…for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
– Isaiah 11:9
It’s an exciting thing when God makes himself known. In the Asia-Pacific Leadership Academy, we are in awe as God reveals himself in the classroom and beyond.
We launched the APLA as a ministry school in 2008. Through our beloved mentor Gordon Ferguson and other teachers, we now offer 21 courses in three categories: ministry courses (including Bible courses), shepherding courses, and continuing education courses. These are delivered in mixed format – face-to-face seminar and online.
Despite numerous challenges, primarily economic, God has blessed us with over 230 students from 6 nations. God is using the teaching ministry to broaden leadership, rekindle mission work, and provide inspiration where faith is ebbing.
There are two aspects of the APLA program that seem to work well:
1. Friendship
The relational factor in education cannot be underestimated.Our APLA experience reinforces the tenet that learning is best done in community.Although most of the coursework is done online, we have not let go of real (non-virtual) classroom interaction. It’s been encouraging to see students build great and lasting friendships. This not only makes the learning atmosphere fun and stimulating; it creates an environment that fosters personal growth.
We’ve also seen friendships develop on the teacher-student level. There’s power in friendship that goes beyond mentoring, leading, and instructing. We are thankful that the foreign teachers who have taught in Asia – Gordon Ferguson, John Oakes, and Bill Moulden – have shown much concern and initiative to connect personally.In the spirit of 1 Thessalonians 2, they not only taught; they shared their lives. And they’ve also expressed tremendous belief in local talents and abilities. The result is that more nationals have risen up, gotten higher formal education, and engaged in teaching endeavors.
2. Flexibility
We realize that time is a challenge for many, so we’ve designed the shepherding track courses to cater to busy, non-staff people. For instance, when those on the Ministry Track (for staff) and Shepherding Track take the same classes together, the assignments of the latter group are different and somewhat easier. The idea is to vary the teaching approach based on the make-up of the enrollees. This has generated more enrollment from “the busy average disciples” because the courses are challenging though not particularly rigorous. So to date, 70% of our enrollees are non-staff people, most of whom are older Christians. Interestingly enough, our first woman enrollee was a non-staff sister who was then 4 months pregnant!
To date, we’ve held APLA classes in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Interest is growing. We’ve seen attendances at our 3-day seminars of well over 60 per class, some even in the midst of thunderstorms and flooding. Over two dozen have graduated from the diploma programs and we salute their efforts.
May God continue to make himself known through the teaching of his Word.
