Teaching Students about Church Planting

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Profile-Pic_Roger-and-Julie-Tate-1.jpg
The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

June 10, 2023

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

One of the classes that I am teaching this term is Church Planting. Even though I spent fifteen years in Kitale doing church planting, I still hardly feel qualified to teach this course to new ministry students. It is such an important subject for my students to study and I can only pray that I teach them properly and to do everything I can to help them understand the importance of the subject and how they should be doing it. But what I’m teaching them has been a hard sell so far. Let me see if I can explain why.

My students are studying for ministry work. They are diligently studying the Bible and what it means to work in the ministry of Jesus Christ. They are good and godly students who want to know Jesus, want to know the Bible, and want to minister the gospel in the lives of people and in the world. But they usually also come with a certain mindset. I’ll call it a Traditional mindset. They come to Bible school, many of them want to become pastors. They are thinking of becoming pastors of already established churches, of preaching the Word of God and ministering in that church, of seeing that church grow bigger, and of eventually building a bigger church to accommodate this bigger congregation.

There is nothing wrong with the above model, is there? No, there isn’t. It is the same model that most of us are familiar with and, if we are pastors, it is the model we are probably participating in. So, no, there is nothing wrong with the Traditional model. But I am trying to teach these young Bible students something a little different. I am trying to convince them to consider a slightly different model. I don’t know what to call it, so I’ll just call it the Different model. In the Different model that I’m teaching them, I’m trying to convince them to go to a location where there is NO church already present, where there may not be any Christians at all, where the gospel needs to be preached, and where a new New Testament church is actually needed. My students can usually get on board with this pretty well, after all they are godly students wanting to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus. Where they start jumping off the wagon, however, is when I begin to teach the really different part of the Different model. I am trying to teach them to start churches that will reproduce themselves and start other churches and to teach them principles on how to do that. They were on board at first because, while they do want to fulfill the Great Commission, they also want to start churches that will eventually become big, have lots of people and tithes, and be able to build big church buildings and have lots of structured programs. When I began telling them that church buildings are not always conducive to churches reproducing themselves because poor communities cannot reproduce such a thing, they began jumping off board. When I began telling them that when their church becomes big enough (defined as too big to meet in their house anymore) then the church should start convincing some of its members to start a new church in another location, even more jumped off board. After all, how can their church become big if they are always sending some of their members off to start a new church somewhere else? I think their biggest issue might be, “How can I ever get enough financial support from my church if my church membership is never more than 15-25 people?” The other issue they face is the issue we all face – the mindset that “Bigger is better.” They want to pastor a big church because “Bigger is better” for a thousand and one reasons. I want them to start churches that will start churches that will start churches so that the gospel will spread, the kingdom of Christ will spread, and there will be a church presence preaching the gospel in every place in Kenya and in every place in the world. It is a hard sell, even for godly, Jesus loving Bible students at Bible college. I can see some changes in them, though. They are beginning to ask themselves the question I ask them all the time, “What is your goal?” Is your goal a big church, with a big membership, a big offering plate, a big building, and a big reputation? There is nothing wrong with that goal, my beloved students. But consider another goal – a dozen churches, spreading out over the city, preaching the gospel and reaching the lost, all with the purpose of spreading the Kingdom and starting more churches that will all be doing the same thing.

“My beloved students – What is your goal?”

Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


Read more

Rain and Showers of Blessing

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Profile-Pic_Roger-and-Julie-Tate-1.jpg
The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

April 8, 2023

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

First, I want to give you a quick update on the drought situation here in Kenya since I have been speaking about it in the last couple of newsletters. I want to say, “Praise the Lord!” This past month we have been getting rainfall in good quantities and the Lord has blessed us with rain. I really wasn’t crying “wolf” in previous newsletters. Kenya does have yearly dry seasons, but this season was extraordinarily dry for a much longer period. We thank the Lord that we have received rain here in Kijabe but the crop and economic situation for many Kenyans is still dire. We need the rains to continue, and I still don’t know what the drought will mean for the crops this year. We are still very much dependent upon the Lord’s blessings.

Second, it seems like there is always some kind of catastrophe to be praying about here in Kenya. Now we are facing weekly tumultuous riots, mainly in Nairobi. We went through a stressful presidential election last year and now the candidate that lost (who has been running and losing for the last forty years) has called his people to riot in the capital until some of his demands are met. So, his people have obeyed and are rioting in and around Nairobi, burning things, hurting people, causing trouble, and preventing business. Oh, what can I say? I understand so little of Kenyan politics, but I can’t see how this is helping the Kenyan people. Please don’t lose patience with me but it seems I’m always asking you all to pray for peace in Kenya, and I’m doing it again now.

School is currently on break and the students are home resting, doing ministry, and spending time with family. With school being out I have had a couple of opportunities to speak at a couple of churches. The first church was by far the biggest church I have spoken at in Kenya. It probably had six to seven hundred people in it. That’s probably close to the largest congregation I have preached to in my life. The second church was a church that one of my students is a member of. He and his pastor invited me to come and preach. It was a considerably far drive and I got to see a large portion of Kenya that I had never seen before. My student told me that there were two services with about 300 people in each service, so I was expecting a fairly large town. After I arrived and checked into my guest house I went to “town” to see what it was like. Can I just say, there was nothing there. The whole town consisted of about ¼ mile of wooden shacks on either side of the road. It certainly wasn’t what I expected. But the student was correct, and I preached to two services of about three to four hundred people each. Simple, gospel messages that focus on Jesus and salvation to a total of about 1200-1400 people. What a privilege. Now, in the meantime, I am busy preparing classes for my students returning next term. I am looking forward to teaching them 1) General Epistles of the New Testament and 2) Church Planting.

Blessings to all,

Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


Read more

Fires in Kenya

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Profile-Pic_Roger-and-Julie-Tate-1.jpg
The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

March 9, 2023

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

Last month I mentioned the drought that is currently plaguing Kenya. We have now entered the time of the short rains, but it has not rained. Yes, it rained a couple of times but then stopped again. We have not received the rain we should be getting in the short rainy season and the situation is no better. The students are back on campus, but we are now having to truck in water from outside sources and fill our water tanks in that way. It is still extremely dry throughout the country and that leads to the adventure I don’t want to experience again, and I’ll recount in the next paragraph.

We live in the middle of the Kijabe forest, half-way down the escarpment into the Great Rift Valley. When I look up the escarpment, I only see forest. When I look down the escarpment, I only see forest. With no rain, the trees, leaves, and ground all dry up. The forest becomes a tinderbox. We have no-burn policies right now because of the threat of fire. But most Kenyans cook their daily meals over open fires just outside their front doors and burn their trash to dispose of it. Here in Kijabe, the wind also races up and down the escarpment at a furious pace sometimes. The scenario provides for many unwatched fires which can then lead to, you guessed it, forest fires. About two weeks ago I was at the school, looking out my office window when I saw smoke rolling off the next hill over. I went over to the classroom block for a better look and saw half the hillside covered in smoke. I knew it was not a good sign, but I went home and didn’t hear any more about it. Later that night, Julie looked out our kitchen window and said, “Is that a fire?” I looked out and up the hill, and sure enough, it was a large fire. It looked like it was about 150 yards up the hill. I immediately began thinking about what important things we needed to grab before jumping in the car and getting the blazes out of here. We began making some quick phone calls and found out that what, in the night looked like a couple hundred yards, was in reality on a ridge about a mile away. A bit more comforting, but not too comforting. I walked back up to the classroom block for a better look and saw that the entire ridge on the hill next to ours was engulfed in flames, with the nighttime wind whipping around like crazy. I watched it for a few minutes, not knowing in what direction it was going to go – down the hill, away from us, or towards us? We spent a couple of restless hours waiting to hear what direction the fire was going before we heard that it was currently heading in the opposite direction. We eventually went to bed and went to a somewhat restless sleep, knowing that people in the area were staying awake to keep an eye on things. As a person who has always had a small fear of fire, I really didn’t like that experience and don’t want to go through it again. PRAY FOR RAIN IN KENYA.

On a happier note, I always like to know I’m doing something or involved with something that is making a difference and doing some good. Sometimes in ministry it can be hard to rate if you are making the kind of difference you desire. Julie reminds me that long-term change is generational. It can take a long time to make real changes. I oftentimes wish it was more like constructing a building where you can watch the progress and see the growth. But sometimes you get little hints that what you are doing is making a difference, and sometimes it comes in unexpected ways. In this case, I needed to go up the hill to “the city” and go to the bank, but Julie had the car. So, I asked one of my students who owns a car for taxiing purposes to drive me to the bank and back. We got to talking while he was driving (as he was driving very fast, I might add). He comes from and grew up in a church that teaches a wealth and health gospel, where the pastor needs to be the example of receiving God’s blessings by being rich and prosperous, and where church leadership/pastorate is a lucrative job opportunity funded by unsuspecting church members. My student Samuel (pronounced Samwel in Kenya) confessed that is what he thought the ministry was all about. Now, however, he says that he has learned that ministry is not about that, that ministry is about teaching the Word of God, sharing the gospel of Jesus, loving people and helping them know about salvation and following Jesus, and equipping the church for discipleship and reaching the nations. Now he wants to return to his own village and take the true gospel of Jesus back to a people who go to church every week but never hear about the true gospel. Making a difference one life at a time, folks. PRAY THAT SAMUEL’S NEWLY FOUND CONVICTIONS WILL STICK AND PERSERVERE UNTIL HE REACHES HIS VILLAGE WITH THE LOVE OF JESUS.

Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


Read more

Praying for Rain in Kenya

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Profile-Pic_Roger-and-Julie-Tate-1.jpg
The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

February 10, 2023

Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ,

I pray this newsletter finds you well. I’m sure that life in the United States is not without its challenges. We find ourselves with some challenges here in Kenya as well.

First, Kenya is currently suffering through a more than usually severe drought. Kenya usually has its annual rainy season and dry season. And during the dry season it is always, well, dry. It gets dusty, things turn brown, crops suffer, etc. But this year is the worst of my fifteen years in Kenya as there was basically no rainy season this year. People started talking about it months ago but now we are really starting to see the effects of it. People all over the country are really suffering from a lack of water. Here in Kijabe where we live there has been no rain and so we have no water. We are now rationing water – no laundry, no showers for a while (we are at least able to take “missionary” showers now), and no flushing toilets (until it is necessary). We don’t know how long this situation will last but it has gotten to the point where we have had to send all of our students home. They were already supposed to go home for mid-term break but we had to cancel classes early and send them home. They are scheduled to return late next week but this will only occur if the school is able to somehow get some water. Nobody around here really knows when that will be. This is not really the rainy season, but we could really use some rain. Please pray for rain.

Second, the drought is really beginning to effect Kenyans financially. I am seeing it mostly in students’ inability to pay school fees. Fees are usually paid when families sell crops or livestock and then they use the proceeds to pay bills. But right now, crops and livestock are not faring well and families are struggling to eat, let alone have extra for school fees. Last month I did mention a student, Milkah, who had been left in a bad spot and couldn’t pay her fees. I want to thank you all for praying for her as she was able to raise her fees, pay her bill, and return to class (except that class has been canceled and students sent home because of the drought).

In more happy news, we had our first visitors here to Kenya in a very long time. It was a joy to have Doug and Sharon Brook visit us for a few days. They are our dear friends from our home church in Ohio. I realized when I was introducing them to folks around here that Doug and Sharon are my “oldest” friends. I don’t mean oldest in age, but oldest meaning “longest standing friends”. Of all the friends in my life, Doug and Sharon have been around and stood in there the longest. I have been friends with Doug for 43 years and Sharon for 40. You probably can’t imagine how much we miss “home” sometimes. Having friends here brought a little bit of “United States Home” to our “Kenya Home”.

We are praying for you all, that you would know and love Jesus, that you would follow and serve Him, and that the Kingdom of Christ would grow in your neck of the woods, wherever you call home.

Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


Read more

Opportunities in a New Semester

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Profile-Pic_Roger-and-Julie-Tate-1.jpg
The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

January 8, 2023

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

I pray all of you had a wonderful and Christ-filled Christmas season. God is so good to all of us (all of His children) and we praise Him for the gift of His Son that brings us redemption and salvation. I am learning that God is good and that I complain too much.

All of my students were gone for the month of December – to rest, to spend time with family, and to celebrate the birth of the Son of God. So, while I was not in the classroom for the month of December, I was certainly not idle. I spent the month of December preparing for the two classes I will teach starting in January. I am very excited about both classes. I have the opportunity to teach Basic Theology and New Testament Survey to eager and excited Kenya students. I am excited about this term because of these two courses. These are important things for Bible students and future church leaders to learn and study. What a grand opportunity to instill into future Kenyan pastors and church leaders some of the wisdom I have gleaned from God’s Word so that they can take the Word of God back to their own people and minister to them in Jesus’ Name. I pray that some of them will even be so moved by the Holy Spirit that they take the gospel message even beyond their own people to other unreached peoples of Kenya and the surrounding countries. Lord, thank You that I get to entrust to others what little I know. May they take Your Word to all people and may Your Kingdom grow mightily in this place. May the gospel of Your Son be known and may He be loved and followed by all of Your beloved Kenyan people.

One of my new students this term is Daniel T. I am giving you Daniel’s English name because, honestly, I cannot pronounce or spell his given name or his family name. Daniel is from the world’s newest country – South Sudan. South Sudan recently received independence from Sudan, which is a predominantly Muslim country. South Sudan is a challenging place to live – Very hot, very dry, not much water, impoverished, lots of persecution. I would cherish the opportunity to visit there some day and to share and teach the gospel. I have only met a few South Sudanese people, but those I have met have left a lasting impression upon me. Not only are they always happy and smiling but the few that I have met have a big passion for taking the gospel of Jesus to their people. Daniel is no different. He is married and has two children, but he leaves them for three months at a time to come to Kenya and learn the Bible. I personally do not recommend doing that, but he wants to minister the gospel to his suffering people. Lord, may You bless Daniel for his sacrifices. Lord, keep his passion for Jesus big and his heart for Your Kingdom and his Sudanese people large. Protect him, his family, and his people from all enemies of the gospel and entrust to him a great ministry, empowered by Your Holy Spirit.

Another of my roles at the school is to serve as the Finance Manager. I usually have a plethora of students coming through my door to sit and talk with me about their finances. Most face great challenges in paying their fees and I have great compassion for them. As I have mentioned in previous newsletters, the financial challenges that face most Kenyans are very great. Most that come in to talk with me are at the end of their rope. I cry with them. I pray with them. I teach them Biblical financial principles. I help them work through various plans to assist them with their finances. This is very challenging for me too but it is a crucial part of their learning.  Milkah is a student I counseled this week. A church leader had promised to sponsor her and pay for her schooling but has now backed out of that commitment. He told her to focus on her studies and not to worry about fees. Now, she is in crisis mode because she did what he advised. She sobbed into her handkerchief as she sat in my office. I cried with her and counseled her. I prayed with her that God would provide for her needs, even if it took a miracle.  I helped her think through her financial situation and we are working through a plan. Lord, bless Milkah. Replace her stress and anxiety with peace and trust. Bless her efforts to raise the money she needs. And when You provide her with the finances she needs we will stop and thank You and praise You for goodness towards Your children.

Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


Read more

Lack of Faith

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Profile-Pic_Roger-and-Julie-Tate-1.jpg
The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

December 10, 2022

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

Lack of faith.

Lack of faith is my trouble. When something terrible happens this week, my first reaction is “Why God?” Why did that horrible thing have to happen? Why, if you love me, did you allow that, when you could have changed it?

Lack of faith is my trouble. Why God, is my life like this? This is not what I designed for myself. I want my mind to think differently, and, God, I’ve asked you for help to trust. Why don’t you help me?

Lack of faith is my trouble. Why, God, does your Word not work for me the way that it works for others? Why do they find such comfort in it while I only struggle? Why do others find faith while I doubt?

Do you know what is interesting, though (for this newsletter)? I find the faith of Kenyan believers astounding.

Roger: “You have no money and no job. How are you going to provide for your family?”

Kenyan believer: “I don’t know. But God will feed us.”

Roger: “You have no income, no savings, and no friends with resources, and no plans. How are you going to pay your school fees?”

Kenyan believer: “I don’t know. But God wants me to go to this school and so he will provide my school fees.”

Roger: “Your husband has died after a long sickness. The hospital is demanding money. The mortuary won’t release his body until you pay. He was the only one with an income. What are you going to do?”

Kenyan believer: “I don’t know. I will trust in God.”

We are all in school together, my Kenyan students and me. We are all trying to learn God and learn God’s ways together. Our faith, theirs and mine, are constantly being stretched at the same time, but sometimes in different ways.

I have a lot of Biblical knowledge after years of study and I hopefully have a little wisdom from trying to apply that Biblical knowledge to everyday life for many years. I have a lot I can teach them. They have a simple faith (not a simplistic faith) that trusts God against reason, and joyfully. They have a lot they can teach me.

We are approaching the Christmas season. In Kenya, December is pretty much just like any other month of the year. Christmas consists of about three days for most Kenyans. Day 1: Travel back to your birthplace/homeplace. Day 2: Celebrate Christmas with your family by eating some roasted goat. Day 3: Travel back home. Whether we are rush-rush in the United States or eating goat in Kenya, may we all come and adore the King, our Savior, Jesus.

Joy to the world. Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


Read more

Modeling and Teaching the Word of God

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Profile-Pic_Roger-and-Julie-Tate-1.jpg
The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

November 10, 2022

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

               Modeling and teaching.

               Biblical modeling and teaching is exactly what I am trying to do and accomplish here in Kenya for current and future Kenyan church leaders. And, fortunately, I get plenty of opportunities for doing both.

               There is something I try and keep in mind as I model and teach future Kenyan church leaders. It actually comes from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Old Testament.

               First, Ezra. What did he do? The Bible says that when Ezra returned to Jerusalem with the other Israelites after seventy years of captivity in Babylon that Ezra focused on three things. This, in essence, is what I’m trying to model and teach. Look at Ezra 7:10 to see my own model:

  1. Ezra set his heart to STUDY the Law of the Lord.

It is the Word of God that gives us direction in life, in ministry and most importantly in our relationship with God. My desire is to set my own heart to study the Word of God and I want my Kenyan students to do the same.

2. Ezra set his heart to DO the Law of the Lord

One thing I reiterate over and over to my students, or church members, or anyone else who will listen is that we can know the Word of God very well, but it doesn’t do us any good unless we actually DO it and follow it. A disciple of Jesus is someone who FOLLOWS Jesus. We are trying to make and multiply disciples of Jesus. I also tell anyone who will listen: “A person who knows 90% of the Bible but only follows 10% of what they know is far less mature than a believer who knows only 10% of the Bible but follows 90% of what they know.

3. Ezra set his heart to TEACH the Word of the Lord

I have set my heart to teach the Word of God to any and every Kenyan person who is willing to hear it. I know I have few skills and abilities, but I can teach the word of God with passion and I pray that the Kenyan people and especially the future leaders of the churches in Kenya catch that same passion for teaching the Word of God to the rest of the Kenyan nation as well.

Second, Nehemiah. What did he and his contemporaries do? Listen to Nehemiah 8:8 – “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” Awesome! When they read and preached from the Word of God they also “gave the sense of it clearly” so that the hearers could understand completely. It is one of the hallmarks of my ministry to make the Word of God as simple to understand and follow as possible. That’s not hard for a simple man like me. But I want my Kenyan hearers to UNDERSTAND. I want them to understand, then follow and love Jesus, and then expand the kingdom of Jesus to the rest of Kenya and beyond.

Hey, y’all, I want the Word of God to come alive in this country and start a revolution of following Jesus and glorifying God. “Gracious and loving God, may this happen in my own life and in the lives of your beloved Kenyan people.  Amen.”

Blessings,
Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


Read more

Presuppositions in Interpreting the Bible

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Profile-Pic_Roger-and-Julie-Tate-1.jpg
The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

October 5, 2022

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

I am constantly reminded how important the work I’m privileged to be doing is. At least I think it is important —teaching and training future Kenyan pastors and church leaders. I am currently teaching them how to try and properly interpret the Bible. I know we all get it wrong sometimes, but we want to try and always get it right. And getting it wrong simply because we haven’t been trained to get it right is a shame. If you have young, eager students who desire to learn, want to know God and the Bible, and want to minister truth to God’s people, it is worthwhile to train them.

In my class, we were discussing the problems of bringing our presuppositions to our interpretation of the Bible. Presuppositions are those beliefs we “assume beforehand” are found in the Bible but are not.  We all do it, but we have to try hard not to do it. Some are more serious than others. I wanted them to see that they do it too. The following discussion ensued.

Me:  Who does the Bible say was riding the donkey on the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem? Joseph or Mary?

Student S:  It was Joseph, because he was the man.

Student N:  No way. No man would make his nine months pregnant wife walk while he rode the donkey.

Student S:  I’m pretty sure the Bible says it was Joseph.

Student A:  Every picture I’ve seen has Joseph leading the donkey and Mary riding.

Student S:  But is that what the Bible says?

Student I:  Is it possible the Bible says that both of them were riding the donkey?

Student J:  Poor donkey.

Me:  Ok. Turn to Luke 2 and tell me what the Bible says.

Students (All):  TEACHER! THE BIBLE DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT A DONKEY!

Me:  Exactly.

Then I got them again with the following conversation:

Me:  OK, you guys got this one. How many Magi came to the stable and worshiped the baby Jesus laying in a manger?

Student N (catching on to my tricks): I don’t think the Bible says how many came to the manger. We just know some were there.

Student A:  I’ve heard that there were 3 because there were three gifts given to Jesus. But I don’t know what the Bible says.

Student J:  I’m pretty sure the Bible says there were 3.

Student D:  Teacher, how many does the Bible say were at the manger?

Me:  Zero

Students (All):  Teacher, now we know you are wrong. The Bible tells us they were there.

Me:  Turn to Matthew 2 and tell me how many Magi were at the manger.

Students (All):  It doesn’t tell us how many were at the manger…Wait…it says they came to the HOUSE!

Me:  Exactly.

Finally, I made things a bit more serious.

Me:  According to the Bible, what is speaking in tongues?

Student A:  I’ve heard that it is a prayer language?

Student N:  I’ve been taught that it is a way of communicating with God that you don’t understand.

Student J:  It’s a language unknown by anybody that needs an interpreter.

Me:  That may have been what you were taught, but how does Acts 2:1-13 describe speaking in tongues? It looks to me like the Christians were speaking in their own language but each one in the audience heard the speech in their own language.

Students (All):  Teacher, can this be true?

Me:  The bell has rung, and it is time to go.  Go study the passage and give me your findings tomorrow.

Is all this important? I think it is.

Blessings,
Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


Read more
^