Mission Updates

A Pathways Hero

Yuhan is one of my heroes. He is a humble Chinese believer attending my home church, and he works in the poultry industry. Yet his hunger for the Word comes shining through as he participated in some Pathways workshops I offered pastors in the area, and now has his own group of hungry Chinese believers he is training with the tools.

Yuhan is a Pathways hero

I asked Yuhan to share his story of the group he is working with, and I’m sure you will be likewise blessed and encouraged.  From Yuhan:

I am very happy to share with you about our group going through Pathways. I hope that our story can stimulate interests and encourage more people to study the word of God.

I have been involved with this Cantonese speaking Chinese Bible Study group for a while. This group meets every Friday night and consists of approximately 20 – 25 members. Because of the COVID crisis, we have been meeting online since late March, 2020. Like many Bible study groups in which I have been involved, we lack the skills and the tools to learn from the Bible. We tend to read a passage and ask the members to share what comes into their mind. More often than not, we are not prepared and end up just sharing our ignorance.

When I learned about the Pathways Bible study method, I brought this up to our group and hoped that there would be enough interest to form a class on Pathways Bible study methods. It turns out that people are eager to participate. We started the Pathways class about two months ago. And we decided to meet on Saturday morning to study online. I was greatly encouraged that three-quarters of the Friday night members showed up for the class. And the class members volunteered to lead the different sessions of the study.

We have finished Session 8 of the Pathways workbook so far. We have already seen significant improvement in the quality of our Friday night Bible study. We learned to ask good questions and be able to discover the central message of the scripture that we are studying. With a clearer understanding of the Bible passage we are better able to draw applications from the Bible.

I hope more groups can be formed to go through Pathways.

I found Yuhan’s story so encouraging as he simply saw a need, perceived an opportunity, and trusted God to help him move the group forward. I likewise want to encourage you that you can do the same. The book Yuhan is using (Pathways Bible Study Method) is available online at Amazon, and uses 1 Thessalonians to teach lay people (not pastors) how to study the Bible. It is interactive, and we’ve heard many positive responses. A pastor near me is offering this for men in his church, but it works equally well with women, small groups, even youth. Here is the link if you would like to order the study book: PATHWAYS Bible Study Method.