Bible study is becoming a serious priority amongst Scottish Mission Adventurers and Pathfinders. This was evidenced this weekend (11 February) when teams from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Crieff, and Fife and Dundee met at the Dundee church for the regional Adventurer and Pathfinder Bible Experience (ABE/PBE). Over a period of two hours these young people pitted their knowledge of the Gospel of John against tough questions posed by the quizmasters. Despite the challenges thrown at them by Pastor Njabulo Ndlovu and Mthoko Ndlovu, the results were very good.
Questions ranged from testing factual details of events recounted in the Gospel, to completing missing words from quoted texts, to interpretation of some of the sayings in the Gospel. In preparation, Pathfinder teams had spent hours reading and memorising the Gospel, as well as studying the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary.
Each team had one purpose – they wanted to make it through to the next round of the Pathfinder Bible Experience. During this third round teams from the whole of the British Union Conference will meet in an even more stringent test. If a team makes it through that round, which is scheduled to take place in Leeds in March, the final round will take place in Athens, Greece in April 2023.
The mood in the Dundee church was very different from what one would usually experience at an everyday youth event. Even though the room was full of young people and their parents, there was almost complete silence and focus as the quizmasters explained the procedure and then proceeded to ask the questions. Each question would result in a team consultation. An answer would be written down. Once all the teams had written their answers, the correct answer was revealed, and a scorekeeper would record the marks for each team.
At the end of the quiz, the scores were tallied, and teams were assigned a rank, based on how their score compared to the team with the highest score achieved in the quiz. Teams were able to achieve a first, second, or third place. Those teams who achieved a First-Place score would progress to the next round.
The moment when the scores were revealed had a very different feel than the quiet focussed atmosphere that dominated during the test. The teams who had invested hours and days in preparation were at the edge of their seats. When their results were revealed, there was an explosion of celebration.
Out of the eight teams that participated, six teams had earned a high enough score to progress to the next round! These teams from Aberdeen, Crieff, Forth Valley and Dundee have since begun to make their plans to travel to Leeds in March.
Pastor Njabulo and Mthoko Ndlovu Pathfinder sponsors for the Scottish Mission were delighted. “This was our biggest ABE/PBE yet, and our thanks go out to all the young people and their parents who invested so much energy in this event!” Mudia, from Aberdeen church was in a team that made it through to the next round. He says, “I really practiced a lot. I practiced every day. I even missed some sport activities at school to prepare for the PBE. I hope we win!” He did not have to wait long for the results and is delighted to go to the next round.
We hope to bring further reports as the Scottish Mission ABE/PBE participate in the event in Leeds.
View a gallery of photos from the event here.
