Bridges 2 course in Village Timothy Schools

11 people are sitting under a jack fruit tree singing songs of praise to God. They are being led by Evangelist Cornelius Marandi. You could overlook this small group and walk on, but for the enthusiasm and glow in the eyes of the Leaders. Don’t mistake them for ordinary people by looking at their simple clothing. They are leaders of churches and leaders of the church movement. They are learning the Bridges 2 to be able to lead their church planting movement to greater heights. They are into the second lesson in the course.  They are focusing on the stories of Paul in the book of Acts and the corresponding teaching his letters. Cornelius presents the core ideas to the group and then they break up to discuss and relate them to their lives. One person in the group reads the Bible aloud as others in the group listen. They recite the story to remember it and discuss the issues that come out from the story. They reflect on the teaching form the letter of Paul. They come back and share their learning to the group. The leaders get together to enact the drama. One of them becomes Paul, the other Roman leader and the other a man in the public and they enact the drama. When the drama has been enacted they are so overjoyed. They debrief their learning from the act and affirm the learning. One of them presents a song on the topic. He sings it in the typical Santali tune and wow they people are so happy. The school session wraps up with the leaders committing to one another. They commit to going and teaching it to their own discipleship groups and set the points they will be accountable for. They spend a while in prayer for each other. It was a time of drought for the region and the area needs rain. Cattle were dying and people have to travel long distances to get drinking water. They prayed for some time on this need. They got up to go to the house of Cornelius to sit again for some delicious lunch. Cornelius’s wife Mariam had prepared some great beef curry and rice. It was Thursday and the market date. One of the leaders had brought some cabbage from the market and Mariam had prepared a great cabbage curry. They had a great meal and dispersed back cycling. They will regroup for the Bridges course in their Timothy school class in a couple of days. They will revise the Bridges learning and present to the group what they have taught in their Church groups.

Presently the Bridges 2 is being taught in 5 Timothy Schools with over 45 master trainers in attendances who are teaching 800 students in their churches and ministry setting.  They are held in houses, under Jack fruit tress, in local community centers and in house courtyards. Two important outcomes emerge out of this: the gospel is being spread where the gospel has not been preached and the new believers are being systematically taught to become disciples of Jesus Christ.

Testimony from the Bridges movement in Jharkhand,

Posted by Daniel Ponraj, Engage India/ BCSD

daniel@santaltribe.org   visit www.engageindia.in