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

The School of the Bible in Recife started 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 mustard seed beginnings, we have grown and expanded the school.

The School now has three main goals:

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

So, what did 2019 look like for the School of the Bible?

1. Total Enrollments.

We had 536 enrollments this past year, a 25% from 412 in 2018. These students came from Recife and the surrounding cities that make up the greater metropolitan area. Some students take over an hour to come to the School. Many sign up for personal Bible studies following the classes.

2. Courses offered:

We offered 53 different courses throughout the year covering 32 different topics.

– Biblical courses: The Life of Christ, How to Read the Bible, How to Have Eternal Life, Let the Bible Speak, The End of Times, Heroes of Faith, Spiritual World, The Book of Acts, The Book of Genesis, The Book of Romans, The Book of Proverbs, The Book of Psalms, The Book of Revelations, The Teachings of Christ and Sermon on the Mount.

– Theological courses: Intro to the Bible, Intro to Systematic Theology, Homiletics, Christian Ethics, Philosophy and the Bible, Christian History, Panorama of the NT, Panorama of the OT and Hermeneutics.

– English using the Bible: Basic English 1, 2 and 3, Conversational English, Let’s Start Talking and Basic Spanish.

This year we launched our first online course called “The Bible for Beginners.” This is an introductory course to studying the Bible with ten video-lessons that can be taken from anywhere around the world.

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, 21 teachers came from five different congregations throughout the city to teach at our centralized location. Four guest teachers from the USA also taught conversational English using the Bible. You can read some of their reports here.

4. Changed Lives:

The main goal of the School of the Bible is to bring people to Christ. It is always encouraging to hear stores of people who were blessed by this ministry and surrender to the work of the Spirit. Here are some of these stories from 2019:

Edson came to the School of the Bible to learn English. He became familiar with the Bible courses and wanted to find answers to many of his life’s questions. After taking several Bible courses, he started to study the Bible on a more personal level and decided to follow Christ and be baptized.

Gilson and his wife Auxiliadora had walked by the School many times before. They decided to give it a try and took their first course on the Old Testament. After that they were hooked on studying the Bible. Through the school they discovered the church and became involved. Soon after, they decided to follow Christ and were baptized.

Carlos is a young seeker who decided to take his first course “How to Read and Understand the Bible” after being invited by a fellow student. He then took a course on the book of Romans and learned about God’s grace. It was the tipping point for him to decide to be baptized and follow Christ.

And what will 2020 bring us?

We hope to offer more courses and to reach more students through a greater promotion of the school. We also plan on offering more online courses that can reach those close and far. And finally, we pray that we can find new means to better integrate students and the church to foster discipleship opportunities.

If you want to learn more about the School of the Bible and download our full report, please visit our site Bible in Recife.