“And now, brethren, I commend you to God,
and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up,
and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”
Acts 20:32
Equipping and empowering an ever-growing number of Christians and churches to read, speak and understand God’s Word is our joy and passion.
To find out more about our Conferences and Bible Celebration Week
ABC BIBLE GROUPS
How do ABC Bible Groups work?
“We read Scripture together in community – pausing to go over personally significant verses again and pray a response.” – ABC Trainer
Four main reasons to consider an ABC Bible Group:
1. To set aside time in a busy culture to drink deeply from God’s Word.
2. To read through a whole Bible book as it was meant to be read.
3. To experience the Word within the encouragement of community.
4. To pray through Scripture to let it transform us.
Join a group
If you would like to find out more about joining an existing ABC Bible Group, send us an email.
Start a group
Here are our tried-and-tested tips to start your own ABC Bible Group, including our free, printable reading plan tool.
Leaders: Choose one leader and an assistant. Take ten minutes at the start to welcome everybody, explain the meeting and for opening prayer.
Participants: Any size group can work, but we find that 20 people or less allows for everybody to participate. Make sure that everyone commits to the full Bible reading time.
The Schedule: Generally 1-4 hours in one day is advisable. Whichever schedule you choose, create a 10 minute response time after 3-4 chapters of Bible reading. During this response time, any volunteers can read a verse that has just been read that helped them. Encourage them to pray a response to the verse (this could be a prayer of confession, thanksgiving, praise, or a prayer for help). Break in the middle of your time together (for at least 15 minutes if the reading is two hours or longer). An example of some schedules are below.
The Scriptures: Have everyone bring a Bible in the language which they best can speak and read. They should have translations (like NIV, NASB) not paraphrases.
Reading Aloud: Willing readers stand to read five verses to the group. Have readers read in the order that they are sitting in the circle. Have everyone stand for the reading of every 3rd chapter. On this chapter each person reads one verse around the room. This helps to change the pace and keep everyone alert.
Example Bible Reading for an ABC Bible Group:
The book of Mark takes roughly 1.5 hours to read out loud. For this reason, we recommend a 2-hour reading slot. Here is a suggested example:
| Suggested Time | Topic Covered/Scriptures Read | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Introduction and Opening Prayer | 15 minutes |
| 09:15 | Read Scripture aloud | 30 minutes |
| 09:45 | Response Prayers | 10 minutes |
| 09:55 | Continue reading Scripture aloud | 30 minutes |
| 10:25 | Response Prayers | 10 minutes |
| 10:35 | Continue reading Scripture aloud | 30 minutes |
| 11:05 | Response Prayers | 10 minutes |
| 11:15 | Free break | 15 minutes |
| 11:30 | Continue reading Scripture aloud | 30 minutes |
| 12:00 | Response Prayers | 10 minutes |
| 12:10 | Continue reading Scripture aloud | 30 minutes |
| 12:40 | Response Prayers | 10 minutes |
| 12:50 | Closing prayers for each other | 10 minutes |
| 01:00 | Marathon ends | |
| After 1:00 | Discussion of the passages for those who want to stay longer |
During the first praying time, ask those who have come before to be ready to read a verse and pray. Have them read a verse from that section and pray their response. Then keep the time open to any others willing to read & pray.
Here’s a few examples of sharing a verse and praying:
“They went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts 5:41)
“Dear Lord, the book of Acts makes it clear that the gospel will never get out to the world without suffering. Help me to accept suffering from your hand and be willing to take risks to share the gospel with my friends at school.”
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer … let your requests be made known to God.” (Phil. 4:6)
“Dear God, I’m anxious about money and my job. Let me trust you by praying every time I feel anxious and trusting you to meet all my needs.”
PASTOR TRAINING
Soon after launching ABC Bible Groups, many rural churches began asking for additional training. As more and more people read the Bible, more and more questions naturally surfaced, and their untrained pastors could not help them.
This led to a simple model of intensive training: 40 rural pastors over one year (totalling 300 hours of teaching).
BIBLE SCHOLARSHIPS
ABC has created an ABC Scholarship Endowment. This endowment is not spent, but invested. The annual earnings of the endowment provide scholarships to accredited colleges training students for ministry.
The scholarships are won through scoring the best on a Bible exam administered by ABC. They cover a full college degree, but recipients are evaluated yearly to maintain the scholarship.
Evangelical Theological Conferences (ETC)
ETC’s Mission: A conference of theologians, pastors and Bible students sharing theological research to:
1) unite Rwandan theological leaders,
2) promote theological excellence,
3) mentor future theological leaders, and
4) facilitate theological publishing.
ETC sponsors two conferences a year that provide:
1) a venue for meeting other theological leaders,
2) presentation of theological papers followed by discussion,
3) introduction of biblical resources for schools and churches,
4) discussion groups on theological issues, and
5) sale of used theological books at low prices.
ETC is sponsored by ABC and guided by the ETC Council of Advisors who represent various theological organizations.