Matt thanks for this post. Although I'll never be in the position of preaching through the whole of God's word, it is so important to read and study personally too the whole Bible. Studying the Pentateuch module (along with certain NT modules) at WEST really opened my eyes to how wonderful the OT is. Without it we miss so much of who God is, who Christ is and the plan of salvation. It really opened my eyes to the parallels between the old and the new testaments and now I read both with the ability to recognise the relevance one to the other. The whole bible is God's word - God spoke in different ways at different times, as Hebrews 1:1 points out and all of it is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

This is a long blog - I am well aware of that. But Pete and I both thought it might be useful to someone, which is why I sent it to him and he decided to put it on here. So I hope those of you who consider it to be far too long for a blog will excuse it this once. And I pray that God would use it in the life of a pastor somewhere. If anyone benefits from it, I think it was worth being put on this blog.

Andy:

Thanks for the advice and the reminder that we should keep things as simple as possible.

Matt

Hi Matthew! Thank you so much for your testimony. I've been a Christian for 16 years now. I struggle with reading in general. It's just really tough for me. I have read a lot of the bible, but not from cover to cover, which I feel God is leading me to do. Your testimony has encouraged me! I will not set a goal date in which to have read the entire bible... instead I will take it a day at a time and start with the New Testament. I will also go to Biblegateway.com and try that as well. Thanks again and God Bless! Shelly :)

Hi,
I've been doing schools work in Swansea and Barry over the last 15 years as part of my ministry as a local Pastor. In my experience, schools in Wales are very open to the Gospel and I have never had any restrictions placed on me by a head teacher as to what I could not speak on. It is a wonderful opportunity to preach the gospel to hundreds of children and teachers each week. I have seen teachers converted,one now teaches Sunday school in a church in Kwala Lumpa! and I trust that many children have had the good seed of the gospel planted in their hearts by God's Spirit. Please pray that these doors for teh Gospel will stay open and that God will raise up many to go into the schools to proclaim our Great Saviour.

Hi Sammy - great post! I was struck by the danger of making our testimonies 'sensational'. The miracle of salvation is just as wonderful even if you're testimony is 'boring' or 'uninteresting' - and I regularly pray that my children will have a very 'boring' testimony... "grew up in a Christian home, can never remember a time when I wasn't a Christian..."

Thanks for the advice Matt. I know how much you love God's word -the readers of this post should know that you are practicing what you preach!

Of course, I hope those of you who read this article realise that I wrote it originally for those who have not been to Bible college! Nevertheless, I hope you who are at Bible college also gain something from reading it!

Matt

The question of Christian involvement in schools is so much bigger than just that of "schools work". You ought really to ask: Should schools be part of a church’s education/evangelism strategy?!

Andy - I'm pretty certain everyone's situation/circumstances and needs are different.

For me, before college I had 3 years working, training and learning in my church which included lots of preaching opportunities, ministry opportunities and theological reading. As such I think the decision not to do the 3 year BA was a good one. I would have gone over too much old ground and placed unnecessary burden on my family and church (although it would have been nice).

In terms of continuing to the 2nd year of the Binary, again for me, I think we made the right decision.There was an awful lot of learning that went on (and is still going on) of a much more practical nature in terms of leading a church. The nature of the year also meant I have been able to continue to do a great amount of ministry in my church.