Little did I realize that my desire to understand the Bible for myself would lead me to a ministry of teaching and training others to study the Bible for themselves. I still remember the awe I felt when I sat under Dr. E N Poulson (the then dean of the Singapore Bible College) and the thought that arose in my mind was: I could never attain to the heights of Bible knowledge that he possessed. That was true, using the methods that I was taught previously, but not true when God introduced the Precept method of Inductive Bible Study to me in August of 1987.
At the training workshop that Betsy Bird conducted on the book of Philippians, I still remember my excitement as I realized that this method of IBS would lead me to a truly Biblical understanding of God’s Word, something that I yearned for (because of the confusion, many views and false teachings floating around even then).
And so I began…with a group of 6 girls in the first Precept Bible study which I led, cast totally on God, because I did not know what I was doing, and I didn’t have anyone to guide or help me. I would spend several hours in Bible Study every day just to prepare for each weekly lesson. God graciously gave me many small groups to practise on until I not only understood the message in His Word, but also learnt how to teach the Word effectively. Many thanks to those in the earlier years who allowed me to practise on them!
Today God has not only multiplied the number of students, but He has also granted me opportunities to write Bible studies, which I’m currently teaching.
My heart has always been to pass on whatever good things that I’ve learnt and so this ministry, 2Tim2-2.com, is a realization of that heart’s desire to pass on to others what our gracious Lord has taught me through the many years of studying His precious Word inductively.
My gratitude to God also for raising up several “valiant men” to help in this ministry: Jeffrey Loh who first approached me with the idea of putting my notes on a website so as to benefit a wider audience, Soo Guan who on his own initiative, put my taped teachings into MP3 and CDs which we’re selling, and we’re now exploring the possibility of using video with Hans offering his help and expertise in this area.
My question is: where are the “valiant women” because I also need you. I know I asked God for “valiant men” but I’m sure He knows that I had intended Him to include the women as well! So… if God has laid it upon your heart to help in this ministry, pray first and then ask the Lord to open your eyes with respect to what you can do, and then approach me. And we’ll all co-labour together until our Lord returns to set up His glorious kingdom.
Cecilia Perh (2000)