Come and See...



One day Philip went to tell Nathanael that he had found the Messiah. Philip had apparently spent a few days with Jesus and he wanted his friend Nathanael to meet him also. At first Nathanael was skeptical, but Philip reassured him saying "Come and see..." Philip was confident that if his friend would just come and meet Jesus that he would be convinced, too. Philip was right, of course. Within a few minutes of conversation with Jesus Nathanael was a believer. This is the kind of life that Filipus Ministry Training is looking to cultivate in our students. Filipus is Turkish for Philip, of course. We want our students to have a life changing encounter with God, and encounter that is contagious. We want our students to have a "Philip" kind of lifestyle that takes a "come and see" approach to outreach. Having been transformed by Jesus it's natural to want to share that experience with friends and strangers. Come and see.

And that's the way that Filipus has grown over the years as well. Students that graduate, and teachers that have come to participate in the training end up sharing about Filipus around the country so people have a context for understanding what we are about when we visit or talk with fellowships about sending candidates.

We started a new training year in October. We have five students: 3 Turks and 2 Iranians. We spent our first month living in community together with our students in Antalya at a friends place. They have a ministry center in a village outside of town on a huge piece of land with lots of pomegranite trees, orange trees, and gardens. We spent the month focusing on prayer and spiritual formation. Those first four weeks were perfect for builing a sense of community among the students and staff and for establishing a foundation of prayer for the year.

Our second month was focused on an intensive theology class back in Ankara. Two different teachers contributed to that class as the students were challenged to think more deeply than they had ever done on a number of theological topics. The next 2 weeks will be dedicated to Hermeneutics, equipping the students with tools for faithfully interpreting the Bible.

Apart from classroom study, our students are meeting with their mentors once a week, doing various ministry activities three times a week, and spending one afternoon a week together in prayer.

I'm proud of our students and I am happy to be spending my days in Turkey contributing to the ministry formation of 5 men of God who will help to carry the church into the coming years. It's a cause worth giving your life to. Come and see.

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