Training with a Difference in Hungary

 

 

My name is Mark Van Bebber. My wife Beth and I and our three children have lived in Budapest, Hungary since June 1997. This past March I taught an intensive three-day seminar on how to facilitate small groups through interactive discussion (versus traditional lecture method) to the pastors pictured here. This was the first time that this new Entrust course was used with Hungarians. It was interesting to see the change in their perspectives as we completed the course. During the introduction, nearly all of them stated that they regularly hold small groups and that most of the information would be review… maybe they could pick up a new thought or two. By the end of the three days, all had to confess that this course taught them a completely new perspective on how adults learn and process information.

Two days after the conference I received a call from Balint (my pastor and friend) who informed me that he had tried this method on his college-age youth group and it was a wonderful experience. This is especially good news because it was a difficult group to teach and was often a discouragement to Balint. He said that he would immediately write the others and encourage them in their ministry efforts. Several weeks later, I was told by Laci, a pastor in a small village, that Balint’s small group leading style had changed drastically as a result of the conference. Several of the participants in the group mentioned that they were enjoying their Bible studies more and recognized that the style was different—a difference that was helping them very much!

The conference was a lot of work, took a lot of preparation, and was very tiring, but was worth it! When I look at the picture of these pastors, I see the past and the future. I have taught and/or mentored many of them for nine years. I have been very pleased with the progress that I have witnessed in their personal and pastoral lives. They are “past fruit” of our efforts. Notice that I write “our efforts,” as you, too, are partners in the ministry.

I also see them as the future of the church in Hungary. It is my hope and plan to start using these pastors to start training other pastors in Hungary on how to lead small groups, then supply them with materials for their groups. Several of them have said they would be interested in helping with this training. 

 

 

 

 

Click on the links below to view more stories from Hungary.

 

 

Name	Size	Type	Last Modified
2006 11 Hungary	264.2 KB	PDF Document	3/21/2009 9:51:59 PM
2007 12 Hungary	512.4 KB	PDF Document	3/21/2009 10:05:59 PM
2008 06 Aniko Koves	443.2 KB	PDF Document	3/21/2009 10:56:16 PM
2009 06 Hungary	277.6 KB	PDF Document	11/6/2009 11:45:33 AM