We seek to design Christian leadership training systems adhering to these guiding principles:
TRANSFORMATIVE | Transferable | Local Church | Accessible | Collaborative | Accountable | Excellence in Adult Learning
Ruth is soft-spoken yet articulate. Her eyes flash with joy when she smiles. Her husband is one of the pastors at a large church in Asia.
The church organizes an annual Vacation Bible School which Ruth heads up. Many of the 200+ children come from nearby slums.
Ruth began to think about those children after she and her husband took an Entrust writers’ workshop. The workshop focused on course design and contextualization. The group analyzed issues faced by people in their region, aiming to write transformative ministry training materials relevant to those people’s needs.
“The kids seem to enjoy the snacks and singing at VBS,” Ruth thought, “but not the Bible stories. Why?”
She began to see a gap between those Bible stories and the children’s real-life needs. Their lives are hard. The stories were pleasant, churchy; but not relevant to the kids’ everyday lives.
So, Ruth took a giant step of faith. She decided to develop original VBS curriculum. With the blessing of the senior pastor, she recruited several VBS teachers and a young member from the church who grew up in the slums. Together, they researched the context of the kids’ lives. Some are afraid of ghosts haunting dark corners in the slums. Some are forced to buy liquor for alcoholic parents or feel enraged at loan sharks threatening their parents.
They dug in to learn about the anger and fear the children felt. Then they chose Bible passages relevant to those struggles, about forgiveness and God’s protection. They wrote interactive lessons designed to draw out the spiritual truths of each passage.
It was hard work. There were multiple revisions.
But in the end, it worked!
The kids loved the stories and really learned about God’s love and character.
The teachers were energized and engaged.
The church got caught up in the buzz created by the teachers.
And Ruth?
Ruth discovered the power of relevant, transformative Bible teaching.
Entrust equips local church leaders who in turn equip others. We come alongside them, working toward materials and methodologies that lead to biblical life transformation.
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