Church Planting
We partner with the existing church and Philippine Nationals in planting new churches in remote regions of Mindanao. Several opportunities for Pioneering new churches still exist. Listed below are some of the many Church Strengthening ministries that equip the local churches for establishing new churches where none exist.
Church Plant
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CMBSM
Central Manobo Bible School of Mindanao. Located in Lumabag (Tala-ingod) and started in 1988, this is a Manobo Bible school used to train tribal pastors and lay leaders. This school is also used to incorperate agricultural studies along with Bible courses to help educate the Manobo on better and more productive farming methods since the majority of them are farmers. Pastors usually remain farmers on account that the church is generally not able to support them into a full-time position due to extreme poverty conditions.
TMBS
Tigwa Manobo Bible School. Located in the village of Kibungkog in the Bukidnon region of central Mindanao this school is used to train tribal pastors and lay leaders in an area known as Zone 4. During the summer months it is also used for providing extra tutoring for high school and college students in subjects such as English, Math, and Science.
Leadership Training
Children
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In addition to the Central Manobo Bible School of Mindanao and the Tigwa Manobo Bible School, seminars are done on location in the villages.
Translation
Currently a major project to translate the Old Testament into Manobo is underway. Why translate the Old Testament into Manobo when most of the people are bilingual with Cebuano, and there are already bibles available in Cebuano? When Brian Powell nearly completed the translation of Genesis into Manobo last year, a pastor read through the whole translation as a means of testing whether there were mistakes in it. When he got to the end of the book and was asked about it, he told Brian “Only now do I understand what was going on here”. Though he was a pastor for several years, had trained at the bible school and was fluent in Cebuano, he still hadn’t quite understood until he read the scripture in his own language. This is why we need to have the scriptures in Manobo, the Manobo need the scriptures in their own language.
As of November 2001, there exists a newly published New Testament (Produced by SIL), Genesis and Exodus in Manobo.
Film Showing
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Manobo Media Ministry (MMM)
Exists to produce and show vernacular videos in order to evangelize and disciple ethnic communities. A producer will make videos based on certain biblical concepts or stories related to the culture and a projectionist will hike into the village and show the film. An example of this would be a film that was produced on the “Prodigal Son” parable; which was put into the cultural setting of the Manobo in order for the people to better understand the message. This has proven to be a useful tool for fellowships and outreach events. Currently we have one producer and two projectionists; all of which are Manobo people.