Teaching the thirsty

At the end of January the ILAG held its first National Council Meeting of the year with leaders from the 14 churches and 4 missions of the ILAG in Guatemala City. We have four National Council Meetings and two leadership retreats each year in order to give reports on the ministry of each church but also to offer three days of seminary classes.

The ILAG is still a very young church, with nearly 16 years of existence. In that time one of the strengths of this church has been education. As churches ask to be part of the ILAG, they are included in National Council Meetings and classes. As in the Reformation time, we have found that many Catechists from other denominations that become Lutheran do not know the Creed, Lord’s Prayer or the 10 Commandments.

It is a challenge to teach our leaders because many have only a second or third grade education, Spanish is their second language and some are illiterate. We have the hope of bringing all the leaders to the high school level education one day.

This meeting, I gave a Biblical Studies class. Using laminated pictures of bible stories, I had the leaders work in groups to tell each other the Bible story in each of their pictures. Each then had to present their story to the entire group and share what it means for us. We also used the cards to put the bible stories in order. We had fun and we learned.

The thirst to learn is essential but so are materials that can be used by both literate and illiterate alike. These men and women that we are walking with are already leaders. We work with those who naturally rise up in the communities. That being said they deserve our best and opening up the scriptures as their own is one of my favorite things to be involved in here in Guatemala.