Continuing Education classes for Nicaraguan pastors resume

Rev. Brian Dunlop poses with ILSN pastors as they display their certificates following New Testament Greek classes in Nicaragua.

NICARAGUA – Continuing education classes for pastors in the Lutheran Church Synod of Nicaragua (Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua – ILSN) resumed in November, with Lutheran Church–Canada pastor Brian Dunlop of Faith Lutheran (Desboro, Ontario) teaching a series of classes on New Testament Greek.

“After last year’s political unrest effectively closed borders to Nicaragua, the ways in which Lutheran Church–Canada would provide support for the missions of the ILSN was uncertain,” explains Rev. Dunlop. The ability to return to on-the-ground missions is, he says, reason for thanksgiving. “It’s all a gift. The whole experience is a gift—the free, undeserved favour of God.”

The November classes taught by Rev. Dunlop with the aid of a translator focused on the “I Am” statements of Jesus from the Gospel of John, and the Nicaraguan pastors were excited to work through full sentences in Greek from their bibles. Daily quizzes gave them the chance to see how much they had learned each day, as well as throughout the week. Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary (St. Catharines, Ontario) provided certificates to all those who completed the course.

Participants were also blessed to spend each day in chapel together for Matins and Vespers, utilizing material from a new Lutheran Spanish hymnal currently in production.

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