John Azumah is the first Langham writer sponsored by the Langham Literature program to publish under the HippoBooks press. While in California speaking at the Inside-Out Evangelical Conference sponsored by Presbyterian Global Fellowship, John talked with Dave Hoffman, vice president of John Stott Ministries, about his new book, My Neighbor’s Faith: Islam Explained for Christians.

Dave: I want to ask you a little about this book, My Neighbors 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 wanted to produce 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 HippoBooks. You mentioned that it was a way to encourage African writers and first-time writers especially, but tell me what you think HippoBooks 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 produced 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 is really 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 to difficult for African writers to one, 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 challenges. 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 and 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 Neighbors 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 writers grant from Langham because as I said, part of the challenges. It took some time to get this last book organized and it was quite good that Akrofi-Christaller allowed me to take this time. But a grant will make it much easier and faster 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 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 their kinds of forums that bring these scholars together for meeting, 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 and 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

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.

大約1,300人聚首阿伯丁展覽及會議中心，國際靈風合作夥伴組織總幹事基斯．韋特鼓勵他們要長大，成為成熟的基督徒。

該晚聚會一開始由Souled Out樂隊領大家唱詩敬拜。接著基斯向下一代的神子民發出挑戰，要他們記住，教會增長需要成熟這個元素，如果我們繼續在凡事上都榮耀神，就會更有深度。樂隊在聚會的尾聲再次獻唱，同時參加者有機會上前接受代禱。

為了讓核心信息更能感染較年青的會眾，我們聘請了一位本地畫家（麥克．參孫），將他對於「深度、作主門徒、成熟，以及有深度的教會增長」的理解繪畫出來。他畫在一張巨型帆布上，在前面掛起來，讓所有出席者都看見。當晚聚會的參加者都收到草稿紙和鉛筆，讓他們也可以創作自己的主題圖像，然後貼在禮堂周圍的藍色壁報板上。前面又掛起了另一張大帆布，讓那些大膽的年青人在聚會過程中上前，將他們自己對於主題的理解畫出來。

基斯．韋特向參加者所講的信息，與國際靈風合作夥伴組織的熱情相呼應，我們的使命正是幫助主體世界中的教會長大成熟。

大家可以在以下網站進一步了解這事工：
Listen to Chris’ talk。

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.

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 National Evangelical Church of Beirut has deep roots in Lebanon, first established in 1848 and later creating the first evangelical Arabic-speaking congregation in the Middle East. It has a long history of serving as a center for publishing and other communication among Arab Christians. In June, the tradition of this church continued as it hosted the book-launch event for Langham scholar Riad Kassis’ latest publication to an enthusiastic crowd that included many local and national dignitaries.

Riad’s book Why Don’t We Read the Book That Christ Read? Towards a Better Understanding of the Old Testament (Beirut: Clarion Publishing 2008) was released in Arabic and supported in part by a grant from the Langham Literature program. Riad is the first Langham writer to publish in the Middle East and the first to publish in Arabic.

The main objective of the book is to approach the difficulties that an Arab reader may face when reading the Old Testament, to provide an appropriate methodology on reading the Old Testament, and to show the relevancy that the Old Testament has for the ethical, social, and political issues of the Arab world today. The book launch was sponsored by Clarion Publishing and the educational and spiritual ministry committee of the National Evangelical Church of Beirut.

Among the attendants of the event were following: the president of the Supreme Council of the Evangelical Churches in Syria and Lebanon, the president of the Evangelical Alliance in Lebanon, many pastors, school principals and teachers, as well as the presidents of several theological institutions in Lebanon.

“I was also pleased to see the most influential writer and biblical scholar in the Maronite/Catholic church of Lebanon, and perhaps in the whole Middle East, Father Dr. Boulos Feghali,” Riad said. “Even Father Feghali, who was not scheduled to speak, insisted to say a few words on the importance of my work.”

Riad was honored and thrilled with the excitement from the people who attended. One leader from the Lebanon chapter of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) wrote, “Allow me to thank you for yesterday’s ‘classy’ signing event. I liked all of its parts, especially your word! … May the Lord bless you and keep your pen running for His glory!”

Crews from local media–including SAT-7 (the evangelical satellite television) and Noursat (the Catholic satellite television)–were also present. SAT-7 will be broadcasting the book-launch event on July 2 and 3, 2008, and will feature a special interview with Riad on July 10. It is expected that the event will also appear in several major newspapers in Lebanon and the Middle East.

Please join Riad in prayer that the success of his book release will help promote the need for the publication of more books written by and for Arab Christians.

Read the recommendations for Why Don’t We Read the Book That Christ Read?

View more photos of Riad Kassis’ historic book launch.