February 23, 2007
January 2007
Dear friends,
‘As we celebrate the birth of Jesus we know that the story moves forward to his death at the age of 33. For most of the world that is regarded as young … Not in Zimbabwe anymore; in the past couple of decades our average life expectancy has been halved to stand at only in the mid-30s. An average of 500 people die of Aids every day. We have 1.3 million orphans and many child-headed families. Often a girl of 15, who has lost both parents, has to look after 3 or 4 younger siblings. Disease, malnutrition and economic mismanagement leading to lack of medicines and clinic facilities are cutting swaths through our population. Yet still for mile after mile along the dusty roads of Zimbabwe you will see the families of the faithful, walking through the night to be at church on Christmas day ready to celebrate the birth of their Saviour. Poor, sick, orphaned, ill-dressed and unshod these, the very humblest in human terms, are the treasures of the Church.’
‘Poor, sick, orphaned, ill-dressed and unshod these, the very humblest in human terms, are the treasures of the Church.’
These moving words, written by Pius Ncube, the Roman Catholic bishop of Bulawayo shortly before Christmas, express the realities of many African countries. They summarise the tragedy and the joy of Christian experience for countless thousands. And they remind us of the closing doxology of Habakkuk, describing ‘fields which produce no food’ and the ravages resulting from economic, social and moral decline. ‘Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.’ Such is the faith of the person who realises they have nothing left but God alone.
We in more comfortable situations continue to learn much from the example of courageous witness and dependent faith, and seek to identify with the global Church in prayer, fellowship and partnership. Thank you very much for your part in this, through your kind interest in the small but hopefully supportive ministries of Langham Partnership around the world.
2007: the year ahead promises so many opportunities that we are very aware of our need of God’s wisdom and provision. Langham Literature continues to develop new initiatives in the encouragement of writers and publishers, as well as sustaining a wide distribution programme. We hope to see further initiatives (following the example of the recently published Africa Bible Commentary), specially in the Arab and Spanish-speaking worlds. Langham Scholars has supported approaching 250 young leaders in their doctoral studies and continues to explore ways of supporting ongoing evangelical scholarship and practical service to the church through these men and women scattered around the world. It is hard to believe that Langham Preaching has completed its first 4 years, and in 2007 we look forward to seeing the programme increasingly established in over 30 countries.
Regional development
In order to sustain the growth we are hoping to strengthen regional efforts, whether though the existing Regional Councils which continue to be established in the 10 or more global regions; or through Preaching networks (hopefully developing in Latin America and Africa); but specifically through the appointment of one or two regional coordinators, who will take responsibility for the development of country programmes within their continent. Finding these gifted people is a key prayer request please!
Country list
The opening months of the year see several country programmes launching, or expanding still further on last year’s efforts, and we would be specially glad of prayer for the small teams of local coordinators who are busy with the very demanding logistics in gathering hundreds of pastors and lay preachers. Please pray too for the Langham facilitators providing the teaching and training, for safety in travel for the hundreds of local believers journeying many miles for the seminars, for effective and contextualised training, and for the funding to support our brothers and sisters. Here are the programmes coming up in the next few months (I should explain that I am not present at all of these – some readers of our letter have wondered how I can be in two places at once! We have an excellent team of nearly 30 facilitators helping us.)
Jan 15-26 Myanmar: expanding to 2 events, including the training of trainers for the future.
Feb 5-9 Nigeria: a new programme, launching with 180 participants, 15 delegates from each of the
denominations.
Feb 5-8 Albania: the third event in Durres.
Feb 14-17 Croatia: new programme, launching with 60 participants from Croatia and neighbouring
countries.
Feb 26-Mar 9 Tanzania: now developing into two regional events, north and south, for 240 delegates.
April 10-13 Belize: new programme, served by our Jamaican team and a member of our Latin
American network, an example of the partnerships we hope will develop elsewhere.
April 10-12 Pakistan south: a new programme to meet the needs in a different part of the country
April 16-20 Uganda: the long-standing programme gathering 200 from across the denominations and
across the country.
May 7-11 Pakistan: a level 3 event plus a training of trainers.
May 18-20 Poland: the third programme in Warsaw.
May 21-25 Jamaica: a three-level event, to which delegations from other islands will come, as plans are made for extending the training in the Caribbean.
Writing
A word of thanks for your prayers for this area of work – often the most difficult from my point of view! We are pleased that ‘Integrity: leading with God watching’ has been published by IVP, and publisher now has the manuscript for ‘From why to worship’, a study guide on the book of Habakkuk. Chris Wright and I are hoping to co-author two titles, and begin our work on these in the coming months. Please pray that I will be able to keep pace with Chris’s prestigious writing skills and prolific output, as I run along behind! (For information on titles please see: www.langhampartnership.org, and go to Chris Wright – Bibliography; or go to Preaching, then Our Director, then Books by Jonathan.)
Family
We are thankful that Margaret is working half time for Langham preaching, often working at unusual hours in order to keep pace with email traffic, especially when Jonathan is out of the country. Her parents have settled well in their nursing home in Scotland. Catherine will continue her teaching at St Andrews School, Turi, in Kenya, which she is greatly enjoying. And Anna and Becky will be making decisions this term on their future direction – Anna for a university place, and Becky for her first teaching job. Both do not know which part of the country they will be heading too, and would be grateful for your prayers!
With our grateful thanks and warm good wishes for the year ahead,
Sincerely,
Jonathan and Margaret