School of the Bible: 2018 In Review

Before we get into the stats, a quick reminder about the School the Bible’s purpose:

The School of the Bible in Recife started off as a Great Cities church planting effort and played an important role in helping plant over 20 new local churches in Greater Recife.

Since our humble beginnings, we have grown and expanded the school.

Group of students at one of our courses.

The School now has 3 main goals:

  1. Edification: Teaching the Bible to the larger community in Recife and beyond.
  2. Training: Providing theology training for local church members and ministers.
  3. Evangelism: Teaching English and Spanish as a second language using the Bible.

So, what did 2018 look like for the School of the Bible?

1. Total Enrollments.

We had 421 students enrolled this past year; a positive increase from 2017. These students came from Recife and the surrounding cities that make up the greater metropolitan area. Some students take over an hour to come and go to the School. Many sign up for personal Bible studies following the classes.

2. Courses offered:

We offered 18 different topics throughout the year for a total of 48 courses in 2018.

– Biblical courses: How to Read and Understand the Bible, Sermon on the Mount, Life After Death, The Spiritual World, Who is God, The books of Genesis, Acts, Ephesians, Romans and Revelations.

– Theological courses: Introduction to the Bible, Spiritual Formation, Discipleship, Systematic Theology, Panorama of the NT and Panorama of the OT.

– English using the Bible: Basic English, Conversational English and English Pronunciation.

3. Teachers volunteered:

The school is made up of a body of volunteer teachers who are church members that dedicate time from their busy schedules to bless our students. This past year, 17 teachers came from 3 different congregations throughout the city to teach at our centralized location.

2018 highlight: Ricardo Guerra was able to bring all of his family and extended family to the take a course with him.

And what will 2019 bring us?

Alongside new classes we will be offering more diverse schedules for students to choose from. We will also be updating the school to the digital age by offering online courses. Now students from all over Brazil in and beyond can be reached by the study of God’s Word in the Portuguese language. We are grateful for how God has blessed us in the past year and are very excited about what is to come.

One of our 2017 certificate ceremonies.