A letter from Mary Nebelsick in the U.S., on Interpretation Assignment from the Philippines
March 2015 - Teaching So They Can Teach
Dear Friends,
Paul and I have had a wonderful time during this year interpreting our ministry to churches in the United States. We’ve been staying at the Furlough Home on the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary campus and have been busy visiting churches in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Connecticut. Soon we will travel to Roanoke, Va., to meet old friends and make new ones. As an old saying goes, “Make new friends, and keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.”
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Library of PCU with IPRS faculty and students
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Mary teaching students
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Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies (IPRS), a graduate school of Philippine Christian University (PCU)
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Our librarian, Mrs. Evelyn Cobrera
While here in Louisville I’ve been reading about Presbyterian mission, especially about women in mission, and have learned incredible things. Presbyterian women have been active in mission from the 1820s onward and have gone to the ends of the earth to proclaim the peace of Christ. Some were married, yet many were not. Some went as medical doctors while others went as schoolteachers. One of the major foci of these women was the education of girls and women. By educating girls and women and teaching them to read the Bible they hoped to emancipate them from ignorance and lead them to become evangelists of biblical truth. Many of these schools became boarding schools and missionary women were soon responsible not only for educating, but also for feeding, clothing, supervising and evangelizing the girls under their care. Sometimes these schools began with two girls and sometimes with as many as six. But within 10 years of their founding most had grown and were well on their way to becoming as influential as their counterparts in the United States. Missionary women were incredibly influential in spreading the gospel through education, and Paul and I are proud to follow in their footsteps.
As most of you know, the Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies (IPRS), a graduate school of Philippine Christian University (PCU), where we teach, began small, very small. The Association for Theological Education in South East Asia (ATESEA) set a goal to establish graduate programs on campuses throughout Southeast Asia. PCU took up the challenge and asked Paul and me to be a part of this new adventure. The graduate school of PCU began, like most theological graduate schools of the past, in a very intimate setting. The first four theological graduate students of Philippine Christian University met in our living room. They sat on our couches and discussed theology, Bible, and church history. Soon we were given a room in an old house on Philippine Christian University’s Dasmariñas campus. We were content. We knew, however, that if we were to grow we needed to find a more central location for our graduate school. We were excited when a room, an upper room this time, was found for us in an old house on Philippine Christian University’s Manila campus. This house had a fascinating history. Long ago it had been the headquarters of the nascent National Council of Churches in the Philippines and now it housed our program. We were given old desks, chairs and a blackboard. Twenty of us sat at these old desks, arranged in a circle, with an old blackboard as our focal point and discussed how theology is understood in different cultures and the complexities of mission in a world of poverty. We were very happy. We had our own place. We were accomplishing our mission. Soon we were given a large dining room table, some wicker dining room chairs and cabinets. The cabinets had shelves where we could store books. We thought we had arrived in heaven. Then we received books donated from pastors’ libraries in the U.S. and the Philippines. We had a library! We were jubilant. I arranged the books into categories: Bibles, Old Testament, New Testament, Church History, Mission History, Contextual Theology, Classical Theology, Theology of Mission, Pastoral Care and Counseling, Church Administration, Christian Education, and Sociology. A year later we were given the downstairs part of our building for our classrooms and expanded library. Finally, we were blessed with a librarian. We knew we were in heaven.
Now we have over 80 graduates from all over Southeast Asia. We have a library of 2,000 books and pray that we will soon receive more. Having more books will mean that we will be able to teach our students better and prepare them for the task of teaching their students in their home countries of the Philippines, Myanmar, Korea, Indonesia, China, and India.
We teach so they can teach. We empower our students, women and men, to return to their home countries full of confidence, knowing that God has truly called them to faithfully witnesses to the gospel and to shape theological education. This is especially important for our women students since they often do not receive this level of affirmation in their home countries. There they were often told that they were not worthy enough to fully witness to the gospel. They were told that they were not capable enough to shape and inspire theological education. When they graduate from our program, our women students know that God has called them to be bearers of empowerment for women and men. Our men students are empowered to see their women colleagues as equal partners in Christ’s service. We witness to our faith through our teaching as we ensure that they will be able to witness to their faith through their teachings. Together we spread the gospel throughout Southeast Asia.
It is in this ministry of education for spreading the gospel that we ask you to walk alongside us in our ministry. Please pray for our students as they study with us and as they go back to their home countries to face situations of hardship and persecution. Please also pray for us as we continue to seek God’s guidance as we help to train leaders to spread the gospel of peace. In closing, as always, we thank you for your prayers, wishes and monetary support and pray that you continue to support us in this vital ministry.
In Christ,
Mary
The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 249
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