Solomon Islands SALT - June 2012

SALT in Solomon Islands:  In 2010 the first 2 week SALT course was held in Solomon Islands (SI) followed by a one week instructor training course.  Four of the instructors who were trained during the 2010 course came to teach at the June 2012 course.

The 2012 course was held in Honiara at the Solomon Islands Bible Translation Training Centre.  The course was coordinated by Carol Saferita from the SALT training team based in Papua New Guinea.  Woody Baker, project manager, with Solomon Islands Bible Translation and Literacy Partnership (SIBTLP) and Cynthia Rollins, Scripture Use facilitator in Solomons, also assisted Carol.

Preparation and planning:  Joshua Lui, National Coordinator of SIBTLP promoted the course for many months. Joshua found leaders from all of the denominations very eager to take advantage of this training.  SIBTLP invited around a dozen language groups to send two representatives from the provinces to the June 2012 SALT course.  They were encouraged to send one man and one woman from each language group.  Because it is most effective to teach spiritual truth in the mother tongue we produced SALT posters with images and blank space for each language group to translate the text from SI Pijin into language.  The speakers worked together on this in the evenings and completed the posters back home in their villages.

Presenting what they learned: Outreach was done in a backyard ministry setting and at 2 different churches by the teams of participants.  They were enthusiastic, creative and were warmly received by those who attended each outreach.

We also promoted the course by visiting church leaders from most of the denominations in Honiara, the capital city.  We were able to accommodate around ten additional people in the classroom and at lunch/breaks and we were able to fill those seats quickly with pastors, catechists, SS teachers and other ministry leaders. During times of sharing what God had been doing in their lives through the course, participants talked about how pleased they were to be meeting, working together with and actually getting to know leaders from other denominations.  Many said this was a first for them and they really found it beneficial and enjoyable.  It was beautiful to see these Christ followers from Anglican, Full Gospel, Catholic, SSEC, Nazarene, and United churches, worshipping and studying God’s Word together.

This Ulawa speaker submitted a very professional proposal for consideration, which sets out cost estimates for running SALT courses in the Ulawa churches in the Solomon Islands.

Future Plans: The Catholic Church is already making plans to train all of their Sunday School teachers using the SALT materials. This was decided by the Archbishop who sent 2 of his SS  coordinators (they wanted to send more!).  The United church is also making plans for wide-spread training.  A provincial course is on the schedule for this coming September building on the foundation of the two previous courses.

* Report by Cynthia Rollins, SI Scripture Use Facilitator

Solomon Island's SALT course graduates - June 2012

Please pray for God's provision and enabling for Bible translation, Scripture Application & Leadership Training (SALT) courses and for God's Word  to transform His children in the Solomon Islands!