Dr. Dick Eugenio, APNTS’s theology professor, taught a weeklong module on Church History II in a nearby creative access country to sixteen Nazarenes who are pursuing the Course of Study for ordination. With the aid of a hired translator, Dr. Eugenio discussed important figures, events and movements from the beginning of the Reformation in the sixteenth century to the emergence and expansion of Pentecostalism today. The class met at the house where a Nazarene congregation usually gathers for worship services. Some of the students travelled as long as four hours–back and forth–in order to attend the 8:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. classes. But because some of the students come from other provinces (one of them is an 18-hour bus ride away from the capital city), the owner of the house, who is also the current District Superintendent, welcomed them under his roof for the week.
Students claimed that it was a “very profitable class,” where they gained “a broader understanding of church history.” In particular, students noted how the class helped them to see and understand the place of the Church of the Nazarene within the whole Christian Church, and her relation with other holiness churches. Dr. Eugenio, reflecting on his trip, writes: “[This country’s] Nazarenes are hungry for knowledge and they exhibit a noticeable eagerness to learn, grow and be equipped in the ministry. The church must continue to invest in them, for such enthusiastic and zealous believers are the most promising people who can–and will–bring their own people to Christ.”
