School of Applied Ministry

Made it in the nick of time! I moved to Preah Vihear (the capital of a rural province in northern Cambodia) on Saturday, January 15, and Bible school started two days later. If I'd had to quarantine on arrival, I would have missed most or all of it. These meetings Monday-Friday made up module #4 of 8 in a two-year period. I'd never been around for it before, so I was looking forward to joining this cohort's fifteen students. 

Each cohort member is from somewhere in Preah Vihear province and is actively involved in ministry. That could mean evangelism, discipleship, and/or leading a house church. They don't get a salary for that work, so most are also farmers. The school's one-week modules are timed to coincide with the agricultural seasons. Some students live nearby, but most travel in for the week and stay in the wooden house upstairs above our open-air training area (the same house I stayed in for ten weeks in 2018).

My goal? Not to help - just to participate alongside the students. Eventually I'll use my teaching experience to support the instructors, who are mostly Cambodian, but for now I wanted to stay in the learner's seat. It was a great way to re-immerse my brain in the Khmer language, get to know cohort members, and deepen my understanding of the Bible. It also familiarized me with the school's style.

So what is the Preah Vihear School of Applied Ministry (PVSAM) about? In short, the Bible. But the goal isn't just for participants to understand the Bible better, but to use it in their communities. As you might guess from the name "School of Applied Ministry," the PVSAM aims to be transferable and reproducible, offering tools that students can use in their everyday lives as Christian lay leaders. Its motto is "Equipping, Practicing, Sending." We want to help them make disciples, who will in turn make disciples, who will... well, you get the idea.

Its core is a broad overview, illustrated in the timeline below, showing that "the Bible is one unified story that points to Jesus." (The timeline is by my teammates and their daughter, not by the Bible Project, but we did watch several Bible Project videos in Khmer throughout the week.) This module, #4 of 8, focused on the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), so it was all about Jesus.

Each picture on the timeline has a title and several sub-points that students learn to say while doing an action. Part of each module's exam is to say and act out each picture they've learned so far. My good friend Sina made a brief video (below) demonstrating what students would need to know for the Module 4 exam. You'll see general points in the first minute, and then the two new pictures and their sub-points that were covered this module, representing "Jesus" and "Savior." 

In between the eight modules, students' homework includes reading or listening to each book of the Bible twice, memorizing key verses, and praying daily. They also need weekly involvement in ministry and in spiritual conversations with unbelievers. Finally, each student sets a personal application goal following each module to complete in the three months before the next module. Each student is assigned a mentor who checks in with them at least every two weeks, including some in-person home visits out in the villages. Mentors pray with participants and help them apply what they've been learning in the modules and homework to their daily lives. I'm planning to help mentor one young woman whose passion for prayer and evangelism was infectious - I know I'll benefit from our time together, whether or not she does!

In class, everyone read overviews of each book of the Bible from What the Bible Is About for Young Explorers (see sample pages below in English and Khmer) and studied the books through lectures and interactive activities. There were many opportunities to read and take notes, but the PVSAM is designed to be accessible to those with limited literacy. One current participant is functionally illiterate, while a few others are weak in reading and writing. So students received photos and images corresponding to various teaching points (ex. a mountain for the Sermon on the Mount, or a painting of the wedding at Cana). Students could paste them into their notebooks and were encouraged to draw their notes, not just write them. All written materials were read aloud so students could rely mainly on listening if needed. And the activities were all doable without writing.

 

For example, after learning that Matthew portrays Jesus as the long-awaited King in David's line, we made paper crowns for ourselves as children of the King. Small groups took turns acting out key events in Jesus' life and ministry, as well as retelling and explaining parables. We cut out paper in the shape of praying hands, and on the papers we wrote or drew things related to the Lord's Prayer. We made up hand gestures for the seven word pictures in Jesus' "I Am" statements (the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Vine, etc.). We recited aloud the four core points of orthodox Christian doctrine (Christ came to earth, died, rose again, and ascended to heaven) and discussed how cults distort these doctrines. We also prayed, sang worship songs, danced to a kids' song, played games, watched the Jesus movie, did an aerobics workout, and ate together. 

The program was over 12 hours a day. I was exhausted even though I missed Friday's sessions to travel to another event. But the team packed a lot in! The video below can give you a glimpse of our week together. I'm thankful for my conversations and participation with everyone. I felt warmly welcomed and included as a newcomer, and I was encouraged by others' insights and stories. Despite the fatigue, I'm looking forward to future modules. God is at work among these courageous young leaders, and I don't want to miss a minute!