A password into God’s presence: In Spanish, it’s ‘acción de gracias’
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The great — and sometimes terrifying —…
Around the World: Remote Bible studies in Somalia, a couples seminar in Guatemala and more quick takes
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Around the World is our monthly rundown of news briefs, links and quotes from Churches of Christ all over the globe. Got an idea for this column? Email Erik Tryggestad at [email protected].
Featured image (above): Baptizing John Bosco was no easy task.
He had studied the Bible remotely through World English Institute, a correspondence ministry associated with Churches of Christ. When he told his teacher, Suzie Winham of Las Cruces, N.M., that he was ready to be baptized, she spent months trying to find someone to immerse him in the majority Muslim country.
Finally, she made contact with a missionary from Ireland, who met with Bosco along with two Somali preachers. Bosco messaged Winham after the baptism.
“I read his message while sitting at my desk where I am blessed to serve as the office secretary of the church,” Winham said, “and I jumped up with a shout of ‘Praise God!’ on my lips and tears running down my cheeks. I shared my jubilation … with my youth minister, with the I.T. girl and with the minister.”
Bosco wants to be a missionary, he told Winham. He is the second WEI student in Somalia to be baptized in the Indian Ocean, workers with the ministry said.
GUATEMALA
Goyo and Sarah Nieto in Guatemala.
PAXOT II — Goyo Nieto, a native of Venezuela and a minister for the Antioch Church of Christ in Tennessee, traveled to this town in Central America with his wife, Sarah, to conduct a couples seminar for the Paxot II Church of Christ.
Sarah, who serves on the board of Arkansas-based Iron Rose Sister Ministries, led women through a study of Ephesians. Six of those who completed the seminar are graduates of the ABC child sponsorship program sponsored by Health Talents International.
“Goyo met Sarah in western Venezuela when she visited with a university mission team, and since then they have been serving the Lord as devout Christians and as examples of an enduring marriage,” workers with Health Talents wrote in a newsletter.
PORTUGAL
TAVIRA — Paul and Debbie Pinckley are spending their retirement years planting a Church of Christ in this city on Portugal’s southern coast.
Their coffee shop/reading library approach to ministry is producing fruit. Groups of 20 or more have joined them for worship services and Bible studies, according to a newsletter by Partners in Progress. Debbie Pinckley conducts Bible classes for women, and her husband conducts a men’s class.
Related: A password into God’s presence: In Spanish, it’s ‘acción de gracias’
MALAWI
SALIMA — It’s not spring break. It’s more like summer break in this African nation in the Southern Hemisphere when students at the Malawi International Bible Institute pause their studies to plant crops in their fields in the midst of Malawi’s rainy season.
So Mike Ferris and Jim Dillinger, members of the institute’s board, used the break to host a week of training for faculty and staff.
“One of the things that really excited the teachers was showing them how to use PowerPoint in a teaching environment,” Dillinger said. “They really want to incorporate that as long as they can get electricity.”
In addition to training students to minister for Churches of Christ, the institute offers vocational classes in computers and tailoring to help them earn an income as they preach.
