Educating Believers - Nurturing Leaders - Building the Church
ELIAS RIGGS CENTER FOR BIBLICAL STUDIES
Mission to the World's central mission has always been church planting. Because of this, our team has been heavily invested in the vision of training future pastors, discipling lay people in deeper faith, knowledge and practice, and creating spaces for the wider community to gather in order to discuss theo-cultural issues of importance that intersect with evangelism.
With this in mind, MTW began the Elias Riggs Center for Biblical Studies in 2010. Elias Riggs was an American Presbyterian missionary (1810-1901) who affected the Balkan peninsula and Turkey profoundly for the gospel during the reign of the Ottoman Empire. Bulgarian Protestants consider him to be one of the founders of the evangelical faith in their country, where he was instrumental in the translation of biblical and theological texts, church planting, and cultural renewal. The ERCBS board of directors desires to continue in his tradition of teaching rigorous theology for the purposes of fostering future church leadership, both for clergy and laity, while also serving the community's need for spiritual and intellectual development. Many of our students have been pastors, Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, non-profit ministry directors, traditional school teachers, fathers, mothers, and community leaders. Though we formally work with the Union of Evangelical Congregation Churches of Bulgaria, our students come from a variety of backgrounds--including those just new to the faith! While offering education for those who do not desire a degree, we also offer bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees through our partnership with Miami International Seminary.
Opportunities:
- Give to help train pastors and leaders for Bulgaria: Elias Riggs Center for Biblical Studies
- Pastors/professors/teaching elders with masters or doctoral degrees who will live long term in Bulgaria to advance the theological and pastoral training of Bulgarians assisting them in the development of existing churches and the planting of new churches
- Pastors/professors with master’s/doctoral degrees who can teach selective courses for Elias Riggs during the scheduled intensives
- One to Two-week teaching teams of pastors/teachers/teaching elders who participate in training events
TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION
When our team was begun in 1996, our first opportunity in partnering with established churches and assisting in planting new churches was realized in the development of Dynamic Consulting, Ltd., a translation and publishing house for theology texts. As this ministry develops, we have been able to translate many theological texts for pastoral training, books on Christian living, and even the Bulgarian translation of The Jesus Storybook Bible.
Our strategy is to translate at least one high quality, reformed and covenantal book in every subject matter pertaining to Christian life and theology. All books are sold at our cost or below our cost to make sure that they are affordable to every Bulgarian.
Benefits of this ministry:
- Quality literature produced during the formative years of the new generation of leadership (post-communism)
- Seminary students have textbooks in their native language
- Jobs are being created for Bulgarians in a time when some cities have 50% or higher unemployment rate
- The books reinforce what we are doing in Church Planting and Theological education
- Minimal time is required for MTW missionaries because the work is done almost entirely by Bulgarians
- It opens doors across denominational lines for Reformed and Covenantal theology
To view our catalog or place an order visit our official publication site (in Bulgarian): Dinamik Knigi.
