February 2025

Dear friend of the ministry,

In January, Precept Ministries in Canada turned forty years old. We are thankful for the Lord’s blessing on Precept Canada. Precept Canada began when a ministry called Women Alive invited a dynamic teacher named Kay Arthur to come teach at one of their conferences in Ontario. God sparked a hunger for more of His Word in the lives of the women attending that conference. Kay’s teaching was infectious. The way she engaged those she was teaching created a spark for those attending to want to study the Word of God and know it like she knew the Word. One of Kay’s trade-mark statements was, “How many books are in the Bible?” The students would respond with, “Sixty-six,” and Kay would immediately respond, “And how many do you think God wants you to know?” Everyone knew the answer…sixty-six! “So what are you waiting for?” This challenge from Kay has taken a ministry in Chattanooga from one group of teenagers to one hundred ninety different countries and ninety-five languages.

Recently, I spent some time with Sharon Kaufman, who has been a part of Precept from the beginning. Sharon started forty-plus years ago by hearing about an in-depth Bible study that was happening. The first course Sharon took was a seventeen-week course on the book of Philippians. The closest Precept leader to her was over an hour’s drive. At the end of the seventeen weeks, Sharon was hooked. “There was no other way to do Bible study after that; I still have the workbook, look at it, and laugh. I had no idea what a chapter theme was until someone told me it was a summary of what was happening in the chapter.” After Philippians, she studied Covenant, 1 Peter and then her Precept leader invited her to a training session in Chattanooga to become a Precept leader and take over the local class.

After Sharon’s training, which consisted of studying Romans Part 4 in the mornings and doing leadership training in the afternoon, she came back to Stratford, Ontario, to lead a study on 2 Peter. “One of the hardest parts about being a leader in those days was listening to Betsy Bird’s leader tapes. I spent more time preparing my weekly lesson than I did doing the homework because I wanted to be able to teach everything like Betsy did. The best thing that happened was the development of the Leader Guides. Betsy’s tapes were helpful, but once I started using the leader guide, I never stopped. After all my years of teaching, I still use them today.” 

Sharon went on to mention Kay’s lectures: “The lectures used to be mandatory, and they were audio only, so it was hard just to sit and listen to her voice; the videos were much better, but as they have become a little dated with Kay’s outfits, etc., my class no longer uses them. I am noticing that we are having more time for fruitful discussion instead of racing to complete our discussion to watch a one-hour video.”

In the early 90s, Sharon was invited to join the training team led by Jane Hart. Sharon was equipped to lead our workshops and, throughout the years, has not only taught workshops but has been an integral part of developing new workshops here in Canada. Since getting involved with Precept, she has not looked back. “I love teaching, I love training, and I love being in God’s Word. Precept Bible study has kept me motivated to stay in the Word for these forty years, to learn more and live accordingly, which is not always easy to do.“

I wrapped up our interview by asking Sharon one more question: “Sharon, what does Precept Ministries in Canada need to do to celebrate another forty years of ministry?”

“We need to engage the next generation; one of the things that I see in our training workshops is that the people attending are middle-aged, but not many younger people. I don’t know how to do this, but we must engage the next generation for Precept to survive.

One thing is clear and hasn’t changed in Canada over the last forty years. When people dig into the Word using Precept’s Inductive Bible Study Method, they see God’s Word open in ways they have never seen before. “The Word comes alive for us; we see it’s not just words on paper in a book, but it is God speaking to us.”

Sharon’s Precept journey started with a simple invitation to join a Bible study. A leader recognized Sharon’s gift of teaching and encouraged her to get qualified to lead. As Sharon gained experience in her local class, the Lord opened doors for her to become a trainer and travel across Canada, teaching people how to study the Bible.

As we head into the next forty years of ministry in Canada, pray and ask the Lord to show you someone in your church, class, or community who is hungry to study God’s Word. Invite them to join a class, bring their family members, and watch how the Lord will work in their hearts as they study the Word of God.

The second thing you can do is invest financially in Precept. Your gifts supplement the costs of training people in our workshops, open new doors of ministry in churches across Canada, and develop new materials and translations to engage people across the country. Your investment is vital to Precept Canada’s future. Visit our website to find out more about joining our E-Team.

Finally, you can pray for Precept as our leaders, students, and staff from across Canada battle for Truth. This is not a battle against flesh and blood but a spiritual enemy who does not want people engaged in the Truth. Each day, our leaders, students, and staff battle for the Truth of God’s Word. Pray that the Lord will guard and protect our national team as they engage in God’s Word.

Blessings, 

Mark Sheldrake
National Director