Cameroon BMW (Bible, Missionary and Work training program)
Cameroon BMW (Bible, Missionary and Work training program)
Here in Cameroon you have many who call themselves Christians, but who don't understand the true meaning. All they know is that they belong to a church and so they are Christian. You also find many untrained pastors who either struggle to teach themselves doctrine and so the congregation struggles or who just teach really bad/strange "stuff".
There is a need to help people to "rightly divide the word of God". So Teen Missions opened a free Bible, Missionary, Work training center here in Cameroon. Those who attend must be part of a summer team....that's all that's required. It consists of 2 years of class room sessions in the morning and "work" in the afternoons. It is part of how they "pay" into the program. They help do the work around the base. They cook their own food (which is provided -- 3 meals a day), clean, do their own laundry. They sleep in dorms. It is an intense classroom/discipleship program. There have been tremendous stories of success and great testimonies of students being transformed into the godly men and women. The 3rd year of the program is spent interning either at one of the Aids Orphan Rescue Units or at a nearby ministry. We loved the closeness at the base (most of the time).....haha, we did have to set hours of "do not disturb unless someone is dying" during meals. It was a struggle to get a hot meal in when there was a steady stream of students at the door with questions etc...
One of the areas that we struggled with when we first started to teach classes was to get the students to interact and ask questions. Here they are taught that you don't question the teacher, period. And many had scars from beatings that they received and that still take place in the classroom. It seemed that no matter how hard we tried we just couldn't get them to engage. So....Tim spent 2 whole classes teaching Mormon doctrine (and some of the more bizarre parts at that) before one student finally raised his hand and said "Pastor....I am not sure that this is in the Bible...” FINALLY....Tim yelled! Then he explained that we want lively debate, we want them to think and to search scripture for themselves....not just believe anything that is taught. That was one of our goals.
The students also had daily contact with each other and the TMI staff. This, of course, created friction, which in turn caused areas that needed to be dealt with to come up to the surface. It is a great tool in the hands of God! Everyone there experienced growth and cleansing (staff...us included and students). God is faithful...He began a work and He will complete it. This was one way that discipleship occurred. There was also work, often hard work, in the afternoons. It was a great way to teach and train the students in the area of servant hood. So often, students desire to be a pastor or teacher because they are considered to be "big men" and highly respected. So, another one of our goals was to teach that these pastors and teachers are servants before anything else. To give these life lessons that those who desire to be the greatest must be the servant of all. Forming and molding the character of some of Cameroons future spiritual leaders so that they can in turn form and mold the character of those they lead. Our greatest desire is always....that they will truly be living epistles where those around them will see/read Jesus!
BMW picture gallery
BMW picture gallery
Emmanuel (a student)with one of our projects -- bee hives
Students cutting firewood for cooking their food
- Morning chapel - praise
Tim always went with the students on their afternoon EV times
Tim speaking at 1st TMI graduation
Student afternoon work schedule (helping grow BMW's food)
part of the training was how to manage a food budget (one of Sara's jobs)
Morning chapel - teaching
Sue sometimes went on EV trips too
our first graduating class