School is in Session: Bible School in Bulgaria 2009
Through the years, the team of Cup & Cross Ministries International has published reports about various educational courses we have taught across the country of Bulgaria. The ministry context, which comprises this need, is a complex combination of political, economical, religious, ethnical and even legal factors. But above all, education through discipleship programs for church congregations as well as for the training of ministry teams is becoming a very essential and growing need in Bulgaria.
This year, we have been pressed by this need to organize a practical Bible School for ministry teams which being mobile itself and combing modern technology has been able to serve hundreds of ministers across the country. Just this year, our team has been able to hold ministry team training events for the Church of God congregations within the Dupnitsa, Sofia, Yambol, Samokov, Gabrovo, Veliko Tarnovo, and Sliven regions. Additionally, we have gathered ministers in regional training events in the Northwest (Sofia), Northeast (Varna), Central (Gabrovo), Southeast (Yambol) and Southwest (Dupnitsa, Samokov, Bansko) regions.
These teaching events and ongoing ministry training have proven to be a great aid for ministers nationwide. For example, in the month of September, we were able to team with the Church of God of Prophecy in a nationwide, week-long course on church leadership involving the topics of conflict resolution, team formation, ministry training, use of new technologies in ministry and many other important topics. We held two similar seminars in the cities of Yambol (September 16-19, 2009) and Sliven (September 29, 2009).
During the month of October alone, we led ministry training events in the following schedule:
October 3-5, 2009 Dupnitza Church of God
October 6, 2009 Seminar on internal motivation for Yambol & Sliven
October 13, 2009 Conflict management styles for Yambol & Sliven
October 14, 2009 Bible study on the Epistle to Philemon
October 17, 2009 Regional conference for the Yambol & Sliven regions with some 200 delegates from over 20 various locations.
October 20, 2009 Ministry team formation and leadership for Yambol & Sliven
October 21, 2009 Starting a new Bible book study on the Gospel of Matthew
Our team is continuing teaching and training in the same tempo in various locations in Bulgaria for the remaining of the school year. Overall, we have been able to prepare and offer to the churches and their leaders 12 complete training courses as follows:
1. History of the Bible: Paleography (beginners), Translation Theories (intermediate) and Manuscript Analyses (advanced)
2. Internal Motivation and Stress Management
3. Ministry on the Internet for Pastors and Ministers
4. Parenting Course (various contextualized topics)
5. Practical Church Leadership for the 21st Century (two levels)
6. Sunday School – Doctrinal teachings on the articles of the Church of God Declaration of Faith
7. The Book of Nehemiah (a verse by verse Bible study for church builders)
8. The Book of Revelation (a verse by verse Bible study)
9. The Complete Johanine Writings: Gospel, Epistles and Apocalypse (a practical course for Bible translators)
10. The Epistle to the Galatians (a verse by verse Bible study)
11. The Gospel of Mark (a verse by verse Bible study)
12. The Pastoral Epistles (a verse by verse Bible study)
School is in Session: Leadership Training Retreat for the Yambol Region
The weekend of the 16-19th of September Cup and Cross Ministries, along with Yambol based Mission Maranatha, held a Leadership Training Retreat for the Yambol region. Ten delegates from the area were chosen to represent various areas of ministry including ministry to the villages, children, home groups, women, elderly and the military. Representatives from Spain and the United States were also present.
Throughout our time together we were able to share personal experiences of ministry successes and growth areas in order to brainstorm through appropriate techniques and strategies to effectively resolve dilemmas in ministry. We discussed topics such as burnout and addressed how to nurture on-going motivation within each specific area of ministry.
At the conclusion of the training each delegate was encourage to take the resources which they had acquired and implement them into their specific areas of interest and take on the responsibility of training those whom are under their leadership.
Unfortunately we were unable to broadcast this training event live due to the remote location, but we are hoping to be able to make it available again in the near future, as we are planning our next event in which we will be reviewing leadership and communication styles. This series of training events is a part of our humble contribution toward the redevelopment of evangelical education in Bulgaria and the move from static training methodology to a dynamic strategy of empowering ministers throughout church-wide discipleship.
