Nine men. Varying ages. Varying churches.
Nine men. Transformed by Jesus, called to serve, doing so with joy.
Nine men. All Filipino. All pastors.
Pastors willing to devote hours to personal study in advance, then participate in 14 weekly online sessions, three hours per session.
They, along with Entrust facilitators, recently completed Entrust’s foundational equipping module, Facilitating Relational Learning.
Why?
Pastor Abelardo del Castillo Bausa was disheartened by people in his church failing to obey the word of God. He wanted to learn how to clearly present Scripture to his congregation, to help them live out biblical truth.
Pastor Gregor Del Pilar had seen improvement in Bible study leadership skills among women in his church after they had participated in FRL. He wanted to get in on what they had learned.
Along with seven others who’d signed up, the men took part in short inductive Bible studies led by the Entrust facilitators, in which the facilitators modeled observation, interpretation and application of Scripture. They demonstrated facilitating discussion using open-ended questions and leaving silence to allow people to think and respond.
Over the 14 weeks, each pastor in turn also facilitated Scripture studies for the group and received feedback on how they did. Old hat for seasoned pastors, right?
Maybe not.
Pastor Gregor learned about creating Bible study materials, crafting questions and facilitating discussion.
“It was encouraging to see how well-structured questions can deepen engagement and understanding,” he says. He gained insight into how to craft questions that guide the group into discovering answers and retaining what they learn. He felt challenged with “making sure the questions were neither too leading nor too vague, but the training provided helpful strategies to balance that.”
He also struggled with waiting for people to answer while facilitating a discussion. “I was used to just answering if they didn’t respond, so learning to give them time to process and speak was an adjustment for me.”
Pastor Gregor, whose church is in Legazpi City, is applying what he learned in FRL by creating Bible study materials for his church’s outreach in Bacacay. Pastor Abel is using FRL concepts in his church in Sorsogon, and in his outreach Bible studies.
“The outcoming is astounding,” says Pastor Abel. “People love to participate because they themselves discover the messages of the Scriptures.”
As a seasoned pastor with a doctorate in theology, Pastor Abel’s summation of FRL carries weight.
FRL “brought significant change in the way I present Scripture to the congregation,” he says. “Personally, I would love to just facilitate rather than preach!”
Interested in bringing FRL to the leaders of your church? Contact us at training@entrust4.org.
From Romania to the Philippines
Jerry Wells served with Entrust in Romania from 1988 to 2016. He lived in that country during its oppressive Ceauşescu regime and during its emergence into freedom; all the while coming alongside pastors and other church leaders as an equipper, trainer, encourager and mentor.
Now living in South Carolina, he is doing the same with Filipino pastors on Zoom.
Romanians threatened by communism. Filipinos threatened by typhoons and volcanoes. In-person vs. online. How does Jerry compare the two?
Jerry noticed that the Filipino men were somewhat reluctant at first to participate in discussion, “but with a little patience and gentle prodding, they got the hang of it and made meaningful contributions to the discussion for the rest of the training.”
At the same time, “our Filipino brothers were highly motivated. They had long wanted and waited to take FRL … Their level of hunger and interest was even higher than we found in Romania. Their work and preparation for seminars, as well as their participation in seminars, reflected this.”
Jerry is now co-facilitating a second module, Becoming a Man of Understanding, with many of those same pastors. He is impressed. “Our men love the Lord and his word, love the people they serve and make great sacrifices to minister to others.
“If the men in our courses are reflective of pastors in the Philippines, I have great hope for the Philippine church.”
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