Beautiful, cool day! We walked with Olivier about 15 minutes to the ITC classroom for a time of discussion and teaching with seven seminary instructors (although not all will be teaching our courses, the leaders wanted them all to be familiar with the program). They were quiet at first, not knowing what these crazy foreigners were up to, but they warmed up quickly. Quentin introduced our ministry with a devotional from Psalm 78…of course! Next, we looked carefully at our program’s goals and then visited the website to explain the various components of the program. Carla did her “without God” and “with God” mini science lessons. It was, as it always is, a light bulb moment — A first look at a concrete example of biblical integration that was not all that difficult to do.
A highlight of the day was a lively and passionate discussion of the need to fight for the freedom to educate their children in a God-centered way. Ruth, an instructor with an already strong commitment to Christian education, spoke up and said that NOW is the time to prepare Christian teachers so that when they are able to have true Christian schools or be allowed to homeschool, there will be teachers prepared to teach Christianly. That’s faith! Interesting side observation: There is much freedom of religion in this country, with churches and “Christian” television stations (of which there are many) allowed to preach God’s Word and put up posters, etc. However, schools have no freedom of religion. Indeed, there is a battle for the hearts and minds of the children and for Ethiopian parents that this travesty is the cry of their hearts and the first thing they want to talk about with us.
More with the ITC instructors tomorrow. Next week, the students!
Now for a few random pictures from our day:
