OMF International and Langham Preaching have together launched the Chiang Mai Seminar on Biblical Preaching (CSBP), with the first event held in the first week of July this year. Gathering 30 pastors from Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand, this is the first of a series of four events seeking to establish indigenous preaching movements in these countries.

The Thai church is slowly growing, but is still very small. In central and south Thailand there has only been sustained Christian activity for the past 50 years. Yet despite its youthfulness, the church is planting new congregations in different regions and there is a strong desire for discipleship and leadership training. Several of the Thai participants in the CSBP are working in village communities and amongst tribal groups, and the Chiang Mai project is designed to resource Christian workers in these demanding locations.

The Kingdom of Cambodia (formerly Kampuchea) emerged from the intense suffering of the 1970s with a shattered economy and a vulnerable church. But for the past 20 years there has been growing receptivity to the gospel, and in the last 10 years there has been remarkable church growth – there are now over 250,000 believers. But in a population of 14 million, many of whom have never heard of Christ, there is much to be done both in mission and in training. Sophea was one of several pastors who travelled from Cambodia to the CSBP. He now aims to launch a preachers’ club for the eight leaders in the church in Phnom Penh. In due course, we hope to work in fellowship with these and other churches to develop a Cambodian Preaching programme.

A small team from Myanmar also reported on the ongoing development of preachers’ clubs, following the work of the School of Bible Teaching run by Crosslinks over the past two or three years and in which Langham Preaching has been involved. One pastor reported on the development of a preachers’ fellowship which attracted some 25 participants month by month, with the opportunity to work on their sermons linked to the allocated Bible passages in the lectionary. Many church buildings have been damaged by the cyclone, and much effort is being given to caring for the many thousands of people impacted by the disaster. But despite the many challenges in the country, these are small but positive signs of the steady indigenisation of the preaching movements.

The next CSBP event will be at the end of October 2008, with a week-long programme encouraging participants to preach from the Old Testament, supported through Thai and English books, and continuing the emphasis on the nurturing of small preachers’ fellowships in each country. Please pray for the development of the 2009 programme, and our hopes for the subsequent extension of training in neighbouring countries.

Visit the LPI photo gallery to see more pictures from the CSBP.

July 24, 2008
(from ChristianityToday.com)
One Langham scholar comments on the hope of God’s sovereignty amid political unrest:

How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2-4)

Over the last five years, I have preached often from Habakkuk. I stress the fallenness of our world and the need to be realistic about human wickedness. But Habakkuk also stresses that history demands a judgment. If God is just, there must be a judgment one day — maybe not in this life but certainly in the life to come. God’s answer to our struggles with evil and evil men and women in this world is, “The righteous will live by faith — our loyalty to God in spite of the godlessness of others.” We’re getting lots of practice.

Read more: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/julyweb-only/130-41.0.html

Langham Partnership and the Eastern Europe Literature Advisory Committee (EELAC) have agreed to a merger that will allow the aims of both charities to be enhanced. EELAC has had a 30 year track record of developing indigenous Christian publishing houses in Central and Eastern Europe. The merger with Langham Partnership will internationalise this ministry, enhancing Langham Partnership’s ability to partner with majority world churches in strengthening local publishing initiatives.

New Man Publishers in Bulgaria is a prime example of an indigenous publishing ministry which is now sustainable without further financing from EELAC. New Man will continue to strengthen the local church through much needed literature resources, which are Biblically rooted and culturally relevant.

New Man is one of several publishers, either planted or adopted by EELAC, which is now strong enough to help grow the smaller and younger publishers across the region. The model has proved highly effective and can now be taken beyond Eastern Europe.

Dr Colin Macpherson, formerly the General Secretary of EELAC, will become the Creative Director for Langham Partnership’s literature programme known as Langham Literature. Pieter Kwant, the International Programme Director for Literature noted that, “I have always had great admiration for the work of EELAC and I am delighted that the vision that has inspired it to such success will now reach even more widely within the Langham Partnership global network, nurturing many more indigenous evangelical publishing ministries to serve the Church’s needs around the world.”.

Langham Partnership and the Eastern Europe Literature Advisory Committee (EELAC) have agreed to a merger that will allow the aims of both charities to be enhanced.  EELAC has had a 30 year track record of developing indigenous Christian publishing houses in Central and Eastern Europe.  The merger with Langham Partnership will internationalise this ministry, enhancing Langham Partnership’s ability to partner with majority world churches in strengthening local publishing initiatives.

New Man Publishers in Bulgaria is a prime example of an indigenous publishing ministry which is now sustainable without further financing from EELAC.  New Man will continue to strengthen the local church through much needed literature resources, which are Biblically rooted and culturally relevant.

New Man is one of several publishers, either planted or adopted by EELAC, which is now strong enough to help grow the smaller and younger publishers across the region. The model has proved highly effective and can now be taken beyond Eastern Europe.

Dr Colin Macpherson, formerly the General Secretary of EELAC, will become the Creative Director for Langham Partnership’s literature programme known as Langham Literature.  Pieter Kwant, the International Programme Director for Literature noted that, “I have always had great admiration for the work of EELAC and I am delighted that the vision that has inspired it to such success will now reach even more widely within the Langham Partnership global network, nurturing many more indigenous evangelical publishing ministries to serve the Church’s needs around the world.”.

Preaching that is good to taste, easier to create and spreads even further

In June 2008 at a Langham Preaching event in Ghana known as NEPS (National Expository Preaching Seminar), Ian Buchanan was able to spend time with three leaders who had applied what they had learnt at previous events to their local situations. Two young ministers were inspired to share training with their local network of pastors, while a third pastor worked to influence his national diocese.

Nana-Atto Hope and Emmanuel Anseh are two twenty-something Methodist leaders who have equipped their local “Bread of Life Society” of Methodist ministers with the skills they learnt at the NEPS conference in 2007. Methodist churches in Ghana require local ministers to meet up in local societies, which are only one part of a larger regional circuit that is, in turn, a part of a cluster of trans-national dioceses.

Last year the Bread of Life Society decided that meeting once every four months for prayer was not enough. But what would be the purpose of more regular meetings? Nana-Atto and Emmanuel suggested that the NEPS course materials and experience could be used as material for more meetings, as a means of helping other ministers with a crucial weekly task – preaching.

The idea was immediately seized upon since the Bread of Life Society is renowned within their Circuit for its innovative new approach to ministry, and maintaining that reputation was becoming ever more difficult.

For the first three meetings Nana-Atto and Emmanuel repeated all they had learned at NEPS 2007 with their group of 15 ministers. For the six meetings prior to this year’s NEPS conference, the group chose, on a rota basis, three or four ministers from the group for monthly Saturday morning expository preaching events. For each sermon given the participants gave their considered assessment based on clarity, relevance and faithfulness to the text.

The success of these local meetings, helped by that historic reputation for innovative thinking, has meant that their circuit is now taking interest in what they have been doing. They now hope to move it upwards into this wider circuit arena after the June 2008 NEPS conference.

It also became clear that both Nana-Atto and Emmanuel had benefited enormously from what they had passed on to others. “We find that expository preaching allows us to give more to the people”, Nana-Atto chimed in with the big grin of a leader who feels he’s finally scratching where people itch. “I see it as a way for me to get more from the Bible than I did before”, added Emmanuel.

But it’s about more than just “feeding” Christians; it’s also about reducing those dreaded preparation tensions. “Now I find that preparing my sermon is so much easier than before”, said Emmanuel. “It used to be very tough for me … but now it flows so much more easily as I can think more systematically about the text”. Nana-Atto immediately agreed with Emmanuel by giving him a Ghanaian style hand shake that clearly reflected their joint relief at finding an excellent de-stressing tool for preachers.

So, more food to give and easier to prepare as well. Now that sounds like a recipe worth imitating by any Methodist circuit.

While two young ministers spent the year revitalizing their local network, one Council Chairman worked to influence the national Methodist Diocese. Revd S.V. Mpereh is a circuit minister for the Medina Circuit and leader of the Ebenezer Methodist Society. He also holds the chair of the local Council of Churches. When ministers met in his quarterly circuit, “S.V.”, as he is known, decided to introduce them to the NEPS 2006 training material.

In one sense S.V is working from the top-down as well as from the middle-up. Last year he asked the circuit ministers to filter down the training into their local societies. That way what is learnt at circuit level can be repeated again once a quarter at society level.

“This way I keep them always learning”, S.V. noted with glee. The challenge of leading a circuit clearly weighs heavily on S.V. as he asks God for wisdom in leading an ever expanding group of ministers. If that was not enough he also ensures that they all get opportunities for practical training and assessment from other local ministers. “I act as the coordinator and that way they all can have a turn” he adds as if this coordinating role was the easiest part of all that he does.

So how many people make up this “Circuit Preacher’s Club”? Sixty was S.V’s emphatic response, “But I want to expand it upwards to a diocesan level this year” and that will multiply the numbers by 26.

S.V is a classic example of a man with ambition and the coordinating skills to match, both of which are so needed when it comes to spreading a grass-roots indigenous preaching movement.

The evening opened with a time of sung worship led by the Souled Out band. Chris then held out the challenge to another generation of God’s people to remember that church growth needs the element of maturity and depth built in if we are going to continue to honour God in all we do. The evening closed with the band and a chance for those attending to come forward for prayer.

In order to give a younger audience more ways to engage with the core message, Souled Out hired a local painter (Mike Samson) who painted his understanding of what “depth, discipleship, maturity and church growth with depth” looks like. He was very visible to all present as he painted on a large canvass placed up front. The event attendees were each given sketch paper and pencils so that they could create their own images of the theme and then place them on blue board walls along the side of the hall. Another canvass wall was also set up in the front for any brave young people to come forward and paint their own understanding of the theme whilst the evening unfolded.

Chris’ message to those attending echoes the passion of Langham Partnership whose mission is to help churches in the Majority World to grow in maturity. See more information on Chris’ message to the Souled Out crowd here.

104 participants from Vanuatu, the Solomons and Papua New Guinea met at the Scripture Union campsite at Pango Point on the Vanuatu island of Efate for the first Pacific Preaching Seminar from 24-28 March 2008. The Ni-Vanuatu participants came from seven of the main islands of Vanuatu.

We are grateful to local organisers Andy Williamson, Philip Joses and
Sophia Silas from Talua Bible College.

The two main preaching facilitators were Chris Wright (LPI) and David Cook (Principal of Sydney Missionary and Bible College). LPA Board member John Buckle and LPA Scholar Ma’afu Palu also assisted in the teaching and group sessions, while LPA executive officer Wendy Toulmin assisted in the daily running of the seminar.

Every day was “full on”, as the Australians put it. We ran from 7.45am start with devotions, through until 9.00pm. The generator went off about 9.45pm, so nothing was possible after that except to try to sleep, until the singing from the men’s dormitory began around 5.00am!

From the start, we emphasized to participants that this was a long-term programme. The group workshops were organised geographically, so when we had the session on ‘Developing a Movement for Biblical Preaching in Vanuatu’, it was natural for them to meet in the same groups. There was general enthusiasm for setting up local Preachers’ Clubs. They appointed convenors and we have heard they are already beginning to meet. Please pray they will continue and serve a great purpose under God.

We returned from Vanuatu with a strong conviction that Langham Preaching Pacific region has been well and truly launched and has exciting potential in the years ahead.

In early March, I attended a Langham Partnership International Senior Management Team (SMT) meeting, held at the Hookses, John Stott’s coastal hideaway in Wales. “Uncle John” himself had been there with Frances Whitehead, his secretary of more than 50 years, and other friends, the week before. A few days after the conclusion of the SMT meeting, I had the privilege of paying Uncle John a visit at his home within the grounds of a retirement community for Anglican clergy 30 miles south of London.

At the Hookses, we faced what some British meteorologists called “the storm of the winter,” and the cold and wet weather continued during my train ride from London and short walk from the small village train station to Uncle John’s place of residence. But any thoughts about the inclement weather were quickly replaced by a sense of joyful expectation when I heard Uncle John reply to my knock on his door with a strong and cheerful, “Come in.”

It had been a few years since I had last seen Uncle John, and others who had seen him more recently had informed me of his increasing frailty and his need to use a walker to get around. While those reports were certainly true, it was just as true that his character remains intact—gracious, kind, gentle, faithful, hopeful, loving—in a word, Christlike.

We began our hour together reminiscing a bit, walking down the memory lane of our friendship of over 25 years. I also brought Uncle John the greetings of many friends from across the pond, which brought a smile to his face and some fond memories for him.

I asked how he was finding his living situation, which has been his home for about a year now. Uncle John shared that he has a number of evangelical friends in the retirement community, including one man whose friendship with John goes back 70 years when they were students at Rugby School! Uncle John related that he is often asked whether he is happy. His response is that while he would not say that he is happy (I would imagine that he misses many people, the activity of his ministry, his home in London, and the ability to travel abroad), he is content, citing Philippians 4:11, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

I provided Uncle John an update on JSM, which greatly interested him. He encouraged me to claim the promise of James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

We closed our time together, as we had done many times before, in prayer. Uncle John asked me to pray for his continued work on what he promised will be his last book. I was struck that the lone prayer request of this man of God would ultimately result in a gift and blessing to many, many people.

As I walked back to the train station, I pondered the words that he had graciously shared with me, and I gave thanks to God for the opportunity to be with Uncle John, a man who has been with Jesus and who so clearly gives off the aroma of Christ.

The Tanzanian preaching movement continues to extend its reach, with nearly 320 delegates attending the training seminars in February and March this year, as well as the launch of a new initiative in the training of local facilitators.

Coordinated by Frank Luvanda and Tony Swanson, the programme not only included large seminars in the north and south of the country. A small group of Tanzanian trainers have also been equipped to develop new level 1 training events in different regions of the country, taking the training to local groups and thereby strengthening the indigenous commitment of the preaching movement. This year over 170 pastors and lay preachers attended the Northern event in Mwanza, and nearly 150 attended the event in Morogoro.

Langham Preaching facilitator Rodney Wood worked with Frank and Tony, and they were joined by Mercy Ireri, the Langham country coordinator for the preaching movement in Kenya. Her training skills and her experience of nurturing preacher’s clubs in Kenya supported the Tanzanian training and is a good example of the emerging African preaching network – cross-border fellowship and support which is part of the Langham Preaching vision.

Safia Nana Zakana could not understand what had happened to Pastor James. She attended his church in Abuja, Nigeria, where he preached regularly. But during 2007 something changed. “I found he was different,” she told Chris Wright, who was leading the second Nigerian Langham Preaching seminar. “He used to preach all over the place, but now he never uses illustrations or stories that are not relevant to the text he is preaching from. And he always ties his conclusion to what the text is saying.”

Safia was attending the seminar at Level 1, and Pastor James had attended it last year, and clearly it had changed him. “So when I see him,” Safia laughed, “I’m going to tell him, ‘Now I know your secret!’ Already we are asking him to train us and others in the church in what he has learned.”

Safia Nana Zakana

Safia herself was a TV presenter before, so she never had any problem about standing up and speaking before audiences. Her problem was knowing how to handle the Bible well and how to teach it properly to others. She works for RURCON – ‘Rural Church Councillors of Nigeria’ – a teaching and training network that encourages rural church pastors to have a holistic ministry of the Gospel in words and works. So she has lots of opportunities to teach and train others. “I wanted to know how to present the Word of God properly in context – its own context, and our context – so that people can understand it and be changed,” she said. “This seminar is helping me to do exactly that.” And with a final bright smile, “My husband, who works for Christian aid and can’t be here, is so jealous!”

The Nigerian Movement Grows Fast

The Langham Preaching movement in Nigeria started in February 2007 with 150 people at Level 1. This year, 90 of them returned for Level 2 training, while another 160 joined at a fresh Level 1. After taking the original group to Level 3 in 2009, it is likely the movement will have to split into several regional streams. This is not surprising, since everything in Nigerian Christianity is big. The movement is supported by several heads of denominations that number millions of members, some of whom attended throughout, at the invitation of Gideon Para-Malam, the main organizer.

Langham Literature provided books for the participants, and some more were provided as gifts and for sale through Africa Christian Textbooks, run by Sid Garland. Many bought copies of the “Africa Bible Commentary.”

And Langham scholars are involved as well. The chair of the Nigerian Langham Preaching committee is Pandang Yamsat, who is the President of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN). And another Langham scholar, Bishop Cyril Okorocha sent ten pastors from his Diocese of Owerri, and gave a guest lecture one evening.

Making a Difference
Chris Wright, who was the main facilitator at last year’s seminar and returned for this one, was keen to hear from members of the first group if what they learned last year had made any difference to their preaching habits and their churches’ lives. He got some encouraging responses.

Pastor Bitrus Abba pastors a church in the Hausa speaking Kagoro region. “I used to feel so guilty before,” he said, “because I never prepared properly. I would just do a bit on Saturday night or even Sunday morning before preaching. So last year’s seminar made me sit up. Now, I start every Monday morning to study and prepare. Then I do a little bit each evening and put it all together on Friday night. There has been a much better response from my people. Their level of interest is greater because they can see clearly the main message and purpose of each passage. Many more are coming to the mid-week prayer meeting and Bible study.

“During the past year, I have preached through James (in 2 months), 1 Timothy, 1 Corinthians, and parts of Micah and Habakkuk. I have just bought the ‘Africa Bible Commentary,’ which will be really helpful. I find I learn so much as I prepare.

“During the past year we also started a preachers club for our town, and that has met twice, and we will go on meeting and learning together.”

Exploding but Dissatisfied
Pastor Caleb Mutfwang leads a large church in Kaduna, in the northern part of Nigeria. He told Chris Wright that although there is an explosion of church attendance in Nigeria, people are often dissatisfied with church. They look for somewhere where the Word is being taught because they are severely hungry. And they appreciate it when they hear thorough exegesis of the Bible itself. They are not gullible. What had he particularly learned from last year’s seminar?

• “I was conscious that I had often preached out of context. Even though the message might have been true, the supporting text was not appropriate.
• “Secondly I learned the need to stay within the text while preaching it.
• “Then thirdly, I learned the discipline of preparing sermon notes seriously, and not just extempore ‘as the Spirit leads’.
• “Fourthly, our church began to look at more theological themes, like ‘Who really is God?’, and if you do that, you have to be more diligent in your study. We have a fairly educated membership. In my younger days I used to despise theology, but suddenly I have realized through my reading of John Stott and others, that it is not dry. And you can give people good content without being boring.”

As the Nigerian Langham Preaching movement grows and spreads, pray that it may become an open secret, and change a whole culture of preaching back to its biblical roots.

Read more about Nigerian Langham Scholar Matthew Michaels

View the Langham Preaching-Nigeria Photo Gallery