Teaching
| How
We Teach | |
Who We Teach |
Our Resources |
|
Our Teachers |
Teaching Videos |
Therefore our teaching work is theoretically very broad, taking in every aspect of Christian work imaginable. We can start by teaching those who have not dedicated their lives to Jesus because, in so doing, we are preaching the Gospel to them because we insist they learn from the Bible. We can teach children, or more specifically, parents to teach their own children about the Bible. We can teach theology to new believers and old, or train them for the ministry.
Where
teaching is concerned we hope to have a Bible college some time in the
future, but the heart of our vision is based in the homes of believers.
Whilst our stated purpose is to teach the Bible, in practical terms we
also do some literacy training because
travellers and Gypsies often miss school, but when they become
Christians they find they are unable to read the Bible for themselves.
The Bible is available on tape or CD, which is a life-line for many, but
whilst some can listen to tapes, they can not study the Bible this way.
Therefore they have to improve their reading, and also learn study
skills that might otherwise be taken for granted (such as the use of
alphabetical indexes or cross references). However,
we are a
religious organisation, not an educational one, so it must be
made clear that literacy is only a stepping stone to our real aim: to
increase knowledge of the Bible so that the believer can grow in God. We
have taught some who are not believers, but only only condition that
they learn from the Bible, because we can use it as an opportunity to
share the Gospel with them.
.jpg)
We
have also been involved in ministry training. Light & Life Missions
currently has about seventy ministers in the UK and about twenty
trainees. Many ministers require further training, but the focus is on
the trainees. Every couple of years the Mission takes them away from
their families and homes to a retreat in Wales for a month's intensive
training. Usually that event is organised and run by Jacky Boyd, the
minister who runs Life & Light Mission as a whole, but last time I was
given the privilege of supervising much of that event with Dolphy Smith
(the husband of our part time worker, Elsie, who teaches children).
Keith Monument, the Chairman of the Pilgrim Bible Society,
usually teaches the trainees
at their Bible College; he is well known in the Mission because he
helped set up Light & Life when they were part of the AOG Home Missions.
We also teach children whose parents are now Christians in Life & Light churches. Really our aim is to teach the parents how to teach their own children in accordance with Proverbs 22v6 and Deuteronomy 6v7 (or 11v18-21). Again it must be made clear that our interest is in spiritual things, so we wish to teach parents how to share their faith with their children. We want parents to learn how to involve their children in their prayer time, and to discuss the faith with them, so that they can come to a personal knowledge of Jesus. Literacy is not really our concern.
The scriptures at Deuteronomy 6 show that the responsibility for training the next generation rests on their parents, especially the fathers, not on professional school teachers. For many years the educational establishment has given the impression that we, as parents, are not able to teach our own children, so we must hand them over to be educated on our behalf. Sadly many have believed this message, and are so convinced that they assume that we will teach the children - but the point is that they must do it. The first reason is to fulfil scripture, but secondly so that the children continue to be trained when they travel the country (out of our reach unless we happen to be travelling in the same areas). Whilst we may help parents out with aspects where they really lack (most commonly academic ability), we leave as much as possible to them. It is up to them to shape their child's character and future by teaching them to walk with the Lord and live according to biblical morals, so we teach them how to pray with their children, to read the Bible at regular times (and follow it up with discussion about how to apply the scriptures they read). We avoid the temptation to usurp that place in their child's life.
As a point of principle we believe that our workers should be part of the community. They do not have to be gypsies, or born travellers, but they can not effectively fulfil a ministry among a travelling community unless they move with it, and understand the relevant practical issues because they have experienced the travelling lifestyle for themselves. I am not a traveller, but I have lived as one for thirteen years (since I got saved) and my wife, Lena, is a Gypsy.
11/09/08