An unexhaustive report, from my perspective, of the July 2006 Biblical Core Course in Perth, Australia. It ran from July 2 until December 15th, 2006.
The Biblical Core Course with Youth With A Mission, an international Christian missionary organization, is a 3-month course with an optional 3-month outreach. The BCC is an intensive introduction to different Bible study and teaching methods. In the course, we read through the entire Bible and inductively study between 12 and 14 books. The course is about equipping students with a set of tools and frameworks for looking at the Bible that will be with them for the rest of their lives.
an overview of our application phase in Egypt
Our Biblical Core Course team of between 3 and 6 members was in Cairo, Egypt as part of the Megacities vision of Youth With A Mission - Perth between September 27 and December 11, 2006. We were there to partner with local churches in training people how to study the Bible and love people the way that God loves them, to be a catalyst for transformation. We worked primarily in the regions of Shubra and Heliopolis, while other teams worked in the rest of city.
teaching
In Cairo, God opened up a huge array of different opportunities. He allowed us to work with people from around the city, from different churches and denominations and walks of life. We learned a lot about teaching in many different contexts, from large and exuberant to small and intimate. Some of the opportunities that God gave us included leading several multipart seminar-style Bible studies, teaching the inductive Bible study method through specific books of the Bible. It was amazing to work with so many wonderful Egyptians, with youth groups in Shubra, Sudanese union church members, and a Coptic Orthodox priest and his family. We also lead a group of 2 Š 13 year old children through an 8-week Biblical overview, tracing GodÕs promise from the Old Testament to its fulfillment in Jesus and the churchÕs role in sharing and living that promise. Another focus was discipleship training with a Greek Catholic youth group, which was a huge opportunity to help some of the future leaders of Egypt grow in their journeys with God.
relationships
Being in Egypt was both wonderful and challenging, immersed in Egyptian culture and building relationships with friends around the city. It was really cool to get to know some guys in Old (Coptic) Cairo and continue to build friendships with them through the 11 weeks we were there. God is totally reaching out to them, and itÕs really exciting to be a part of that. We befriended several young Christians and were able to encourage and challenge them, to speak truth to and disciple them more.