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The way Janet (Philippines) began running Discovery Bible Studies (DBSs) in the southern Philippines was very spontaneous. “It started with just casual conversations,” she shared. When a person in the community came to her with a problem, Janet would earnestly listen, refrain from giving her own advice and then ask the person if they would like to learn about God through a story from the Bible that reminded Janet of their problem. “I will tell you now about someone who loves you best,” Janet tells them. People were usually very open to hearing a story and how it applies to them.
“Then after that, we prayed, and I invited them, [asking]: ‘Would you like to have a more in-depth study of who God is?’” she said. Sometimes, people say no or that they are too busy, but other times they say yes.
Janet and her husband first travelled to the southern part of the Philippines for a short visit but quickly felt that they should return to the island to stay more permanently. The couple served the area in various ways, such as teaching at the university and starting a basketball club before being introduced to a fishing community. Soon, Janet began to teach the children and get to know people better.
The fishing village belongs to a tribe that is looked down upon by others in the area who consider the people uneducated and dirty, said Janet. Many children in the community had never been to school, and their peers teased and ostracised those who had gone.
Less than a year after starting to teach in the community, one of Janet’s most eager students stopped attending class. Janet went to the girl’s mother to ask what had happened and discovered that she had been so encouraged by Janet that she had started going to the nearby school. Since then, more children have followed suit, and Janet has heard that they are some of the best students in their grades.
Teaching the children helped Janet build relationships with their mothers and other women in the community, and she regularly does DBS with three women.
One of the ladies in the DBS groups is Angela*. Angela and her husband were both out of work, and she was worried about providing food for her children. Desperate, she prayed for provision from a God she had heard about before but did not really know. Soon after, someone knocked on the door and gave the family some food. “And so she said, ‘God is love because He has seen my needs,’” Janet recalled. Janet met Angela a while after that and shared with her about Jesus. Angela said that the whole time Janet was speaking about Christ all the hair on her arms stood up — she had seen the man Janet spoke about in a dream before with a bright light obscuring His face. Also in the dream was a big book with many names written in it. Angela said she wanted to know more about the God who is love, and she joined Janet’s DBS.
The three women in the DBS continue to develop their faith amidst challenges from their community, which is traditionally Islamic with strong animistic practices. Janet trusts that “the Lord will take care of them”, and they will continue to grow. During many DBS visits, a problem or topic will arise based on something the women heard or experienced. These questions give Janet the opportunity to point the women back to the Bible. Janet shared, “I will always talk to them about the Word of God because I believe that the Word of God is living and active.”
*name changed
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