by Chris Wright, International Director, Langham Partnership International

Kwame Bediako passed away this week. Langham Literature Director Pieter Kwant and I had the opportunity to visit him at the Global Church Tour in Grand Rapids in April, where he and his wife were spending some sabbatical time at Calvin College. Mark Hunt, Langham Partnership International’s board chair, had also met with him earlier in the year when he was among the speakers at the National Pastors Convention in San Diego.

Kwame was one of the most remarkable senior African leaders I have ever met. He had a surpassing level of scholarship (two doctorates – one in English and one in French). He had a range of knowledge of the history of the church in Africa (and Europe) that could keep us spellbound for hours just listening to his stories. And he had a most profound understanding of the relationship between the gospel and African culture. He also had a huge passion to bring African Christians together to affirm their Christian identity in authentic ways that would overcome some of the worst legacies of the colonial era. And yet he wore all this learning with such a light touch. His twinkling eyes and sparkling humour and laughter were a constant tonic. It has been such a joy and privilege to know him for many years.

The Akrofi Christaller Memorial Centre for Mission Studies, that he established at Akropong, Ghana, has a fine record of research and publication in African Christianity and contextual theology, and just recently got its charter from the government of Ghana for the awarding ofKwame Bediako degrees including doctorates.

Kwame also had a deep love for John Stott, and the whole work and ethos of the Langham Partnership. He was not himself a Langham scholar, but he knew many of them, and was regarded as a mentor and father figure by many. Though a man under incredible pressures of work and leadership, Kwame stepped up immediately when I asked him, to arrange and chair the first Regional Council for West Africa (Anglophone) in Ghana 2006 , and to co-chair the first meeting of the Regional Council for Francophone Africa in Cameroon in 2007. When I last spoke to him, he was full of enthusiastic plans for the next meeting of both combined, to be held in Ghana in October 2008.

So we shall miss him greatly. He is a sad loss to Ghana, to Africa, and indeed to the world church.

Please pray for his wife (known to some as Gillian and to others as Mary), who has been totally involved in all the work that Kwame did, and is herself a writer and editor of immense experience.

It is hard at a time like this to understand the ways of the Lord. But the legacy that Kwame Bediako leaves is simply enormous, and we pray that his ministry and contribution will now be multiplied even further through those whom he has mentored and inspired over the years.at Kwame Bediako leaves is simply enormous, and we pray that his ministry and contribution will now be multiplied even further through those whom he has mentored and inspired over the years.

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.

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.

Matthew began his ministry as a missionary church planter with ECWA in the mid-1990s. He took his first degree in missiology, and his zeal is still very apparent. Even during his Ph.D. studies, he engages in student ministry, taking some of his fellow students to the campus of the University of Jos and relating to village students there every Saturday and Sunday.

Matthew’s other main passion is the Bible. He has been specializing in the Christological intepretation of the Old Testament, but with the particular goal of reaching the new generation of Africans with biblical teaching about Christ that is culturally rooted and relevant. “I have a great dream for biblical Christianity in Africa,” he told me when we met in Jos in January 2008, while I was leading a Langham Preaching seminar there. “I want to see African Christological reconstruction that will go beyond the standard pictures of the past and really speak to ordinary Christians.”

For four years before starting his doctoral studies, Matthew had already been teaching several courses at JETS, on Hebrew and Old Testament studies. He is also on the faculty of another ECWA seminary at Kagoro and will probably move to that faculty after his PhD. He is a highly valued member of the upcoming ECWA leadership, and finished both his BA and MA studies with top grades in all classes. He is working equally hard at his PhD now, and will finish his course-work in May, and then move into two years of dissertation work, hoping to complete some time in 2010.

I was so impressed with Matthew and the way his enthusiasm for his studies just fizzed out of him as he talked about the topics he is researching and writing on. But then I discovered another reason for the joy in his voice and the sparkle in his eye. He got married just a couple of months ago, in December! His new wife, Juliana, is doing a postgraduate degree in Law at the University of Jos.

Matthew is one of a growing number of scholars that JSM-Langham is supporting to do their Ph.D.s in Majority World contexts.

Read more about Langham Preaching training in Nigeria
View the LPI  Nigeria photo gallery

Most Langham scholars’ eyes light up when they talk about their doctoral studies supported by a Langham Partnership International (LPI) grant. But Andrea Zaki Stephanous positively sparkles as he describes the difference it has made in his life. Andrea did his Ph.D. in Manchester, England, in the field of religion and politics. LPI International Director Chris Wright met him recently in his home country Egypt and asked him about it.

“My Ph.D. programme absolutely transformed my life,” Andrea began. “It was a paradigm shift for me. First it gave me a deep appreciation of the importance of education and adapting a proper scientific approach to problems. Secondly it equipped me with the skills I need in my role now. By the grace of God I serve in a top position in my church and country, and in that role I have to deal with intellectuals, with officials. I would not know how to do so without the experience and skills of the Ph.D. Thirdly it has empowered me in my job, as a professor, publisher, writer, speaker. I am invited both by the state and other organizations to give papers and presentations on a range of social and political issues as well as theological ones. Being academically equipped gives my church as a whole respect, in a culture where religious leaders are often despised as people of slogans only. Absolutely all my work as a leader in church, seminary, and society, has been transformed by the academic skills and challenges of the Ph.D. work.

“And yet at the same time, as you go through the Ph.D. you always affirm to yourself that you are a child in the world of learning. And even afterwards, I never feel that I am a ‘scholar’ – when you know how much there is that you don’t know! I don’t feel worthy of that title. There is still a very long way to go.”

So what exactly does Andrea do? Prepare to be astonished. He carries an amazing portfolio of responsibility. He described six of them.

• Director of Communications at The Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Service (CEOSS). Andrea was involved with CEOSS, working among the poor in squatter camps, since the 1980s. He now directs its publishing department, Dar El Thaqafa, producing books and multi-media resources not only for Egypt but the whole Arabic speaking world. In this role he is also involved as a resource person for inter-faith dialogue and peace-building and conflict resolution programmes for church leaders. This is Andrea’s main (and only salaried) job.

(shown: Two of the recently launched publications of Dar El Thaqafa: “The Arabic Contemporary Theology” (left), and “Salvation,” the sixth volume in the Global Christian Library.

• Professor at the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Cairo. Andrea teaches at both undergraduate and graduate level on Religion and Politics, Theological Foundations for Social Change, and Inter-Faith Dialogue in the Middle East.

• TV Presenter: Andrea both writes and presents a weekly programme for SAT 7, which goes out across the Middle East, called, Without Embarrassment. Each programme features two guests – Christian and Muslim, discussing all issues imaginable, from religious violence to the resurrection of Jesus.

• Chair of the Council for Service and Development for the Synod of the Nile (the main Presbyterian church in Egypt). This works to empower local churches to be salt and yeast in society. He oversees the work of 10 staff, 500 volunteers and several major health, education and economic projects.

• Vice President of the Protestant Council of Egypt. There are 1,200 Protestant churches within this alliance, and its council functions not only as a forum for working together, and an authority structure, but also as a combined voice to the government. So Andrea needs great political wisdom as well as ecclesiastical diplomacy.

• International Deputy Director for the Middle East, for the Lausanne movement.

“And yet,” says Andrea, “I like to keep up my first love as a researcher and writer. This is a crucial part of what I do. I set aside time weekly for that. I have a nice office in my home where I do that. All of my children are at school or university, so everybody is studying and I am studying with my family around me!”

It would be hard to think of a better example of a rounded ministry of head, heart and hands, than the work of Langham Scholar, Andrea Zaki, in Egypt.

“I would not be as I am now without God’s grace and the support of Langham,” he concluded. “That is from my heart.”

Read more about Langham scholar Andrea’s work with the production of “Arabic Contemporary Theology”

View the LPI photo gallery of the January 2008 Egypt gatherings

The Langham Partnership Regional Council for Southern Africa met for the first time in September in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Representatives came from Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Among them were Langham scholars, including Fidelis Nkomazana and Lazarus Phiri. For them, it was a time of re-union, and re-connection with Langham after (for Fidelis) more than a decade of serving back in their home countries.

Fidelis Nkomazana completed his doctorate in Church History under Professor Andrew Walls in Edinburgh in 1993, and warmly remembers the fellowship and support he received from Charlotte Chapel. Since then he has been teaching in Botswana University, and is now Head of Department of Religious Studies. That, however, is only part of his many-sided ministry as a significant evangelical leader there. He is on the board of the Prison Fellowship, contributing to its ministry of rehabilitation and help for prisoners. He leads youth camps and speaks in schools with Scripture Union. He has written a whole series of textbooks for Religious Education and runs a programme of training for Sunday school teachers.

Fidelis is certainly a Langham Scholar making a difference! He found the Regional Council a great experience of fellowship with others in the region, and was appointed to its Executive Committee as Secretary and Co-ordinator for the regional Fellowship of Langham Scholars.

Fidelis Nkomazana, Langham Scholar, with Mark Hunt, Chair of the Langham Partnership International Council.	LP Regional Council, Southern Africa.

Evangelical support. The Regional Council was an opportunity for Mark Hunt (LPI Chair), Gene Green (a member of the Scholar Committee of John Stott Ministries in the U.S.) and Chris Wright to visit the Evangelical Seminary of Southern Africa (ESSA), with Bill Houston, former Vice-Principal. ESSA runs a post-graduate seminar for evangelical students studying at Masters and Doctorate level in the Theology Department of the nearby University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, in Pietermaritzburg. This group includes some Langham Scholars, and we are grateful for the fellowship and encouragement they receive from ESSA in this way. It was encouraging for Langham staff and board members to meet with Scholars during one of their seminars. Afterwards the group were very impressed with a visit to the ESSA library, which (partly with support from Langham Literature) is one of the best-equipped seminary libraries in Southern Africa.

Meeting with the post-graduate seminar at ESSA. Standing back row are: Chris Wright, Mark Hunt, Gene Green and Bill Houston	Abiola, Langham Scholar from Nigeria tudying in Pietermaritzburg, with Gene Green (JSM Scholar Committee).

In preparation for Lausanne 2010 in South Africa, the Lausanne Theology Working Group is focusing on the core ‘slogan’ of Lausanne. The Lausanne Covenant (1974) defined ‘evangelization’ as  ‘the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world’.  This has ensured that the explicit theology of mission within the Lausanne movement has been integral and holistic.  However, while the slogan has a rich resonance and an obvious meaning and appeal, we cannot claim that we have fully explored the depth of what is entailed by each of the three phrases. In presenting this plan to the leadership of Lausanne, I added the following statement:

We also need to make sure we also use the whole Bible.  For holistic theology and practice of mission require a holistic understanding and use of the Bible. The Bible shows us God’s priorities and passions.  The Bible as a whole shows us God’s heart:

•    For the last and the least (socially, culturally and economically) as well as the lost (spiritually)
•    For those dying of hunger, AIDS, and war, as well as those who are dying in their sins
•    For the landless, homeless, family-less and stateless as well as for those who are without Christ, without God and without hope in the world.

The God who commands us to disciple all nations also commands us to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. We still struggle to ‘relate’ these things to one another when we ought never to have split them apart in the first place. But sadly we did. We have been guilty of putting asunder what God has joined together. Lausanne, in its commitment to holistic mission, believes in the integration of all these things because anything less is untrue to the Bible.

The Lausanne Covenant speaks of ‘the entirety’ of the Scriptures, and about ‘all that it affirms’. May God protect us from selective hermeneutics, from polarized priorities and from segmented perceptions of the gospel.  My big concern is not just that the world church should become more evangelical, but that world evangelicals should become more biblical.

To be biblical is also to be prophetic. And most of what the prophets had to say was addressed, not to the world of outside nations (though they did have words for them), but to the people of God themselves.  The prophets confronted Old Testament Israel and demanded that they change their ways, if they were to have any hope of fulfilling their mission of being a light to the nations and a blessing on the earth. The dominant prophetic call was to repentance among God’s people, so that God could get on with the job of blessing the world.

Just as much today we need repentance and renewal in the church, as well as renewed passion for world mission.  Otherwise, the church may become, as the Lausanne Covenant puts it, “a stumbling block to evangelism when it betrays the Gospel”.  Arguably, in some respects and in some places it has already become exactly that.

Indeed, my hope for Cape Town 2010 is that it would launch and foster nothing less than a 21st Century Reformation – among evangelicals, who need it as much as any other Christian bloc.

For there are scandals and abuses in the world-wide evangelical community that are reminiscent of the worst features of the pre-reformation medieval church in Europe.
•    There are some mega leaders, like ancient prelates, wielding vast wealth, power and control – unaccountable, unattractive and unChristlike
•    There are multitudes of ordinary Christians going to so-called evangelical churches, where they never hear the Bible preached or taught. They live in scandalous biblical ignorance.
•    Instead they are offered, in the ‘prosperity gospel’ a form of 21st century indulgences, except that you pay your money not for release from pains after death, but for receipt of material ‘blessings’ here and now.
•    And there are evangelicals parading ungodly alliances with secular power – political, economic and military – identifying themselves (and the gospel they claim to preach) with  agendas and ideologies that reflect human empire not the kingdom of God in Christ.

Will we have the courage to identify and renounce such scandals and to seek a reformation of heart, mind and practice?

The 16th Century Reformation was criticized because it lacked missionary awareness and energy until much later. They were so obsessed with tackling abuses in the church that they neglected world mission.   How ironic and tragic will it be if 21st Century evangelicals are so obsessed with world mission that we neglect abuses in the church, and remain wilfully blind to our own idolatries and syncretism?

•    If reformation without mission was defective,
•    then mission without reformation will be deluded, self-defeating and even dangerous.

The Lausanne Covenant, like the Bible itself, commits us to the integration of both. May God grant us the will and humility to respond with equal commitment.

by Chris Wright, Langham Partnership International Director

Many of you know the problem of wearing several hats, bearing different responsibilities. I can sympathize. As well as my role in LPI, I am also the Chair of the Lausanne Theology Working Group. This takes up only a small fraction of my time, but I believe it contributes to a movement that is resurgent and making a renewed impact on the world church, and I would like to tell you a bit about it.

The LTWG has a steering committee of about 10 people, a core membership of around 20, and its working consultations usually bring together between 25-30 people. These are men and women from all around the world, with proven commitment to biblical and evangelical theology and missional engagement.

Under the leadership of Doug Birdsall and Lindsay Brown, Lausanne is moving forward. Lausanne is planning a third major congress in Cape Town, South Africa, in October 2010. If you want to check out the plans for that, here is the URL.

http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010/cape-town-2010.html

In preparation for this, the LTWG is focusing on the core ‘slogan’ of Lausanne. The Lausanne Covenant (1974) defined ‘evangelization’ as ‘the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world’. This has ensured that the explicit theology of mission within the Lausanne movement has been integral and holistic.

Accordingly, the LTWG, will be tackling these themes in the following order:

• The Whole Gospel February 2008
• The Whole Church January 2009
• The Whole World February 2010

However, while the slogan has a rich resonance and an obvious meaning and appeal, we cannot claim that we have fully explored the depth of what is entailed by each of the three phrases. (Read Chris’ additional statements.)

I encourage you to keep informed about developments in the Lausanne movement and to pray for the plans for Cape Town 2010.

Warm greetings and blessings in Christ,

Chris Wright

Chris Wright with a group of Langham-related participants at the OCI Institute of Excellence

For many years the Langham Partnership has enjoyed collaborating with the Overseas Council International and its linked movements around the world in helping to resource theological education in the majority world. As part of its efforts in this direction, OCI holds ‘Institutes of Excellence’ for seminary faculty and administrators in different regions. But this year for the first time it held one for all the Principals of their partner seminaries all around the world. So, about 100 Principals from every continent converged on a mountainside retreat centre near Frankfurt for a week in September.

Chris Wright was invited to participate in this, not only to represent LPI, but also as one of those asked to bring Bible expositions to the conference. Chris writes of his experience:

“If the concept of a grand party for theologians does not sound too much of a contradiction in terms, this was it! It was like being among a huge gang of friends from all over the world – including some whom I taught when they were students at UBS in India, but are now heading up theological institutions themselves. This great network of seminaries is, of course, part of our own natural Langham constituency, and it was wonderful to ‘piggy-back’ on this OCI event and meet so many Principals in one place for a few days.

Ivor Poorbalan, Principal, Colombia Theological Seminary, Sri Lanka, with Ashish Chrispal, Langham Scholar and Regional Director for Asia, OCI

Out of the 100 or so present, around 20 had direct connections with LPI – either as Langham Scholars (past, present, and hopefully future), or as members of Langham Partnership Regional Councils. We had rich conversations and many reminiscences. It is so rewarding particularly to meet Langham Scholars in these positions of senior leadership.

During the week at Frankfurt, another seminal project was birthed. As Langham friends know, we now invest in supporting Scholars at doctoral programmes outside the West – in Africa, Asia, Central Europe, and Latin America. The big question, however, is: how can we and they be assured that the programmes they develop have that quality of excellence that makes them truly worthy of doctoral degree status? And who defines what ‘excellence’ means in new contexts? We do not want simply to transplant ancient western models and criteria in contexts where they are not culturally appropriate. Yet there must be some internationally recognizable standard that is not merely culture-relative.

Ashkenaz Asif Khan, Principal, Zaraphath Bible Institute

A small group got together from OCI (David Baer, President), Langham Partnership (myself), and ICETE (the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education – Paul Sanders, Director), and set up a project to research this issue and come up with acceptable guidelines and criteria for ‘excellence in doctoral programmes’ – with particular focus on emerging majority world initiatives. It will build on the consultation for doctoral level theological education held in August at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, and Douglas Carew (President of NEGST, and Langham Scholar) was also part of the planning group. It is exciting for me to see this development, since I called for something like it at a meeting of ICETE in High Wycombe four years ago, and then again in Chiang Mai last year! It’s good to be doing this in a triangular partnership and it should be of enormous benefit globally as such doctoral initiatives are expanding all the time.

Among other highlights of the week were the lively (‘highly entertaining’ would be more accurate) addresses by Luis Palau on evangelism and theological education, and a river cruise on the Rhine followed by a visit to the majestic Cologne Cathedral that took 600 years to build. In that vast edifice, monument to a Christendom of the past, it was exciting to reflect on the ‘human cathedral’ that our little international group constituted, shaping what kind of future? Not a new Christendom, but certainly a new era in world Christianity.”