Shepherd's Storybook, Train Less Educated Leaders

Shepherd's Storybook is a short novel about vital biblical doctrines, pastoral skills and Spirit-filled church life, for new flocks and new leaders. It is a simple tool for raising up leaders in new churches, or in any flock that wants its elders to serve as caring shepherds (not simply teaching or attending governing sessions). It meets needs where resources and education are limited.

Download Shepherd's Storybook freely. You can get an easily translatable copy from www.Paul-Timothy.net (click Downloads; for Spanish, Hindi and other language, select Languages).

Coaching at no cost for new users: E-mail Robert Thiessen.

Overview of Shepherd's Storybook

It is...

Biblical. Shepherd's Storybook follows the New Testament guidelines for combining pastoral training with church planting, which have been proven most effective in many fields.

Available with no charge. Paul-Timothy trainers offer Shepherd's Storybook without fees or restrictions to all who need training, including to shepherds of limited education and income. Pastoral training should be available to all whom God has gifted as to serve their people as shepherding elders. We urge users to add no man-made requirements for enrolling, by using only God's New Testament requirements for elders.

Readily applied. Shepherd's Storybook has three sections: for witnessing for Christ, planting churches and training their shepherds. Start with the section that meets your current needs.

Easy to read and translate. Less educated readers can easily understand Shepherd's Storybook. It avoids big words and English colloquial jargon. Biblical stories convey vital truths, rather than teaching doctrine with abstract, systematic analysis. Anyone who meets New Testament requirements for 'elders' can use it easily. Again, Paul-Timothy trainers strongly urge church planters and pastoral trainers in pioneer fields to add nothing to the New Testament requirements, to see churches multiply in the normal way.

Available to the Needy. Shepherd's Storybook offers materials and advice for training new leaders who start and shepherd churches or cells that multiply, especially for neglected and difficult fields.

Practical. Fieldwork and planning are integrated with theoretical content.

Easy to download with old computers and software.

Unbiased. Shepherd's Storybook explains the great doctrines of the church without denominational bias. Authors of Paul--Timothy training cooperate with nearly all major denominations and mission agencies.

Based on Stories. Shepherd's Storybook uses Bible stories rather than systematic analysis to teach divine truths. The book itself is also a story about church planters and new shepherds in a pioneer field. The stories helps new believers and leaders to pass on biblical truth to others the way our Lord Jesus Christ did. It also saves much time for translators. They need only to refer to the biblical stories which provide the doctrinal instruction, rather than translating long, abstract explanations.

Scriptural. In the Bible God laid historical foundations for His teachings and church practices. For example, the books of Romans and Hebrews are philosophical but they assume that their readers already know the stories that provide the basis for the philosophical teaching. These historical events include:

Adam and his fall,

Abraham's faith in action, his journeys, battles and offering of Isaac,

God's promise to Abraham, because of his faith, to bless all nations,

Moses, the Law of the Old Covenant and the wanderings of Israel,

Aaron, original high priest, and the need of blood sacrifice to cover sins,

David's victories and the united Kingdom,

Israel and Judah's good and bad kings and prophets that mentored them,

Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension,

The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost,

And many more.

All basic Bible truths grow out of historical events. The prophets' and apostles' inspired comments about them make up basic Christian theology. The Holy Spirit uses these stories to bring men to repentance, transform them, and provide models for the Christian life and congregational activities.

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