The School of Biblical Studies in Chile

The School of Biblical Studies is in its 4th week! We have 15 students from 6 different countries, all Spanish speakers. Many have been in missions for a couple of years, and some for only a few months. They nearly all have a calling to continue in missions and Christian ministry! This is exciting, because we know we are equipping 15 future latino leaders and disciple makers with the best biblical foundation one can have! I like to imagine that each of them will go and train 15 more, who will each train 15 more, and so on… in just a few years these students will be leaders and the impact of this school will be in the thousands!

My students have studied 3 books of the New Testament, reading each one 5 times and doing a ton of academic work to fully understand the biblical text. They have also re-learned to read using the inductive study method, helping them to remove the lenses of their prejudices and personal contexts, enabling them to see the Bible through the cultural, historical, and situational lenses of the original writers and readers! This is an incredible process for each of them as the word of God takes root in their hearts through deep study, and results in transformational personal applications that, though they don’t know it yet, will continue to bear fruit for many years to come.

We are currently going through the book of Mark. This is their first medium sized book (we start with short epistles to learn how to study). Being more than twice as long as any book they’ve seen yet, and a new literary genre, it is a challenge for many of them to understand and get through their homework. Pray that my students remain encouraged and able to keep their eyes on the goal of knowing God, not becoming discouraged in the weight of their homework or losing sight of the goal and simply filling their heads with knowledge.

Class of Hebrew Poetry! Every day the students will be studying one of the psalms through the end of the school.

Stephanie Duarte, my girlfriend and also my student, recreating the literary structure of the gospel of Mark