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Living Hope Bible School
Foundation for Ministry Course
Why a Living Hope Bible School?
The goal of these studies is to provide a biblical foundation for Christian ministry and living.
Living Hope has experience of working with and serving pastors and church leaders in some cities, but primarily rural areas, since October 1994. Many of these pastors are genuine servants of God, but with little education or academic background. However, a live visit from a Living Hope worker, regular teaching by telephone, notes and video messages - plus Zoom calls where possible, mean that we can monitor progress in the lives of our students.
The teaching is sensitive to cultural issues so that our students can see their backgrounds are respected. but also thoroughly biblically based.
We value highly our friends in the different countries we serve and will involve them in assessing the progress of students.
Through our study programme and regular supervision. we are able to challenge religious extremism and to encourage our pastors to observe good ministerial practice.
Several friends from strong academic backgrounds are backing these studies, and a combination of their support and the hands-on contact over 25 years gives a certificate awarded a good degree of credibility, to validate the authenticity of those who achieve it.
LHM Bible School Board.
Principals: Apostle Richard and Elaine Brunton
Roy Pitcher PhD.
Matthew Wright PhD
Steve Brunton MA
Rev Barnaby Monterio
Basis of faith
We believe in:
- the one true God who lives eternally in three persons—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
- the love, grace and sovereignty of God in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world
- the divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which are the written Word of God - fully trustworthy for faith and conduct
- the dignity of all people, made male and female in God's image to love, be holy and care for creation, yet corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement
- the incarnation of God's eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ - born of the virgin Mary, truly divine and truly human, yet without sin
- the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross: dying in our place, paying the price of sin and defeating evil, so reconciling us with God
- the bodily resurrection of Christ, the first fruit of our resurrection; His ascension to the Father, and His reign and mediation as the only Saviour of the world
- the justification of sinners solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ
- the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, who leads us to repentance, unites us with Christ through new birth, empowers our discipleship and enables our witness
- the Church, the body of Christ both local and universal, the priesthood of all believers - given life by the Spirit and endowed with the Spirit's gifts to worship God and proclaim the gospel, promoting justice and love
- the personal and visible return of Jesus Christ to fulfil the purposes of God, who will raise all people to judgement, bring eternal life to the redeemed and eternal condemnation to the lost, and establish a new heaven and new earth.
Core beliefs
The Word of God
The Bible is the final authority concerning doctrine and behaviour. Everything taught must be in line with God's Word. Salvation and heaven are available through our Lord Jesus, who is the living word. Sin, judgement and hell are realities to be dealt with.
The Cross
Always we preach Christ – and Him crucified! All of our messages should contain the good news of salvation through Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again.
The Church
Jesus never promised to build Living Hope Ministries, but He did promise to build His church. The purpose of LHM is to build up the church of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, our teaching and input should always seek to build up the local church, not the ministry of LHM. The biblical ministries of apostles, prophets, teachers and evangelists are actively encouraged, and the groups we work with should aim to have this balance. We want local churches to be free from false teaching, so that they can serve their communities effectively.
The Nations
God's heart is for the nations and all nations are open to the ministry of Living Hope Ministries as the Lord leads.
The Holy Spirit
His empowering, gifting and anointing is essential to see signs, wonders and lasting fruit in the ministry.
Core values
Relationships
Living Hope Ministries is committed to encouraging those who are taught and touched by the ministry to build strong and deep personal relationships with the Lord Jesus Christ. All the people we work with are friends, not contacts, and our service for Jesus is greatly enhanced by our being in good relationship with one another. We honour marriage as taught in Scripture. Marriage is to be safeguarded in every way, and is a powerful picture of the relationship between Christ and His church. Holiness and purity are hallmarks of that relationship.
Service
We believe valid Christian ministry comes out of a serving heart. People working with us must not be empire builders in any sense, but servants of the Lord Jesus.
Leadership Training
Local churches need to be led by godly leaders, whose vision is clear to build God's church, not theirs! Seminars, TV, Radio, Bible Studies, Prayer and Fellowship are all provided to achieve that goal.
Humility
Living Hope Ministries serves very poor people in other countries, but in no sense do we want to adopt a colonial style. Rather, we count it always a privilege to work with God's people in whatever economic state they find themselves.
Focus
Living Hope Ministries was called by God to train and equip leaders – teaching them to build churches that reflect the New Testament model. We recognise the many practical and material needs that are faced by these leaders, and we help where we can. However, this can never be at the expense of our goal to train and equip God's servants, to establish churches that honour Jesus.
Course
Module 1: An overview of the Bible
This involves a brief look at each of the 66 books in the Bible. We will also study Isaiah.
The resources for this module are the overview of the Bible notes and the Living Hope YouTube channel, where there is a short summary of each Bible book.
Module 2: Key Doctrines
The character of God, worship, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, eschatology (including death and last things) andHermeneutics. We shall also study the letters to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Peter's two letters, Jude and 1 John.
The main resource is the booklet headed 7 Things, and then there are notes for each of the Bible books mentioned above.
Module 3: The Pastors' Handbook
The handbook provides basic teaching on how to handle important subjects that pastors face. These include church membership, Communion, Baptism, home visiting, prayer for the sick and prayer for deliverance. There is also guidance regarding the dedication of children, marriage and funerals and how to prepare someone to be ordained for ministry. We will also study the Ten Commandments.
The handbook is available and notes on the Ten Commandments are online.
Module 4: Leadership
We will look at ministries in the Church, and qualities required in a Christian leader - including studies of leaders handling depression. We shall also look at 1&2 Timothy and Titus.
Resources for you to study are online.
Module 5: Evangelism and Church history
We shall also study Matthew's Gospel and Acts.
The notes for these topics will be found online.
Guidelines
In addition to prescribed notes for each module, we have a monthly Bible study and prayer programme. Students are encouraged to give time to these programmes.
Each month there will be a Zoom meeting to assess how your studies are going. You will also be assigned a personal tutor to meet with once a month in your locality.
There is no charge for this course of studies, but materials are available for students at their own expense through email or by downloading from the Living Hope website. A diploma certificate will be offered to those deemed to have studied and confirmed the essentials of the Christian faith as taught.
