The Christian Education department of the Dominican Evangelical Church held a workshop for all the pastors of the denomination.  The purpose of the workshop was to utilize the wisdom and experience of the pastors to determine the Christian education themes that will be used in all the churches in the coming years.

We all stayed together at the church camp in Bani.  Someone wondered aloud the first night about who would be the first one to find a tarantula in bed with them.  I did not look forward to going to sleep that night.

The first evening we met to share a devotional and ask for God’s inspiration to be with us.

Rev. Betania directed an activity using a passage in Romans 12: 1-8, the new life in Christ.  The second verse received the most attention:

             Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I shared a visual using the solar oven and how this oven will not function without the sun’s rays and that these rays can then be transformed and used to cook food and  provide sustenance to others.  I believe God’s love also transforms us so that God can use us to serve others.

Three church leaders gave presentations on the 15 foundational beliefs that the Dominican Evangelical Church has as their theological roots which come from Methodist, Presbyterian and the Moravian traditions.  We asked that the pastors individually and in groups suggest Christian education themes based on their collective wisdom and experience.  These themes will be used for Bible studies, Sunday School lessons, Extension Bible School lessons, and continuing education for the pastors.

The workshop was a greater success than we had imagined.  The four of us working in the area of Christian Education:  Reverend Betania Figueroa, Rev. Jeremias Brafett, Jose Rafael Peguero and myself are pleased with the results.  At the same time we are very challenged to now organize these themes for a 6 year cycle of Christian Educational curriculum that all the churches will be able to use as their guide.