Plovdiv

For three evenings beginning March 22nd, we taught the bible school students in the bible schools in Plovdiv and the surrounding area that is run by our friend, Marina Dimitrova. Marina is a fellow Regent graduate who earned her PhD there in 2008. She has been running these bible schools for years. The schools are often a stepping stone to higher education for these students. We had several of their graduates at the Bulgarian Theological Seminary last week.

These are essentially church based bible schools. Marina has about 60 of these operating all over Bulgaria. Most of the students are Roma (gypsy) people, although there are also some ethnic Bulgarians. Virtually all of them have jobs and come to these evening classes simply to learn. Many are what we would call lay people in their churches, although there are some pastors among them. Many never go further in their theological education although, as I mentioned, some do.

Teaching these people is a unique challenge for us because their cultural background is so radically different from our own and because many of them have only an elementary education. Trying to simplify some of the complex concepts of leadership is a huge challenge for us and we always wonder how much they really got out of our sessions. However, we think that they are learning because, although they have little formal education, they are obviously intelligent and have a lot of "common sense." They ask good questions and give good answers to ours, although sometimes it takes a while.

We always have a good time with Marina and Mimi (our translator who is such a joy to work with) and with the people.