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DIRECTion
by Albert Heal
NCEM General Director
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Early in
my ministry with NCEM I was always delighted with people who wanted to hear the
Word of God. An elder in one of the villages I visited regularly expected me to
read and explain the Scriptures each day during my visits.
One year, as I was settling
NMTC summer missionary trainees into this same village, I told them of my elder
friend and several other elders who expected daily devotions with them. As the
trainees began to visit my friend, he made it clear to them that once a day
devotions was not enough -- they had to come three times a day!
How exciting to see someone hungry for the
Word of God! Recently a family friend came to know the Lord and I was thrilled
to hear that, shortly after he was saved, he had already read through half the
Bible.
NCEM has a strong commitment to teaching the
Word of God. With so much misleading and false teaching today, even in
evangelical circles, it is critical that we know what our instruction manual --
the Bible -- teaches. It concerns me greatly when I hear that churches and
individual Christians don't make Bible reading and study a top priority.
Over the years NCEM has had several Bible
schools with an emphasis on "discipleship" -- knowing what the Bible
teaches and learning how to put it into practice in our lives. Our school,
Key-Way-Tin Bible Institute, makes it clear that making disciples is what they
are all about, as expressed in the following description:
"The School's purpose is to disciple
Native Christians [and now a small percentage of non-Native students] in their
walk with the Lord and train them for ministry in the Church. The KBI curriculum
provides a strong emphasis in Bible knowledge, Christian living, and training
for Christian service. While the School program aims at equipping Native
believers for leadership in the Church, there are many who take the program
simply to receive a Biblical foundation upon which to live the rest of their
lives."
May the Lord give many more the heart of the Bereans who,
"... received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures
every day to see if what Paul said was true" (Acts 17:11). NCEM is
committed to making disciples who follow the apostles' desire to "...give
our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4). Finally,
we trust that all believers will more than just listen to the Word, but also
"do what it says" (James 1:22).
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