After we teach through the morning, the learning really takes place as participants meet in small groups through the afternoon to work with a biblical passage and shape it into a message that they can preach.
One of the things that never ceases to inspire me in my travels is the state of peoples’ Bibles – so weathered and worn. It is very humbling.
Langham is not interested in ‘hit-and-run’ conferences. We work in a country with the same people for 4-6 years, quietly nurturing a preaching movement that is locally owned. Our goal is the training of trainers of preachers. ‘S’ (pictured) is one of the key trainers in this first country. 2013 will be Year Four and so we will commence working more closely with ‘S’ – and 15 others like him.
I love it when the three Langham programmes – Scholars, Literature, Preaching – work together in a country. So much potential for so much good. In this country, Christian publishing is in its infancy. But helped along by Langham Literature, the leading publishing house is making progress. At our (Langham Preaching) request, they translated this book. It came ‘off the press’ the day before we met; it was given to each participant – and it is now available to the entire country. Praise God!
The final day of each training week involves giving a gift of a book – but at the end of the third training week in the third year, countries often choose to distribute certificates to the participants. This country was no exception. 36 people received certificates, cheered along by the paparazzi.
In the second country which we visited, the work has reached this second stage – the training of trainers. 28 people gathered. Energy and commitment is at a high level – as is their skill. The movement – just 18 months old – is spreading at a breathtaking pace. Here is ‘Y’ preaching from Nehemiah…
At the ‘training of trainers’ stage I like to stretch them and keep growing them by providing new ideas and resources. Not only do they need to develop as trainers – but also as models of good preaching. While the criteria we use for evaluating preaching in Langham is ‘faithful:clear:relevant’ – here I am trying to push the future trainers a little deeper in their evaluation of each other by introducing them to the ‘five corners’ …
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
Recent Posts
Football helps me train preachers. See, when you speak to me about football—or, ‘footie’—I need to know where your feet are before I can understand what you mean. Are your feet in Ireland, or Brazil, or the USA, or NZ—or in crazy Australia? It must be the most fanatical sporting nation in the world. Within…
Having been born in 1959, I don’t remember much about the 1960s. But I have heard a lot. Hippies. Drugs. Rock ‘n Roll. Assassinations. Moon-walking. A quick trip across to ChatGPT informs me immediately that it was ‘a transformative decade across the world’—marked by the civil rights and feminist movements, Cold War tensions, consumerism and…
very cool to see this!