About 1.4 million people make up the contingent of the Chinese Filipinos in the Philippines, a group that is primarily strong in its Christian faith. Interestingly enough, many of the churches in that community are self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propogating, getting little help from foreign missions. It is this indigenous strength that’s key for the growth of the church in China itself. And it is why building a biblically sound study program for local pastors is a crucial strategy for the Biblical Seminary of the Philippines (BSOP), led by Seminary President Joseph Shao. BSOP’s commitment to deeply rooted biblical training has helped grow congregations from hundreds to thousands.

Established in 1957, BSOP has always strived for wholistic Christian

BSOP students on a mission trip in the Phiippines

training to develop students in spiritual growth, biblical knowledge, and ministerial skill. BSOP serves primarily Chinese-Filipino students and is an anchor for training leaders in the church. And with recent growth of Christians in the Chinese-Filipino community, BSOP feels the need more than ever to strengthen the indigenous leaders.

Most important is the outreach that serving those communities has had created for the church in China. BSOP has many Chinese students who return to establish the church in their regions. Acting as a lifeline for the church in mainland China is crucial to the seminary’s role in God’s kingdom.

“It is only by God’s grace that we are able to draw a strong contingent,” says Joseph. “We have partners who introduce key students to us. We have some key pastors who endorse our ministry and send important leaders to us. Our alumni are endorsing students. We have focused on the basics in our training ministry, in the proper interpretation of the Word, correct doctrines, Christian education, and caring counseling methods.”

The church in China today is comprised primarily of these four churches:
•    Open Church (recognized and sanctioned by the authorities)
•    Registered Church (registered but not controlled by the open church)
•    House Church (not official; congregations meet in houses and offices)
•    Returnees Church (comprised mainly of believers who return from overseas)

BSOP has served participants in all four churches and continues to see God at work and alive in China. “We have learned that churches are growing, due to the faithful teaching of the Word of God. One church grew from 300 members to 1,000 attendees, while another grew from 400 to 1,000 attendees,” says Joseph. “One particular alumnus was asked to lead a revival meeting upon his return to his hometown, and 2,000 believers gather to hear him. One couple in the northeast region is in charge of 500 cell groups. Outreach ministries flourish due to the involvement of some of our alumni.”

The high standard of biblical education and focus on indigenous church leaders is why up-and-coming professors such as Langham Scholar Samson Uytanlet are key to the future of the impact BSOP has on the the Chinese-Filipino church.

“Even in the past, the Chinese Christian community had this desire to reach our kinsmen who live in the mainland. What happened several years ago, with the opening of Chinese department in BSOP, was really a breakthrough,” Samson says. “[Now], locals can remain in the Philippines to serve in the Chinese churches there, yet at the same time we are not neglecting mission work to China because the Chinese from the mainland are going to BSOP to be trained so that they can serve there.”

Samson is currently completing his doctorate at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., and will return to teach at BSOP in a few years. He represents the hope that the ministry of BSOP will continue as it strengthens the Chinese and Filipino Christian communities to grow in numbers.

Travelling in a three-wheel tuktuk across the city of Colombo (my guidebook warned me of ‘the anarchic driving conditions’ on Sri Lanka’s roads), it was a relief to arrive at the Centre for Graduate Studies, a bright and welcoming building in the centre of the city. Part of the Lanka Bible College and Seminary, the Graduate Centre supports leadership and pastoral training, distance learning initiatives and a Masters course. The Centre has just celebrated the opening of its new library.

Its well-ordered shelves, growing stock of some 8,000 volumes, computer facilities and Internet access provide an essential resource for those engaged in theological training. Carried out in fellowship with many agencies around the world, including the Overseas Council which supported the building project and Langham Literature which supported the book stock, the library will be a welcome haven for quiet study and theological reflection, just metres away from the bustling streets of downtown Colombo.

But those streets are the mission field in this predominantly Buddhist country, where only a small percentage of the population owes allegiance to Christ. The growing church is engaging with the demands of mission in a challenging religious and political context, and the oasis of a library provides one of the essential resources for true engagement with the city and country – a necessary retreat in order to advance the cause of mission.

Amidst growing news of the persecution of thousands of Christians across northern India, a small group of Christian leaders met in Delhi last week to explore ways of coordinating their efforts in the training of pastors and lay preachers. Across northern India there are remarkable signs of church growth.  Compared to the south of the country, the region has been a tough environment for Christian witness, with far fewer resources and Christian initiatives than in the south. But the tide has been turning: leaders are planting thousands of churches in the huge northern states, and more energy is being given to their support through training initiatives of all kinds.

Recognising the overwhelming need to strengthen the churches through the training of preachers, the team of 12 leaders met for a short consultation convened by members of the Langham Partnership Regional Council for South Asia. Paul Swarup, Finny Philip and Paulson Pulikottil, themselves former Langham Scholars, sustain an active interest not only in the academic arena and in Christian publishing, but in the grass-roots needs of local churches. Specifically, they share the concern of Langham Preaching to find ways to strengthen biblical preaching in the many new emerging churches across northern India.

Drawing together agencies from various areas of northern India, the Langham Preaching consultation had the following outcomes:

•    All participants recognised the benefit of exchanging training ideas. Many of them were not aware of each other’s training work, and the opportunity to receive news, learn from the example of others, and pray for each other’s ministry, was a very significant outcome of the consultation. It is hoped that the friendships established will allow for ongoing communication between the different agencies.

•    The consultation determined to redouble efforts in the training of trainers, seen to be a priority need for all of the agencies involved in northern India. Given the vast scale of the work to be done, the most important need is to equip a new army of trainers who will carry forward the training of pastors and lay preachers within their own villages and towns.

•    The consultation decided to establish a database which will list all available resources – appropriate training materials, books and other resources which will serve each agency in the training of preachers.

•    It was decided to encourage Langham Preaching, in fellowship with several of the agencies at the consultation, to support a new training initiative in Nagaland. Here the churches have been growing rapidly, but there is a strong need for training amongst pastors. Langham Preaching will lead the initiative during 2009, carried out with help from facilitators from northern India.

•    The consultation agreed to meet annually and to extend the network of those who are invited to participate.

There was a strong feeling that this was the time for energetic commitment to the cause of preaching training, and for every effort to be made to coordinate our work for the benefit of the growing church of northern India.

Kenyan Preachers’ Club with Mercy Ireri

We all agree that a church is more than its services, a family more than its meal times. And since it began six years ago, Langham Preaching has sought to encourage ‘fellowships’ rather than just run events. In several countries there is gradually emerging a fellowship of preachers – a ‘movement’ for biblical preaching. Supported by seminars, books and training resources, such a movement is most clearly seen through the emergence of preachers’ clubs in towns and villages. Meeting regularly in their home regions, small groups of pastors and lay preachers gather to study a Bible passage, work on sermon preparation, and plan their preaching series. And of course they pray for one another and support each other’s desire to preach better. Linked to regional or national seminar programmes which provide training materials and good models for Biblical preaching, preachers’ clubs are the heartbeat of national preaching movements.

Preachers’ clubs are growing across Kenya, encouraged to meet regularly by country coordinator Mercy Ireri, who uses her cell phone to good effect as she chases up local leaders for news of their club meetings, or encourages them forward with new ideas. Pastors often contact Langham Preaching via our Web site, and we can quickly connect them with Mercy who then plugs them into the network of preachers’ clubs gradually extending across the country. Mercy says, ‘A few months ago you forwarded to me an email from pastor Jonathan in Nakuru. I put him in touch with the leader of the preachers’ club, Asman, there in the Rift Valley. Asman told me that they had a good meeting and are planning to work together. At the time I put them in touch it was during the violence – it did not even cross my mind that Jonathan is a Kalenjin and Asman is Kikuyu. Asman told me that it was a miracle for both of them to sit together and even have a cup of tea!’

For the past three years a small core of 40 pastors have been attending the Langham training programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and developing preachers’ clubs in their home regions. And now? ‘We have actually 28 clubs in the country with 298 members’, says country coordinator Muhindo Isesomo, who travels widely to encourage them. ‘And I believe this will increase after the next Langham training of trainers event in October’. Through the generosity of friends at St Andrew’s church Oxford we have recently been able to support their work through the provision of bikes and Bibles, enabling the pastors to travel to their many scattered congregations and to meet to study scripture together.

The story is similar elsewhere in the world. Ghana reports the cascade effect of the training through local meetings in different denominations; two good groups are meeting in Jamaica; in Tanzania, preachers’ clubs have been established across the country, forming the base for 13 regional programmes which are now starting small training events for local pastors. And in Bolivia and Columbia, and other Latin countries, preachers’ clubs are vital training arenas – so much so they are called ‘escuelitas’, little schools for preachers. For any movement to catch fire, local people must own it, and passionate and committed people in the country must drive it forward. We don’t know if this will happen in each country, but this is what we pray for – national preaching movements which seek to unite, encourage, equip, train and inspire all those who are faithfully teaching and preaching God’s Word.

Kenyan Preachers’ Club with Mercy Ireri

We all agree that a church is more than its services, a family more than its meal times. And since it began six years ago, Langham Preaching has sought to encourage ‘fellowships’ rather than just run events. In several countries there is gradually emerging a fellowship of preachers – a ‘movement’ for biblical preaching. Supported by seminars, books and training resources, such a movement is most clearly seen through the emergence of preachers’ clubs in towns and villages. Meeting regularly in their home regions, small groups of pastors and lay preachers gather to study a Bible passage, work on sermon preparation, and plan their preaching series. And of course they pray for one another and support each other’s desire to preach better. Linked to regional or national seminar programmes which provide training materials and good models for Biblical preaching, preachers’ clubs are the heartbeat of national preaching movements.

Preachers’ clubs are growing across Kenya, encouraged to meet regularly by country coordinator Mercy Ireri, who uses her cell phone to good effect as she chases up local leaders for news of their club meetings, or encourages them forward with new ideas. Pastors often contact Langham Preaching via our Web site, and we can quickly connect them with Mercy who then plugs them into the network of preachers’ clubs gradually extending across the country. Mercy says, ‘A few months ago you forwarded to me an email from pastor Jonathan in Nakuru. I put him in touch with the leader of the preachers’ club, Asman, there in the Rift Valley. Asman told me that they had a good meeting and are planning to work together. At the time I put them in touch it was during the violence – it did not even cross my mind that Jonathan is a Kalenjin and Asman is Kikuyu. Asman told me that it was a miracle for both of them to sit together and even have a cup of tea!’

For the past three years a small core of 40 pastors have been attending the Langham training programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and developing preachers’ clubs in their home regions. And now? ‘We have actually 28 clubs in the country with 298 members’, says country coordinator Muhindo Isesomo, who travels widely to encourage them. ‘And I believe this will increase after the next Langham training of trainers event in October’. Through the generosity of friends at St Andrew’s church Oxford we have recently been able to support their work through the provision of bikes and Bibles, enabling the pastors to travel to their many scattered congregations and to meet to study scripture together.

The story is similar elsewhere in the world. Ghana reports the cascade effect of the training through local meetings in different denominations; two good groups are meeting in Jamaica; in Tanzania, preachers’ clubs have been established across the country, forming the base for 13 regional programmes which are now starting small training events for local pastors. And in Bolivia and Columbia, and other Latin countries, preachers’ clubs are vital training arenas – so much so they are called ‘escuelitas’, little schools for preachers. For any movement to catch fire, local people must own it, and passionate and committed people in the country must drive it forward. We don’t know if this will happen in each country, but this is what we pray for – national preaching movements which seek to unite, encourage, equip, train and inspire all those who are faithfully teaching and preaching God’s Word.

By Jonathan Lamb
International Programme Director of Langham Preaching

Blood River is a best-selling title by Tim Butcher that tells the story of his remarkable journey across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – on the back of a motorbike. He followed the footsteps of Stanley, who first charted its mighty river in the 1870s. And if you would like an insight into the shattered infrastructure, advancing poverty, and sustained devastation from civil war, this is worth a read. ‘His extraordinary account describes a country with more past than present, where giant steamboats lie rotting in the advancing forest and children hear stories from grandparents of days when cars once drove by.’

Yomping through the Congo on a motorbike is near suicidal. But there are others on their bikes travelling across the broken landscape of this huge country. They are pastors and evangelists. For the church in DRC is growing and, against all odds, it is being supported by faithful men and women who teach and preach God’s Word.

Muhindo Isesomo is a short and stocky man, strong in body and in faith, with a mischievous smile and a determined spirit. He once told me that, when visiting some of the far-flung groups for which he cares in DRC, his plane crash-landed, but he survived. I think I would have abandoned the trip, returning home to count my blessings. But walking from the wreckage, Isesomo thought to himself, ‘I’ve survived the crash, so God must want me to visit these believers’. He’s like that. (Do you remember Paul’s testimony to the Ephesians? ‘I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace’ Acts 20:24.)

Isesomo has many jobs, but one is to serve as country coordinator for Langham Preaching. For the past few years he has worked with Gordon Woolard, an American member of the Langham team who is a fluent French speaker and an experienced pastor-teacher, training a small group of 40 pastors and preachers. They have had an annual one-week seminar, bringing together small clusters of 4 or 5 people from each of the main regions of the country. Working steadily on the basics of biblical preaching, the three-level programme has sought to encourage faithfulness to the Bible and Christ-centred application to the challenges of congregations in the DRC. Participants mostly have to fly to the seminars, now that the road and rail networks are so devastated. And now? ‘We have actually 28 preachers’ clubs in the country with 298 members’, says Isesomo, who travels tirelessly to encourage them. ‘And I believe this will increase after the next Langham training of trainers event in October’. Preachers’ clubs are a feature of the work in many countries, providing continuity and local support for hard-pressed pastors, and encouraging local pastors to work on Bible passages together, share their sermon outlines, plan their preaching programmes, train lay preachers, and pray for one another.

Through the generosity of St Andrew’s church Oxford we have recently been able to support their work through the provision of bikes and Bibles, enabling the pastors to travel to their many scattered congregations and to meet to study scripture together. ‘We have bought 200 Bibles, and each member in the club will have one Bible and we can keep some for those who join us later’, says Isesomo. ‘ And we have bought 61 bikes which are now available to the different preachers’ clubs.’

And that’s not all. ‘Another idea came to us for the ten people who will be trained next October as trainers from our different dioceses. We saw that they will also need means of transport to do the work in their areas, and it is not possible to do that by using the bike because of long distances. So through your gift we have bought 10 little motorbikes.’

So with bikes and Bibles, some regular preaching training, and the support of a remarkable pastoral leader, the word of God is making progress across the demanding terrain of the DRC. Please pray for these many preachers as they evangelise new towns and villages, and as they serve their growing congregations – on wheels!

Igor Amestegui conducts Level 4 training with Quechuan pastors

International Programme Director, Langham Preaching

Many of us would have learnt about the Incas when we were at school – an ancient and highly civilized empire in South America. But maybe we are not so familiar with the Quechuas, a group of indigenous South American tribes who are direct descendants of the Inca Empire. Quechua (pronounced, ‘ke-che-wah’) is spoken by several million people in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile, but there has only been one translation of the entire Quechua Bible since 1993.

Charito and Igor Amestegui

Igor Amestegui, Regional Facilitator for Langham Preaching in Latin America, has been working in fellowship with several mission agencies to support the training of preachers who serve the Quechua community. Running a series of four seminars for 22 participants, Igor began with the basics of studying the Bible passage, and later introduced the first steps of preparing talks from Bible passages. A simple manual – ‘How to prepare to preach’ – written in Quechua, was a useful tool for the training sessions and will be a standard manual for the team to use in future training events.

Igor found that most participants came from rural contexts with limited educational background, so the group studied pastoral themes from Psalm 23, and Igor crafted the course to ensure there was plenty of practice built into the seminars. ‘In a highly oral culture, where the pattern of thought is more concrete than abstract, it is vital to use simple language and accessible concepts to help preachers extract the key principles from the Bible text’, said Igor.

‘A great achievement is that there is tremendous motivation amongst the brothers and sisters who participated. They are also putting into practice what they have learned. For many this has been a new way to read the Bible, even though they have been pastoring churches for years’, said Pio Victor, the Director of Mosoj Chaski, a radio ministry reaching Quechua in Bolivia and one of the partners in the project.

Igor knows that these are just the first steps of training. ‘It is my prayer that the Word sown and the tools given during these seminars may bear abundant fruit, so that the Word of God is preached in the Quechuan world and that this will bring growth to God’s glory’.

Visit the Langham Partnership International photo gallery for more images of the Quechuan Preaching project

by Dave Hoffman
Inside-Out Evangelical Conference
Long Beach, California
Aug 15, 2008

John Azumah is the first Langham writer sponsored by the Langham Literature program to publish under the Hippo Books press. While in California speaking at the 2008 Inside-Out Conference held by Presbyterian Global Fellowship, John talked with Dave Hoffman, vice president of John Stott Ministries, about his new book, My Neighbour’s Faith: Islam Explained for Christians.
Dave: I want to ask you a little about this book, My Neighbour’s Faith. How did you first get connected with Langham Literature?

John: Well, it all came about via Lausanne. I have been connected with Lausanne for some time, and I was the International Deputy Director for Anglophone Africa. Chris Wright happened to be the one in Lausanne in charge of theology and we got to meet. But before this I had known of Chris Wright through his writings and having met him at some conferences. I admire and respect Chris a lot, and so Chris invited me to be part of the first Langham regional council for West Africa held at Akrofi-Christaller. That was back in 2005. We had a wonderful meeting and at this event I met Pieter Kwant, director of Langham Literature. I told Pieter, I have been working on a manuscript, but have not been able to find a publisher that is interested. Pieter said he would take a look at it, so I sent him a draft. He said, it looks great and we would like to process it. He shared the whole idea of Hippo and launching this African series as a way of Langham encouraging African writers to produce quality work. He knows that one of the challenges in Africa for first-time writers is to get publishers.

So Pieter got this manuscript and gave it to Isobel Stevenson in Canada. Isobel was working to train an African editor, Angela Addy from Akrofi-Christaller in Ghana, as there were not many African editors before this. This editor was sent to work with Isobel and my book happened to be the very first book.

Dave: So this is the first book that Angela Addy edited.

John: Yes.

Dave: Tell me a little bit about Hippo Books. You mentioned that it was a way to encourage African writers and first-time writers especially, but tell me what you think Hippo Books is going to do for the continent of Africa? Not only for the writers, but for the readers as well.

John: I think it is going to have a very important impact on the church in Africa and African scholarship. The church in Africa and African scholarship are facing a very serious problem of really having materials produces by African scholars themselves. We rely on western writers, western literature and western scholarship. That is not bad except that we are not able to feed ourselves with what our academic and spiritual minds and souls are yearning for, which is something local, something indigenous, something African. And so we have always had to go through the western academic route and that hasn’t always been very healthy. It is mostly because it is just too difficult for African writers to get the time to write. They are too busy with bread-and-butter issues, they are working under very challenging situations and so they are thinking about where the next meal is going to come from, where the next money is going to come from to pay their child’s school fees and other issues that don’t allow them the time to write. And when they do get the time to put something down on paper, it is very difficult to get a good publisher to take it up. You end up getting it published in very cheap circles and the end product is not good.

Dave: I understand that another issue was due to not having African editors and having to rely on western editors which took some of the African-ness out of the manuscript as well.

John: Exactly, and again, that is part of the challenge. You need to get something that is written by Africans, edited by Africans and read by Africans. And that is what Hippo has come to provide. I think it is an excellent idea. I was happy to go with Hippo, and I am going to write another book.

Dave: What is the next book going to be about?

John: I am still figuring it out. But it will be about approaching people of other faiths from an African biblical perspective. That is what I am going to write on.

Dave: So this book, My Neighbour’s Faith, is more about understanding Islam, and the next book will be about how to approach people of other faiths.

John: Yes, from a biblical perspective. I am hoping to get a writer’s grant from Langham. It took some time to get this last book organized and it was quite good that Akrofi-Christaller allowed me to take this time. A grant will make it much easier to make time to write something like this.

Dave: Because of Hippo, how many books do you think might be written over the next few years by African writers?

John: We are going to be having a Langham meeting in West Africa in October and I think with this now out, it will be a huge inspiration to the African scholars that will be meeting there. And I really think we are going to get a good number of books. I don’t want to put a figure on it, but Hippo is really here to stay and not just with Langham’s involvement, but because Langham has these kinds of forums that bring these scholars together for meetings, conferences and consultations. Once these writers know that they will be guaranteed to have a good publisher and that the product will be of this quality, they will be even more inspired.

Dave: Let me switch gears a little and ask you about the regional council for West Africa. What do you see as the benefit for Langham having these regional council meetings? Not just to Langham, but to your local area as well.

John: I think the benefit is actually mutual. Langham gets the chance to listen to the people on the ground and to really get applicants locally processed and therefore are guaranteed to get the right type of candidates processed and funded for their studies. Langham also gets to hear what are the real issues that the church is faced with on the ground. If Langham is going to support people in their studies and to write, they are going to need to know what the issues are that challenge the church in our region. For us as African scholars and the African church, I think it’s that many times people just provide funding and when you are done with the studies or projects you don’t hear much from the organization. What Langham is doing for us in Africa is that we get to know who are the Langham scholars in Africa. We get to know the areas of expertise of these people and we get to network with each other so we can grow on each other’s strengths. Langham provides this platform for us to share amongst ourselves which otherwise would not have happened. This is about real partnership, and Langham is really charting a new and exciting path in this kind of engagement with the African church. We are very excited about it.

Dave: I am excited to read your book and to hear you speak here tomorrow. Thank you for your time today and I will be looking forward to seeing your next book.

View more photos of John Azumah and the Inside-Out Evangelical Conference sponsored by Presbyterian Global Fellowship

Order My Neighbor’s Faith from the JSM online bookstore

We’ve been busy! Take a look at how the world is changing this year through some of Langham Preaching’s recent training sessions.

Langham Preaching makes waves in the Pacific

Following the launch of Langham Preaching in Vanuatu – the first step in the development of the work in the Pacific – plans are now underway for the launch of similar initiatives in the Solomon Islands and in Papua New Guinea next year.  The Vanuatu programme is having an ongoing impact, as Andrew Williamson reports: ‘Did you know that the two French-speaking pastors present went home and immediately met with twenty of the leaders they are discipling for five nights a week, for two weeks, reviewing the material of the Langham Preaching seminar? And hear at Talua Ministry Training Centre, we are reviewing our whole approach to teaching (and doing) preaching to bring it into line with the Langham teaching. It will take another month or so before we make all the decisions, but I think it will be a sizable overhaul of our approach.  Keep up your good work!’

West Africa prepares to extend the reach of training

In August Langham Preaching facilitator, Gordon Woolard, visited Benin, where a small team has been
established to prepare for the launch of a preaching movement.  Neighbouring Togo would like to send delegates too, and so plans are underway for the start of training next year.  Langham Preaching will also begin in Liberia later this year, and local country coordinator Dyonah Thomas reports that delegates are being selected from all 15 regions of the country, ready for the December launch.  Neighbouring Sierra Leone and Gambia hope to send delegates to Liberia too, as the programme prepares to extend to new territories in the future.

Chiang Mai welcomes the first seminar for biblical preaching

From June 30 to July 4, the first Chiang Mai seminar for biblical preaching takes place, jointly hosted by OMF and Langham Preaching.  Gathering some 25 delegates from Thailand and several neighbouring countries, this will be the first of a series of four seminars to equip pastors for their preaching ministries, and to work towards a stronger base in each country for the nurturing of country training programmes.

Preachers’ clubs keep busy in Kenya

Mercy Ireri is the very energetic coordinator of the preaching clubs in Kenya.  Armed with her mobile phone, she keeps track of the pastors and lay preachers, encouraging them to meet regularly, as well as visiting the clubs in different regions near Nairobi.  She recently reported:

I attended the Kirinyaga Preachers Club this past Saturday.  The group has been meeting consistently each month since September 07.  It is made up of two men and three women, from the Anglican church, the Methodist church and Gospel Outreach church (Pentecostal).  Since the August preaching seminar, one member joined a college in Nyeri, about 35km away from Keroguya which is the meeting venue.  She makes the needed effort (time and bus fare) to attend the club meeting.  The other lady moved to Nakuru, but still comes to the club meeting.

The cohesiveness in the group was pretty obvious.  On that day, they had chosen to present outlines from Daniel 10. At first I was, like, of all books, Daniel! They decided on the book so that with what they were taught at the seminar, they can try to handle those ‘difficult’ books in the Bible.  It was quite amazing to note that they did not dwell on the ‘absurd details’ in the text, but they used the ‘Studying a passage’ sheet to study the passage. After each presentation, they would assess “Faithfulness, Relevance, Clarity”, and give their feedback.  Each outline identified the audience, had a theme statement, had a verse structure and an accompanying sentence.   I was able to wrap up the session with a few points on handling apocalyptic literature.  We sure had a real good day!  I left so, so encouraged.  With calmness returning in the country, many groups are now planning on beginning their meetings. My other highlight each month has been calling the club leaders. I get to laugh as they share their stories, and I get so encouraged when they explain what they are doing, and when I place the phone down, I thank God for what is happening.  Thank you for your enormous support in this work in Kenya.

by Victor Sun, General Secretary, Langham Foundation-Hong Kong

8 August 2008

Are we ready for the Olympics extravaganza? We in Hong Kong are eagerly waiting for the opening ceremonies on 8th August at 8:08 pm, when the spectacular 17 days of competition begins. The Chinese government is doing everything possible to make the games a success by spending billions of dollars on the city. In the last few months, 30 sport stadia and 44 training centres have been erected, new air-conditioned buses were put into service and pollution factories were either shut down or relocated. I was in Beijing just two weeks ago, landed in a state-of-the-art airport with the world’s largest passenger terminal (designed by Sir Norman Foster) while three additional subway lines were opened the following day to ease the ever-growing traffic. By hosting the XXIX Olympiad in 2008, China is not only showing her best face to the world, she is also sending out a clear message that the country is ready to take her rightful place in the family of nations after re-emerging as an global economic giant. What is ironic is that since January, the Western media has made China the centre of attention first with the snowstorm, then the Tibetan riots in March to be followed by the Sichuan earthquake in May.

For the last 30 years, we have witnessed China’s gradual opening up from the isolation days of Cultural Revolution. People’s livelihood has improved, especially for those living in the urban area. In general Chinese citizens today enjoy greater freedom compared to the previous generations. Along with the rapid social change, the church in China has also thrived, and many young people are openly claiming to be Christian believers. The 2008 Olympics is the largest international event hosted so far in the country’s history, it will no doubt provide ample opportunities for fellowship between local and foreign Christians. Some Beijing churches are organizing special cultural and musical shows as part of the celebration.

There is a severe lack of pastors and Bible teachers in China today. There are too few seminaries to keep pace with the staggering growth of believers. This is where Langham Partnership International through the Langham Foundation in Hong Kong can contribute to building a healthy church in China. Currently we have ten Langham scholars from that country (excluding those from Hong Kong). Three of them have obtained their doctorate degrees and returned home to serve. At the same time, the Langham Foundation is helping a number of seminaries and universities inside China to expand their libraries with evangelical books while our first preaching seminar for China mainland pastors will be launched later in September this year.

We would value your prayers during the 2008 Olympics. Remember to thank the Lord for building his Church and his Kingdom in China despite the difficult times in previous years. Pray also for God’s protection for the visitors, athletes, foreign and local Christians that no harm will befall them. Pray too that God’s eternal purpose will prevail and that many will come to acknowledge his goodness and sovereignty (“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. – Psalm 127:1). Lastly we pray that God will allow the body of Christ to grow and mature. One day we hope to see that the church in China can become a blessing to the nation and the world.