Tag Archives: training

More Please!

“Please sir, I want some more,” is perhaps the most famous line from Charles Dickens’ story of Oliver Twist. This August, at the European region’s Formación conference for student leaders –titled ‘Upside Down’— 40 participants from across the region also made this serious request.

In this case, they were not asking for more meagre food, lacking in nutrition, like Oliver. Rather, they enjoyed how much of the program was dedicated to Scripture Engagement and came away thankful for nourishment from the Scriptures and asking for “more please!”

Eva Petržilková, Scripture Engagement Coordinator for Europe and Formación director, shared about this year’s event:

Formación has always been both a great conference for student leaders and a deeply valuable resource for us in Europe. This year, after talking with the different national movements, we realised that many students know some particular books of the Bible well, but often struggle with the whole story and purpose of Scripture.

Obviously, this can impact their faith in God and understanding of His Word, as well as how they share the good news and answer their friends’ questions. So, this time we took the theme of the Kingdom of God as a way to consider the big story of the Bible. This enabled us to think about who we are as Christians and how we live for Him in His kingdom.

We wanted to do fewer things, but better. We wanted to make sure that direct engagement with Scripture was the focus of what we were doing and not just one squeezed in, expected element.

We adapted this model to recognise that true Formación is a longer process than a summer conference alone. So, we’ve made it into a journey through the year, with online group sessions and 1:1 mentoring relationships. We’ll be learning from Jesus’ parables about His kingdom, who we are in Him, and how we are to live for Him.

It was wonderful to see how the students’ relationship with Scripture and each other grew during the time together in this international community. We saw this particularly in the daily teaching, as well as in the special times of solitude with God and communal lament, when students opened their hearts and minds to learn more from God in the Scriptures:

“For me, the biggest impact was “that eye opening feeling (when you understand the depth of Genesis) and being motivated to take everything that was going on at Formación to our home countries…”

Student, Greece

“What sticks with me about this conference is the depth of the conversations and contacts …we had vulnerable conversations, we prayed …, we laughed and cried out [over] each other’s suffering… including injustice and war in several countries…

…Intentional seeking for Solitude and spending time with God, talking with Him, listening to Him is something I want to do more… As a (student) leader it’s important to seek God first. … I hope I can help people around me and be a witness so others can see the love of God.”

Student, Netherlands

Asking God honest questions — the Suffering of Job

“Who is God? Does He matter? Does He care for us?”

These seemingly simple questions could be the most profound questions that students ever ask…

[Artwork by Fercho Vera, Ecuador]

I grew up in a family of pastors. God was part of our daily lives. I knew Him and had some powerful experiences with Him from childhood. But in my years as a university student, I experienced a crisis of faith during a time of personal suffering and loss.

One day, a friend I had invited to attend our Bible study said: “I don’t want to get close to God. I’m afraid of Him because of the way he treated Job in the Bible.” Lacking a concrete answer, I concluded that she did not know God at all. But I too had these very same questions: “Who is God? Does He matter? Does He care for me?”

The Book of Job feels like a book that requires its reader to have a pre-arranged appointment! My journey with Job intensified last year when I was invited by GBUCh, the Chilean student movement, to prepare three talks for their national student conference online.

I first read the book three times, praying that any prejudice and prior knowledge would not hinder the process of knowing God more deeply through this book. As I reread Job again (and again), I kept asking: “Where is God in the whole narrative? What is the author telling us about who He is?” I was still left with many questions, but also a sense of wonder and worship.

Mindful of the friend who had been scared off by God’s behavior in Job, I prepared talks focused on chapters 1, 19, 28 and 42, which I feel provide many jewels to treasure about the Divine character. We, the readers, are taken on a journey. First, we witness the declaration of who God is and his love for Job (Job 1), only to encounter the turmoil and discomfort of Job’s suffering, echoed in his anguished cry of lament (Job 19). Finally, these scenes climax with the beautiful image of God as redeemer, giver of life, and we are introduced to Him as the personification of wisdom (Job 28). In the end, though not without difficulties for Job or our own understanding of the text, we see a God who restores and brings new life (Job 42).

I have walked in suffering and in joy with staff and students from Chile, Ecuador, and, most recently, northern México, as we have made our way through Job. These journeys have brought students to moments of reconciliation with God. As one participant said:

“God surprised me… I discovered the spirituality of someone who loves God deeply, God the marvelous Creator, who deeply loves us despite all the suffering He allows in our lives. The Book of Job inspires me to a new level of relationship with God, a life of honest prayer and waiting…”

Ana Miriam Peralta, staff worker with COMPA and member of the Scripture Engagement global team.

Art & Word: A Creative Dialogue

Since 2016, CECE Ecuador has been looking for ways of intentionally promoting spaces and processes to create a dialogue between faith and art. These spaces have happened at national camps, Student Formación events and as an integral part of the Bible study resources that are used every semester on campus. The main goal is to establish a dialogue between a passage of Scripture and visual art, so that God’s Word becomes more real and changes students’ lives. This can happen by creating their own art as a response to the text or reflecting on someone else’s work of art. We noticed that it was important, and that many students needed this dialogue and to incorporate faith and art into their lives. We also realised that, for some people, visual elements are key when they engage with Scripture, as well as reading the text out loud.

We also aim to offer training in art and faith, to reflect God’s character as Creator and to place our art in God’s great story and the reconciliation of all of creation.

During the pandemic we organised several workshops and presented an online exhibition created by students, on a dialogue with Deuteronomy. Other workshops that we organised included themes such as the art of creating, artist’s vocation, justice and art, and a celebration of Advent by integrating elements of art and liturgy.

We also want to pique people’s curiosity and encourage conversations with students who are not Christians. We want to use art to create spaces where you can engage with the gospel, not only by hearing but also seeing. It has been great to see artists of different abilities taking part in this dialogue, and to see the impact it has had on their lives as a result of the dialogue between Scripture and their art.

Here are two examples of visual art created as a dialogue between two passages of Scripture in Acts and Deuteronomy. We are also giving you the link to our website (in Spanish), where you can learn more about this creative process with a theological approach, from the point of view of university students.

Artist: Kerly Cando

Title: La Verdadera Iglesia (The True Church)

Bible passage in the dialogue: Acts 10, during CECE’s National Camp in March 2021

Link: here

Artwork made by the students, presenting Jesus at the table with many people dressed in local cultural costumes, with children, and a person in a wheelchair

Artist: Juan Esteban Vásquez

Title: Tierra de Todos (Everyone’s Land)

Bible passage in the dialogue: Deuteronomy 23, after the Student Formación Event in September 2020

Link: here

Image with a black background, with points of light drawing: a starry sky, the silhouette of a woman, on the left some things thrown away, on the ground, and on the right the image of the interior of a temple

Ruth Tobar, Pastoral staff worker and member of the CECE Faith & Art Dialogue Team.

From fear to hope

COMPA had scheduled its highly expected National Student Gathering for April 2020. COVID-19 had already ruined some of my plans and turned my last year as a university student upside down. On March 30th, the Mexican health authorities declared a national lock-down and I went from an on-campus student to an on-line student overnight. What would happen to my plans, my dreams, and my goals for this year? Everything was getting cancelled and it was both sad and frustrating. However, I was able to see God’s hand because my family was healthy, and we had resources.

COMPA announced that they would hold the National Camp online. I was very happy to read that and, at the same time, I felt sad that I wouldn’t be seeing my friends from across the country in person. God surprised me by showing me that He gave us a community despite the distance and these convoluted times. Nearly 1,000 people registered and 700 signed up for on-line Bible studies.

When I was asked to host a Bible study, I accepted and I was more than willing to collaborate since I had a bit of experience in on-line Bible studies, as part of the Student National Convention. However, when I learned the book was Revelation, I felt intimidated as it seems hard to read. We were invited to a 3-session orientation event for 50 Bible study leaders. At the first session, we took a trip down this enigmatic book; in the second, we attended an on-line Bible study; and in the third, they expounded on the methodology.

The book of Revelation then went from a daunting text to a ray of hope in times of uncertainty. I loved stepping into their shoes, and, in a certain way, I felt identified with them. As a student, I like to have everything at hand and under control, but I had lost sight of the essential need to love Jesus deeply.

I grew in my love for the Lord because I saw that Jesus was with us in the midst of these new circumstances. This orientation was key, we had visual aids and a guide to manage time, as well as teaching tools.

Back then, hardly any of us were used to using ZOOM, but they made an effort. Although it was a long-distance call, we felt safe because we were connecting around the Bible. We were all afraid of studying the book of Revelation and we needed hope, and God gave us this hope through this enigmatic book. It was great because it was a true introduction to developing our mission on-line during these semesters. God is sitting on His throne and He has surprised us in the midst of this time of uncertainty by providing us with trust and hope.

Zuriel Castro/ Business Management / COMPA Mexico

Inspiring Love of the Old Testament

Meeting God in ancient words, on a journey, as a scattered community…

Deuteronomy 8:3 “…man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

The Deuteronomy Journey:

Over the last year in Eurasia, a group of 10 senior staff participated in a journey together through the book of Deuteronomy. This pilot project was born out of two observable needs that perhaps resonate with you too:

The need for senior staff to have some input and inspiration from God’s Word for themselves when they are usually the ones giving out and training others. We all need to keep growing in our relationship with God and in our knowledge and love of Him.
The need for students to meet with God in all of Scripture – including the Old Testament. Confusion, fear and perhaps lack of teaching can mean that the Old Testament feels distant or even irrelevant rather than the Holy Scriptures ‘that are able to make you wise for salvation…’.
As staff and students, we want and need to be growing in confidence in reading, understanding and teaching the Old Testament.

The Deuteronomy Journey was designed for a group of peers to do together, learning from one another. We wanted to go deep into one book of the Old Testament as a window on to the rest of Scripture. We grappled with the God that we met there; we journeyed with this God who rescued His people and led them through the wilderness. We marvelled at the words He gave to His people to live by (the law that spoke of Him and made them distinctive in the world) and at the gift of His very self!

Apart from one face-to-face meeting at the start and end of the year, we met monthly on Zoom. The basis for these Zoom calls was written responses (shared with each other) to the Deuteronomy chapters that we had read that month. These ranged from a mini-essay to a letter to a friend and creative sessions for students. Meeting virtually wasn’t without its difficulties but coming together from different cultures gave us the opportunity to be enriched by different perspectives. Together we studied this challenging book with its history, law, some poetry and its call to a life of radical discipleship following the One True and Living God.

What participants said:

“It was good to ask the difficult questions and try to see how we can answer these – this has strengthened my faith…”

“This project has encouraged me to help students to value the Old Testament, the big picture of Scripture – so that we can together come to know the merciful and loving God who is revealed in the whole Bible…”

Deuteronomy 32:47 “They are not just idle words for you – they are your life”!

IFES Eurasia Scripture Engagement Coordinator (no name as in sensitive country)

A Valuable Training and Mission Resource

“The Word Among Us” is a very valuable resource that we have used as part of our training for new student leaders in Jalisco. This booklet has helped students to have stronger convictions regarding Scripture and to love the Bible more. It has also encouraged and challenged them to live out their faith according to Scripture, and it has encouraged them to trust in the power and impact of God’s Word.

Isaac was one of the first students who started to explore the six main aspects of Scripture Engagement that we find in this resource. As a result, I could see how Isaac would reflect more in depth about his personal life and his relationship with God’s Word, and in a natural way he could see the relevance and importance of doing mission at university. He also felt more confident and motivated to do it.

The questions on page 27 of “The Word Among Us” also helped us to invite new students to our Bible studies on campus. We ask them if they are fine with us asking them a few questions, and when they say yes we start by asking, “Have you had any contact with the Bible?”. If so, “where and when?”. Many people say yes, but when we ask a few more questions they end up realising that they actually know very little about the Bible, and when they acknowledge this they are open to learning more about it. At this point we invite them to the Bible study on campus. Many people agree to come and others say they might come sometime.

This is how we met Monica, a biology student. She agreed to come to our Bible study after we interviewed her using the questions on page 27. That day we looked at Mark 2:13-17, which is about how Jesus calls Levi. Monica was very enthusiastic and took part in the session. She went home happy and came back the following week. She started attending regularly throughout the whole semester and we have been able to get to know her better over this time.

It is our responsibility as staff workers to equip students to carry out our mission and help them to engage with Scripture. This is why we use this valuable resource, “The Word Among Us”, when we equip new student leaders.

Rosa Angélica Ramírez Blanco
Staff worker in Jalisco
Compañerismo estudiantil

One Bible Study Multiplied into Many

As a student, I had the opportunity to join a Bible Study group, in addition to our weekly FES fellowship meetings. We met once a week during the semester. We named the group “Bible Surgeons” because we wanted to dissect the Word, discover it and process these discoveries in our lives. We did not just want to hear the outcome of someone else’s study, but engage with Scripture ourselves. These studies taught me to look at biblical passages through the eyes of different people, perspectives and entry points. This has been a great gift for me in my discovery of God and his Word.

Our FES staff worker, Annette Arulrajah, facilitated the Bible Surgeons’ group. Through this experience, I learned to lead Bible studies. As a student, I mainly observed how Annette facilitated. This wasn’t difficult because she would explain the reason behind why she did certain things, even if she had to repeat it weekly! In this way, we studied biblical books and at the same time learned to facilitate studies. I learned from Annette that you can facilitate Bible studies with 1 person or with 100 people. I discovered that engaging with the Word can be interesting, interactive and alive. I think the most valuable thing I learned is how to lead a Bible study in such a way that students learn how to study the Word for themselves and are enabled to facilitate a Bible study for others.

What inspires me to continue facilitating Bible studies with others is the desire to see students discover for themselves who God is through His Word. Since the Word is alive and still speaks to us, it can pierce our heart and draw us back to God – if we allow it to. I have often seen students so moved by the Word that the door for deep conversations was opened and new steps of faith were taken. For me, it is always important to remember that when I mentor a student, I do not do so with my words, but with God’s Word.

For eleven years I have been facilitating Bible studies and training others to do so. I thank the Lord that because of this, many students in turn have started to facilitate Bible studies!

Beatrice Leong, beascuits@gmail.com
staff worker FES Malaysia until 2018

Becoming a Listening Community

For the past few years I’ve had the privilege of investing in leaders through the Young Staff Network. This is a network of new staff serving with IFES in Europe. Our aim is to be a community that enables staff to grow and lay good foundations at the beginning of their ministry. This time last year I was challenged to think about what it might mean for this learning community to be a listening community — a community that is being transformed by the Word. This touched on a feeling I already had: we spend a lot of our time teaching the Word to others, but I wasn’t so sure whether our own personal engagement with the Word had the same high priority.

So we set a challenge for our young staff. We asked them to soak in Peter’s story over a period of 6 months. This involved reading Mark, Acts and 1 Peter as well as completing some exercises both individually and together with others. We wanted them to look at how God formed Peter as a leader, and through that to reflect on how God is forming them.

At the end of this challenge we met together to reflect and share about the experience. This meeting was both discouraging and encouraging.

It was discouraging because it confirmed that personally engaging with God’s Word is not very high on our agenda. There were exceptions, but most of the staff had struggled to make time for this. They were so busy doing that taking time to soak in God’s Word seemed like a luxury they couldn’t afford. I don’t think they are unique in this struggle. There is the temptation for all of us to focus on what we do, on the aspects of our ministry which others see. Then we start to neglect our need to have our own hearts and minds constantly renewed and transformed by God’s Word. This is an incredibly dangerous place to be in.

But this experience also showed me something else: when we do give time to listen to the Word together in community, God speaks and his Word transforms. As we reflected together on what we had learned, there was one common theme: God is patient in how he develops leaders. As we reflected on Peter’s failure, we saw again: it is not our competency that enables God to use us, but rather it is his grace.

Just like Peter, we are prone to failure – as our lack of engagement with God’s Word shows. But God is just as patient with us; he is just as willing to offer us grace. God longs to speak to us, so let’s keep listening.

Heledd Job
Heledd is from Wales, living in Italy. She is part of the IFES Europe Leadership Development team,primarily responsible for co-ordinating the Young Staff Network.

Empowering students to study the Word

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