Certificate in Reading the Bible for Liberation

The Certificate in Reading the Bible for Liberation is a program offered through  The People’s Seminary under the direction of Pastor Bob Ekblad, ThD. The People’s Seminary equips followers of Jesus to proclaim and embody liberating  messages of transformation to the excluded, and offers training to front-line ministry  workers all over the world. 

The People’s Seminary is a ministry of Tierra Nueva, based in Burlington,  Washington. Tierra Nueva (New Earth) is an international Christian ministry that  seeks to share the good news of God's total liberation, healing, and transformation in  Jesus Christ with people on the margins, especially those affected by immigration,  incarceration, and addiction. We are committed to training ministry workers in  holistic liberation because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few.

The People’s Seminary offers a variety of certificates, including the Certificate in  Reading the Bible for Liberation (CRBL) and the Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins (CTMM), which interested participants  may enroll in upon completion of the CRBL. 

The CRBL can be done in one year, though participants may move more quickly  through the program if they so desire. It involves going through Bob Ekblad’s Guerilla  Gospel: Reading the Bible for Liberation in the Power of the Spirit and the four-volume  series Guerrilla Bible Studies, as well as Reading the Bible with the Damned, and The  Beautiful Gate: Enter Jesus’ Global Liberation Movement, all of which will be mailed to  participants by The People’s Seminary. 

What students will learn: 

• How to read and interpret Biblical texts in light of the larger story of the Bible • How to prepare and lead Bible studies with people outside the church or new  to Christian faith 

• How to grow spiritually and intellectually through relationship with God • How to respond to difficult questions regarding faith and life in a manner  informed by the Bible

Requirements: 

• Students will be asked to personally go through each of the 52 studies in  Guerrilla Bible Studies volumes 1-4, and to lead each study with at least one  other person. 

• Students will need to carefully read each of the assigned Biblical passages. • Students will be encouraged to read the entire New Testament, and ideally the  Psalms and other Old Testament texts over the course of the CRBL training. • Students will be asked to send short personal reflections on Bible studies and  engage with a mentor via correspondence. 

• Students will be asked to continue to refer back to and study Guerrilla Gospel:  Reading the Bible for Liberation in the Power of the Spirit so as to grow in critical  reading and interpretation skills, and learn to more effectively guide others in  conversational Bible study. 

Participants are required to fill out a brief admissions and declaration of intent form.  Then they receive the first two books along with information regarding the  assignments to be completed for each lesson. Each lesson includes reading, writing  and personal reflection, as well as active engagement with others in order to begin  practicing the art and skill of reading the Bible in community. Writing assignments  are not graded using traditional letter or number scales; rather, participants receive  written feedback on all work submitted.  

Certificate: Students who have completed the requirements successfully will receive  a Certificate in Reading the Bible for Liberation from The People’s Seminary. 

Curriculum 

Once enrolled in the Certificate in Reading the Bible for Liberation The People’s  Seminary will send the first two books, Bob Ekblad’s Guerrilla Bible Studies, Volume  1, Surprising Encounters with God. Volume 1 contains the first 13 discipleship Bible  studies of the 52 (listed below). Also included in the first mailing is Bob Ekblad’s  Guerrilla Gospel: Reading the Bible for Liberation in the Power of the Spirit, which lays  out the theology and practical guidelines for reading Scripture for liberation. 

Facilitating Guerrilla Bible Studies 
1. God’s Presence in Darkness and Chaos – 19 Genesis 1:1–3  
2. Recognizing and Receiving the Living Word – 25 John 1:1–13  
3. Seeing and Entering the Kingdom of God – 35 John 3:1–8  
4. Jesus, the Liberator, Born Among Us – 43 Matthew 1:18–25  
5. No One is an Accident: We belong to God – 49 Psalm 139 and others 
6. Who Will Save Me? – Romans 7:14-8:2 59  
7. Jesus Meets and Heals a Paralytic – John 5:1–18 69  
8. Jesus Helps the Unworthy – Luke 7:1–10 77 
9. Jesus Publicly Defends a Rejected Woman – 87 Luke 7:36–50  
10. Jesus Heals and Frees a Woman from Shame – 99 Luke 13:10–21 
11. Jesus Seeks and Finds the Lost – Luke 15:1–7 107  
12. Who Leaves God’s Presence Justified? – 117 Luke 18:9–14  
13. Saved by Grace – Ephesians 2:1–10  

Certificate participants will be encouraged to work through the chapters of Guerrilla  Gospel early in the training, making use of this book as a resource throughout. Table  of contents for Guerrilla Gospel: Reading the Bible for Liberation in the Power of the  Spirit, Bob Ekblad 

• Preparing Guerrilla Gospel Encounters 
• Following Comandante Jesus 
• Assumptions for a Liberating Reading of the Bible 
• God’s Global Liberation Movement 
• Jesus’ Recruitment Behind Enemy Lines (John 4) 
• Facilitating Guerrilla Gospel Encounters 
• Aligning Ourselves with Jesus and his Vision 
• Revolutionary Hearing: Tuning our ears to divine intelligence  
• Preparing Guerrilla Gospel Encounters 
• Agents of liberation: The art of hosting Guerrilla Gospel Encounters
• Guerrilla Tactics: Signs, Wonders, Justice, Mercy  

Once participants have completed the first 13 Bible studies, shared the studies with  others and sent in their reflections, they will be sent the next 13 studies in Guerrilla  Bible Studies, Volume 2, God’s Radical Recruiting. 

14. God Calls Abram to leave his old identity,23 stepping into a new & universal  mission– Genesis 11:27–12:4 2.  
15. God encounters and commissions rejected Hagar – Genesis 16:1-16 3. 
16. The Angel of the Lord seeks, finds, and recruits Moses for mission – Ex 3:1–12 4. 
17. God calls and empowers unqualified Gideon as reformer and liberator – Judges  6:1-24 
18. God's announcement to Mary – Luke 1:39-56. 
19. God’s Word comes to John the Baptist – Luke 3:1-6 7.  
20. Baptism, identity and calling – Luke 3:15-22. 
21. Jesus calls fishermen as disciples – Matthew 4:17-25. 
22. Jesus calls notorious sinner Matthew – Matthew 9:9-13.
23. Jesus’ compassion and missionary movement – Matthew 9:35-10:1.
24. Jesus empowers and sends out his disciples – Matthew 10:1, 5-16. 
25. Jesus frees and commissions the oppressed demoniac of Gerasene –Mark 5:1-20.
26. Jesus confronts Saul and recruits Ananias – Acts 9:1-18. 

Once participants have completed the second 13 Bible studies of Volume 2, shared  them with others and sent in their reflections, they will be sent the next 13 studies in  Guerrilla Bible Studies Volume 3, Basic Training for the Jesus Movement. 

27. Wait, listen and question like Jesus – Luke 2:41–52. 
28. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance – Luke 3:7–18.  
29. Walk in the light – 1 John 1:5-2:2. 
30. Do not worry… Seek first the Kingdom – Matthew 6:25–34. 
31. Take the log out of your own eye first,  then you will see clearly – Matthew 7:1-5
32. Ask and you will receive – Matthew 7:7-11. 
33. Love your enemies – Luke 6:27–36. 
34. Build your life on the rock – Luke 6:46-49. 
35. Hear and hold on to God’s Word – Luke 8:1-15. 
36. Receive Jesus as king and lamb of God – John 19:16-37. 
37. Prepare for action – 1 Peter 1:13-21. 
38. Keep on the alert – Luke 21:25–36. 
39. Seek the things above – Colossians 3:1-17. 

Once participants have completed the third 13 Bible studies of Volume 3, shared them  with others and sent in their reflections, they will be sent the next 13 studies in  Guerrilla Bible Studies, Volume 4, Following Jesus: On Earth As In Heaven. 

40. Jesus’ Great Commission – Matthew 28:18-20.  
41. The Mission of Isaiah’s Servant of the Lord – Isaiah 42:1-8.  
42. Jesus Publicly States His Mission – Luke 4:14-21. 
43. Jesus Sends the Seventy Out On Mission –Luke 10:1-19.  
44. Jesus Launches His Movement – Kingdom of God – Mark 3:7-15.
45. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve – Mark 6:1-14. 
46. Jesus Heals a Woman and a Young Girl – Luke 8:4-56.  
47. Jesus Liberates an Oppressed Boy – Mark 9:14-29.  
48. The Resurrected Jesus Meets and Commissions His Disciples – Mark 13:1-20.
49. Being Jesus’ Witnesses -- Luke 24:48-49 & Acts 1:4-21.  
50. Healing and Inclusion at the Beautiful Gate – Acts 3:1-4:4. 
51. Philip’s Mission in Samaria – Acts 8:4-13, 25-40.  
52. Peter’s Call and Proclamation to Excluded Outsiders – Acts 10:1-48.  

Once participants have completed all 52 Bible studies, led them with others and sent  in the required reflections they will receive their Certificate in Reading the Bible for  Liberation.