ST.
ANDREW’S THEOLOGICAL BOOK COLLECTION PROJECT
Project Description
St.
Andrew’s is collecting theological books for the Western Gambella Bethel Synod
(WGBS) Jordan Bible School of the Mekane Yesus Church of Ethiopia (formerly the
Presbyterian Church in Ethiopia). We
invite other churches to join us in the collection, sorting, cataloging and
packing of these books
for shipment to Ethiopia. This could be
a good project for church youth groups.
St. Andrew’s will purchase the necessary equipment and software to
catalogue the books and provide proper boxes for shipping the books. When a church has accumulated a collection of
books and is ready to catalogue the books and prepare them for shipping, a St.
Andrew’s member will bring the computer equipment and boxes to the church and
supervise the process.
Description of Books Being Collected
Classes at the Jordan Bible School are taught
in English. In general the age of the
book is not important as long as the book is in good shape. Both hard cover and paperback are
acceptable. In addition to the types of books listed below, many of the students
also need a personal copy of the Bible in English.
- Biblical
Studies
- Commentaries
(Any academic commentaries except for the Interpreter’s Bible Commentary
– Old Edition)
- Bible
Dictionaries and Bible Handbooks
- Bible
concordance
- Secondary
and background studies to the Hebrew Bible and New Testament
- Linguistic
Tools (Greek, Hebrew)
- Theology:
historical and modern
- Church
History/Historical Theology
- Ethics
- Philosophy
- Missiology/Cross-Cultural
Studies
- Christian
Education
- Leadership
- Reference
Material: Encyclopedias
of Theology, Religion, and Bible
OVER
BACKGROUND
The
Western Gambella Bethel Synod serves the 150,000 to 200,000 Nuer people living
in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. Due
to the tribal fighting across the border from Gambella in the South Sudan
another 200,000 to 300,000 Nuer from the South Sudan have streamed into the Gambella
area. The Synod has 138 churches and an
additional 94 preaching points (New churches which have not yet been organized
as congregations.) with a total of 100,000 church members served by 64 pastors. The Synod’s five year plan projects the need
to organize 79 new congregations and create 174 additional preaching points
during this period.
The
Jordan Bible School, the Synod’s only school for training church leaders,
currently has a maximum capacity of 30 students and is limited to offering a
two-year certificate program. The Synod
wants to double the capacity of the Jordan Bible School and up-grade it to be
able to offer a three-year diploma program.
To be able to offer a diploma program, the school must have a 7,000
volume library. St. Andrew’s has
committed to helping the Jordan Bible School meet the library requirement.
From
its beginning St. Andrew’s members have been involved with short term
construction and medical mission projects around the world including: Ethiopia,
Haiti, Kenya, Mexico, Mozambique, Peru and the U. S. through SERVE, an
organization affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA, founded in 1993 at
the U.S. Center for World Missions of Fuller Seminary to facilitate short term
volunteer mission service. As
Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you: and you
will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to all the
ends of the earth.”—Acts 1:8. St. Andrew’s
believes the church exists to fulfill this command. Mission outreach is not an option for the
local church. If a church is big enough
to worship it is big enough for mission! Jesus calls us to witness to not only
our local community, but also to our nation and the whole world. The purpose of
this project is to begin testing strategies for mobilizing the churches of the
West Side Story Group (WSS) to implement Jesus’ last command.
By addressing the urgent need of providing
books for the Jordan Bible School, we see the possibility for the awakening of
gifts and opportunities within the WSS churches. For example, the young people
of today are very volunteer-minded, but short on time so short term projects
need to be planned for them. On the
other hand, many of the retired members of our churches are in good health and
have a lifetime of experiences and skills.
They have time to contribute to longer term projects. These activities might bring new value and
meaning to their lives. It is
anticipated that as we work with WGBS to help them improve their Bible School
(which is a training school/seminary for adult pastors) we might develop a long
term partnership involving a number of service opportunities. For example:
- The Bible school classes are taught in
English, so a summer English Camp to improve their English would be very
helpful to new students.
- Students need training in the use of a
computer and basic software.
- Church leaders could benefit from
leadership training.
- Many WGBS church members could use
training and mentoring in setting up and operating a business.
- Those
who have access to a vehicle need basic auto mechanics instruction.
Perhaps,
if this relationship blossomed into a future partnership, the WGBS leaders
could be invited one day to Baltimore to share their gifts with us. Of particular value would be to learn how
they witness to others so we might be more effective in our witness to people
in our communities.
Total
funds required for this project are $7,000 to $8,000. St. Andrew’s has requested a Ministry Group
Grant for $4000 and will raise the additional funds through solicitation of
funds from interested churches in the Baltimore Presbytery and churches
connected to the Presbyterian Church Ethiopian Network.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Individuals and churches interested
participating in the Book Project should contact Ed Pollock at (301-831-7223)
or ed_pollock@comcast.net for more information.