Recently, Ambrose took a trip to Kenya to conduct a Heart Bible training there. He went with a pastor named Gabriel who is also from Rwanda. The Heart Bible has transformed his church, and his testimony would be invaluable to the people they would meet in Kenya. Before using this method, he really struggled to teach the Bible because the people were not learning anything or getting excited about God’s Word. But once they introduced the Heart Bible to them, the congregation doubled in size, and people would say, “Even me, I can learn the Word of God!” Ambrose expressed that it was wonderful to have pastor Gabriel with him on his trip to Kenya, because his testimony encouraged the leaders there that the Heart Bible works, and can be used in their own church setting.
When they arrived in Kenya, the church that he went to immediately welcomed the training, and they were excited to learn the Bible. As he began teaching, the pastor of the church exclaimed, “Ah! You didn’t come with a Bible!” He was shocked, and thought that Ambrose had come to the training unprepared. Although Ambrose did have his Bible with him, he said to the pastor, “I am sharing the Bible from inside my heart.”
The pastor saw that he was teaching a method that allowed the people to learn God’s Word just from hearing the stories. They didn’t have to know how to read and write; they just had to listen, internalize, and practice telling the stories out-loud. They caught on to the method quickly, and loved learning the Bible in this way.
For one of the trainings, Ambrose told the story from Mark 2:1-11, where Jesus heals a paralyzed man, which is a part of the “Jesus is Lord” series. He challenged everyone to share the story to each other, but at first they were hesitant. Ambrose encouraged them to keep trying. After practicing the story over and over, he asked them, “Do you like the story? What do you think of it?” They responded by saying, “Wow! Now the Word of God is in my heart.” They loved the story, and were amazed that they had the ability to learn and know the Scriptures. They had doubted that they could ever really know it like a pastor or teacher would, because they were illiterate. But this method allows them to know the Bible for themselves, and even gives them the ability to teach others; something they never expected they could do.
The pastor of this church had a Muslim friend who recently became a Christian. He had been struggling with understanding the divinity of Jesus. The pastor said, “this would be a great story to show him that Jesus is God!” He shared the story from Mark 2:1-11 with him, and he loved it very much. This is just one example of how people are learning the Heart Bible method, and using it in discipleship and to encourage other believers in the faith.
While in Kenya, Ambrose went to a refugee camp for Somali and Sudanese people, to disciple and train leaders in the Heart Bible. There was a pastor there that explained that none of the people could read and write, and so when he was taught the Heart Bible method, he was amazed and greatly encouraged that now he had a way to teach illiterate people the Word of God. Now he is starting a ministry for people to learn the Heart Bible in small groups, and he is seeing it thrive in the refugee camp.
Praise God for the true life transformations that are taking place in the hearts of these people. God’s Word is meant to be accessible and available to all people, whether they are illiterate or not. God’s Word is for the simple-minded and for the scholar, for men and for women, for children and for the elderly. God is delighted when His people take His Word to their hearts and share it with others.
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