2017

TPC Students September 2017

TPC Students May 2017

The following is a brief report from Geoffrey Thomas of his teaching the TPC students in May 2017 with William Emberley.
William Emberley had a very encouraging time, teaching for a week in Nairobi, and me too. We thought that some of the men were particularly promising. They were all keen to learn and happy. We enjoyed the pattern of our teaching, the first week I taught during the three hours of the morning and in the second week in the afternoons, Bill took the reverse of those sessions. We were with the men at lunch time and were available to whoever asked for counsel through the day, our flat and rooms being next door to the lecture room. Bill especially was very accessible to them and was much appreciated by the men we taught.nnThe lectures were well received and the questions were deep and serious. We dealt with issues fundamental to their whole lives on the subject of the doctrine of the church. nnThen on the Sunday Bill preached twice and, of course, he felt one message was flatter than the other. I thought they were both fine messages. Then at 11 I preached on the sufficiency of Scripture and it seemed a word in season for them. nnThe rooms were comfy. The shower was warm. The shutting down of power in Nairobi occurred really only once on Sunday morning, and came back on as I began my sermon. Being able to go on a walk to the little shop called, grandly, Selfridges, and get some treats, is a sweet exercise. The weather was perfect and Murungi and Charity put themselves out feeding us three or four times. The others too were very charitable. The warmth of the welcome was genuine and the whole spirit of fellowship, hunger for truth and questioning was most encouraging. The congregation imperceptibly grows.nnSo the foundations you laid so faithfully for so long are bearing the strains of a large church in a busy, secular, superstitious, religious city like Nairobi with all the immense gaps between the refugee poor people and the wealthy men who have everything.nnIt is a treat and a spiritual tonic to go there.

TPC Students March 2017

TPC Students January 2017

The following is a brief report from Ronald Kalifungwa of his teaching the TPC students in January 2017.
2. There was wide variety between the students ranging from new to old, well educated (theologically and otherwise) and not so educated etc. This sometimes posed a challenge in terms of pitching the teaching level.
3. I taught Eschatology & Heresies, Cults and Other Religions. l was able to cover in some depth all of the major themes of each topic giving special attention to the specified emphases. l did not always follow the order of the topics as suggested. i.e. l taught on the marks of a cult before delving into the individual cults (which comes first according to the order you provided).
4. I took a dialogical and peripatetical approach to teaching.
5. Some students participated freely in class by way of asking and responding to questions. Three were particularly vocal (in the best sense of the word), while other students hardly opened their mouths, possibly because they couldn't express themselves confidently in English.
6. A number of students appeared to be under the influence of dispensational premellenialism and also accepting of some of the ideas of the word of faith movement. It would appear that a number of them changed/ and or refined their positions through the lectures.
7. I had opportunity to interact with some of the students especially during meal times. A number of them displayed potential for good theological understanding: Andrew (the oldest among them) appeared to have prior exposure to theological education but needs re-education in some areas. Tonny was very inquisitive and teachable. I quite enjoyed talking to Samuel Waswa and about his work in Pokot. There was an attitude about him that l found attractive. He also seemed to follow the material well in spite of appearing like he had had a humble educational background.