Family Life
Isai Family
(Christian Family)
A Theological Education by Extension course on Marriage and Family Life
Ruth Markham
Isai Family is a TEE course designed for training Believers from a Muslim Background in a particular South Asian context. It applies Biblical teaching on marriage and family life to their culture and situations.
The topics covered in the current edition (eleven chapters) include marriage, conflict resolution, money, relationship with parents and wider family, attitudes to parenthood, arranging marriages and fellowship in the family. Topics hopefully to be supplemented in a future version are child rearing, young adults/singleness and avoiding sexual immorality.
The material does not target a particular life stage or marital status group. It makes broad applications through practical examples, but gives opportunity for people to reflect on how the teaching applies to their own circumstances also.
The course expects a basic level of literacy. The TEE course design includes self study and group discussion. The self study is in a workbook format where participants engage with the material and provide brief written responses throughout. Participants are also expected to look up Bible passages and refer to them in the self study section.
There is an advisor’s version of the course available with suggested questions for the group discussion times. Each chapter has a practical task which will usually be followed up through discussion in the group time.
The sample lesson on this site is from the English language version of the course. This version was written for translation into the target language and therefore has not been polished for use in an English speaking environment. It is not intended for publication in English. For example, the Bible verses are not quoted from any English translation but are closer to a back translation from the target language Bible version being used.
The course is currently being translated into the target language and is also being illustrated for that culture. The illustrations mainly accompany the numerous life application examples and make the material more accessible to those with a lower literacy level.
I am happy for people to adapt this material for use in different contexts and so am making it available under a creative commons license (CC-BY-SA 3.0, to be precise – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
If you would like to see the full course material in English, which also includes a longer introduction and explanation (of the context, use of scripture, study method etc.), please contact me by email on ruth@markham.uk.net.
Ruth Markham
June 2014
Sample Lesson: 9a-9b Welcoming Children into the Family and God’s Place in the Family