By: Rev. Mivelyn Margate
Jireh Evangel Church Planting in the Philippines (JECPP) adopted the Tribal Workers’ Intensive Training (TWIT) Course, a specialized training course designed by TMFI to give solutions to the struggle of tribal pastors with regards to their leadership training and to strengthen EFC tribal churches, particularly in the Marilog District, Davao City and Arakan Valley.
This year’s training is the 5th of its kind. Participants of the training attended classes at EFC-Marahan for one whole week, once every month from January to June. The modules of the 6-month training include: School of Workers, Story Telling, Chronology and Faith Garden. The tribal pastors who graduated previously in TWIT courses now facilitated this year’s class. These tribal pastors are being groomed to be trainers by the Tribal Mission Foundation International (TMFI). This endeavor is key to addressing the continuous growth of JECPP’s tribal ministry.
Sis. Cherie Morata, TMFI Staff, oversees the training and was very pleased with the progress of the JECPP Tribal pastors in teaching the lessons. TMFI aspired for JECPP’s tribal pastors to handle future TWIT schedules because they can communicate better to the tribal people without language barrier and are more relatable.
Representatives from Primary Health Care (PHC) namely Mr. Anselmo Lafuente and Ms Rega Lafuente, both Registered Nurses shared their expertise as well in the topics about personal hygiene, physical health and alternative medicines that are available in the mountains.
Despite the challenging peace and order condition in Arakan Valley, given that the government strengthened the military presence in the mountains, seven unrelenting tribal leaders successfully graduated the six-months course last June 22, 2018.
Rev. Liza Angelias of EFC-Kidapawan, encouraged the graduates with the message entitled “LEVEL UP” taken from 1 Corinthians 26:30. She quipped that everyone of them was chosen by God, and that God will give them the wisdom and enablement so that they will be able to feed their congregations.
The graduates responded with a heartfelt gratitude to the opportunity given to them by JECPP and shared their overwhelming testimonies of God’s faithfulness in their ministries and how God helped them to finish the course. The tribal pastors themselves acknowledge that they needed the training to be better equipped for ministry.
