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Our Vision
The Dawning Light
Though much work remains, the Church has made encouraging progress in Ratanakiri province during the last 15 years, in part through the ministry of missionaries such as J.D. Crowley, Mike Moody, Kevin Olson, and Craig Mallow. Minority peoples such as the Jarai (21,000, with thousands more in Vietnam), Tampuan (32,000), and Krung (19,000) now have legitimate gospel outposts which are striving to become self-sustaining, also through the ministry of men such as J.D. and Mike.
One of the most visible evidences of progress is in the Bible school begun in 2001 under J.D.’s direction. Since then, leaders from the hill tribes have met 2-3 times each year (between planting and harvest seasons) in Ban Lung (the capital of Ratanakiri province and J.D.’s home town) for 1-2 weeks of focused Bible teaching and preaching. The primary content in these sessions is basic biblical theology, introducing the men to the broad contours of the biblical Story. One of J.D.’s primary resources is Trevor Mcilwain’s Firm Foundations: Creation to Christ, a tool for introducing people with no biblical background to the basic contours of biblical theology. (To see a true story of the gospel’s power communicated through this curriculum, watch Ee-Taow at Google Video.) J.D. has translated Mcilwain’s work into Khmer and uses it as the foundational curriculum for the Bible school.
J.D.’s goal from the beginning has been to empower the native tribesmen to pastor their own churches and conduct their own Bible school. So, gradually, as various men have manifested understanding and proficiency with the biblical text, they have begun to take leadership in the training sessions. Then, in 2007, the Bible school reached a new level of indigenization. Rather than having the tribal men come to Ban Lung and study in Khmer (their second language), the Bible school went on the road-to the villages where the men lived, to be conducted in their native language (Jarai and Krung). This has been the pattern for all successive sessions of the school. On top of this “firm foundation” of whole-Bible theology, the men undertake studies in Matthew, Romans, and Acts. J.D.’s focus is now turning toward narrower educational opportunities for men who have completed these basic “pillars” of the curriculum.
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