES training consultation in Ghana. After I led a Bible study, a colleague from Nigeria came up to me and shared how God’s Word had spoken to him. I was filled with a deep sense of amazement – God’s Word speaks across cultures. I knew that before, but experiencing it was something different. It grew my trust and sense of wonder in God’s Word.

Sabine, what will your new role in IFES look like?

As Secretary for Spiritual Formation, my desire is to help staff flourish in their relationship with Jesus. In IFES, we are good at working hard. And then, we sometimes forget to make space for God to meet us, feed us, shape us – individually and as teams. My desire is to help create such spaces e.g., through leading Scripture engagement sessions with staff, shaping staff retreats and walking alongside individuals. (You can read more here.)

A Growing Vision

by Jacob Varghese, staff worker with UESI India

My journey with Scripture Engagement goes back to when I was a student. At that time, I entered into a personal relationship with Jesus as my Lord and saviour and started to connect deeply with God’s Word. Studying doctrine helped me see the Bible as the inspired Word of God and convinced me of the need to reflect on this Word. Simultaneously, I was introduced to the discipline of having a ‘quiet time’ and sincerely started practicing it. Doing this laid a good foundation for my faith.

However, I did not realize that I was only reading & reflecting on a few passages. I applied them to my life, but before long I was getting bored of reading the Bible. I continued to read in the Bible, but only as an exercise, just like physical exercise for my body. Slowly, I started withdrawing and having my quiet time only when it was convenient. Little did I know that even during that time my God was actively working within me and shaping me.

Taking A Break. As we travel, we take journey breaks in order to be refreshed. But for me, the break on my journey was breakdown. My staff colleagues and other students in the fellowship never realized the struggle I was going through. It was during this period that I met Rev. Koichi Ottawa (then IFES Regional Secretary for East Asia). He asked me very directly: “how is your journey with God?” I was taken by surprise, but I responded truthfully. Ottawa helped me to re-start my journey with God and his Word. I realized that Scripture engagement is not a duty or mere discipline, but that it is about the Lord walking at my side and speaking to me – there is fun, there are arguments, expressions of disappointment, joy and gratefulness. Scripture became the framework for my life.

A Renewed Vision. Through the IFES global ministry of Scripture Engagement, my vision was enlarged. I began to understand more deeply that engaging with Scripture is an ongoing journey in an active relationship with our Lord God. I recognized that Scripture is not only about what God has done for me, but that it also places me in God’s grand story.
Scripture engagement is so much more than techniques – it is an invitation to continue growing in our relationship with Jesus and his world. As I understood this more deeply, I recognized my responsibility to start building up lives centred around Scripture.

Sharing this vision with individuals and building them up as vision multipliers was the next step for me. I made a conscious decision that in my personal capacity, I would focus on individuals and small group training programs and not wait for the formation of large groups. My journey continues with the vision to see young people actively engaging with God, his Word and his world.

Experiencing Transformation

written by Daniel, a student from Timor Leste

How can we change our old ways of living to that of new ways? Our efforts will not be sufficient to defeat darkness. Even more so if we have memories that will not let us go until we die. I struggled with such memories that haunted me.

As I witnessed fellow friends deciding to follow God fully, I also felt inspired to do so. At the same time, I felt an inner hunger and emptiness; I felt like I was about to drown. One night, I began to desire reading the Word of God. As I walked down the street that night, I reached a crossroad, and I turned in the direction of a staff’s house. I asked him if we can study the Word together and he gladly accepted. Our journey of studying the whole of Luke’s Gospel took us around five months.

Throughout the study I was inspired by the character of Jesus and how people’s lives were changed after encountering him. I saw how Jesus restores dignity in people – like when he healed the blind. I also saw how these people were truly moved by what Jesus did to them. What made a strong impression on me is that Jesus came from above to live a simple life among others. He did not choose to live like a performing magician. I learned that the key to transformation in my life is to have FAITH in Jesus.

Reading Luke’s gospel changed my way of thinking. I understood that life is not just about knowing God in our head but also knowing him in our heart. I learned to open up my life for Jesus to fill me and shine his light in me. I also began to realize that it would be unfair to keep quiet about what the Holy Spirit had done in me.

I started to notice friends around me with the same hunger to read the Word; the topic of life and God kept popping up in our conversations and on social media. So we gladly decided to form a small Bible study group. I have seen changes in my friends – they have new values in life and see life differently than they did in their old ways of living.

As I know Christ more, Jesus is helping to sort through the baggage that I accumulated from my past by sweeping them under the carpet. It is a sweet and painful experience. Although it is a painful, I know Christ is with me and this process is necessary to live a righteous life. It is like an ongoing work in progress with Jesus until the day I meet him. I call this process: “transformation is not just about change but construction”.

testimony translated from Tetun language

Alan came to God

*Names changed due to sensitive location.

I want to share with you how I came to God. I wasn’t seeking him – he found me. He came to me at the most difficult time in my life. I got to a point when I wanted to take my own life.

It was unexpected. I was walking by my university, I saw this student handing out flyers. I went up to her, and in some way this person seemed to shine. After taking that flyer, I thought for a long time, and finally decided to go to that meeting. That evening the discussion was about truth, and it concluded with the thought, “the truth will set you free.” It just hit me.

“But to us, as staff, Alan seemed very suspect. He asked a lot of questions about who we are. But he also seemed to have a lot of genuine questions about the faith. We wondered if he was a spy, so we chose not to meet with him. We told him he could read the Bible if he wanted to find answers to his questions.

So he did! He downloaded the Bible onto his phone, and googled where best to start reading; he started with John’s gospel. It was his own reading of Scripture that let him to the decision to follow Christ.”

I went to the IFES staff l and said: “I want to know God, to know Jesus, and to grow in him”. God started to change everything in my life. My friends rejected me. When I read the Word of God, it led me to forgive my parents. They were amazed – and started to wonder why.

“We later found out that Alan’s father worked in the religious affairs department of the ‘KGB’ in our country, hence why he seemed so well-connected and inquisitive. Yet his interest was genuine; we started meeting with him for one-to-one Bible study.”

When my parents heard I was going to Bible studies, it was a shock for them. “We don’t need a son like that.” I wondered what to do; my father said “family or God: choose.” I began to gather my belongings.

Then my parents said: “Stay, we’ll drag you out of this”. I didn’t go to church for two weeks, I met with different people, with a Mullah, the took me to the mosque, and through all these contacts I understood that there is something in my heart, that salvation is in me, it was amazing. I started to abide in God’s Word, and I understood how much God loves me. I am thankful to God that there is this ministry through which I came to God.

“During this time we studied 1 Peter with Alan, about holding fast to Jesus in suffering. He said ‘I felt that this has been written just for me’. Alan was a final year student, and he said he didn’t want to do anything else in life except help others find Christ. He’s now joined our IFES movement as an intern, in another city where he can have more freedom from his parents, and his passion is to help others meet Jesus in his Word.”

Nina: Professor and Seeker

*Names changed due to sensitive location.

Nina is a remarkable woman. She is a single mother working several jobs to provide for her family. She is a university professor and a private language teacher for both local children and foreigners who need to learn a local language. Even with such a schedule she has time to think and to dream about what life could be like.

Nina comes from a minority ethnic group in a majority Muslim country in Asia. This ethnic group has very few believers… and she is not yet following Christ herself. But hearing her story it is clear that the God of all creation has been pursuing her…

From South American ‘m-workers’ who befriended her and helped her through some tough times, to the chance invitation to work in a private school founded by Christians — and then the many friendships she has formed, the conversations about faith and the way she experienced a different working atmosphere when surrounded by believers in J.

Mary, an older student and mature believer, prayed often for her, watching and waiting for the opportunities to share the Word with her. Mary’s patience did not mean inaction but active prayer. During this time of waiting and praying, friendship and trust grew. Nina began to tell Mary about her family and her history, starting to share her hopes and dreams. When Nina had a bereavement in her family she talked to Mary about death, which gave an opportunity to share a verse from the Holy Scriptures. But Mary’s great desire was to read from the Bible together with Nina, so that Nina could hear about and meet with God in His Word…

After a while, Nina herself asked Mary if they could read the Bible together. Nina invited Mary, not the other way around — and this started a pattern of meeting outside of lessons and reading the Scriptures together.

Mary led Nina through the Bible, starting at the beginning…and taking her through the big story of Scripture, introducing her to God in these stories and seeing His interactions with people. They traced God’s grace through the Bible and led up to the gospel story.

Mary asked Nina to find the passages, read them aloud and then summarise what they had read together. This way she learnt for herself the big story of God’s love and purpose.

During part of the coronavirus pandemic, they were even connecting every day and reading the gospel together. Nina learned to pray and to read with this good Christian friend. And even though the Bible, she would say, is not yet ‘her’ book, Nina shared these stories that she was hearing and learning with her friends because she was so moved by what she was reading and so convinced that these stories would be of help to her friends…