Three Years of Preaching in Bolivia

This past November, Langham International Ministries Director Chris Wright led the third preaching event in Bolivia, returning to Cochabamba after a Level 2 event moved to La Paz in 2005. This latest engagement was held in partnership with CCM (Centro de Capacitacion Misionera, La Paz) and CCU (the Bolivian IFES movement) and hosted by La Casa de la Juventud, a Catholic retreat center, about 11 km outside Cochabamba at Quillacollo.

This event drew a registration of 56 pastors, with many returning from previous years. There was a good sense of solidarity and experience with these returning pastors. They came from several cities—La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosi, and Trinidad—some of whose preaching groups have continued since meeting in 2004. A useful feature of the arrangement was that the afternoon workshops were organized by city (six altogether, with La Paz split in two). This was obviously useful in enabling them to work together well and also facilitated the ongoing consolidation of these groups as preaching clubs in the cities. The group was fairly evenly split between men and women, and it seems that women get opportunities to preach in many (but not all) Bolivian denominations.

The overall theme of the week was “Interpreting and Preaching the Old Testament,” and Chris was the only main facilitator (which made planning hard work, but at least gave a measure of coherence and continuity.)

The day began and ended with an exposition. Since Chris was dealing with the narratives, the law, and the prophets, he chose to do a series of four on Deuteronomy in the morning sessions (Deut. 4, 6, 15 and 26). In the evening he conducted two on narratives (Gen. 22 and Ruth 1) and two on prophets (Isa. 52:7-10 and Jer. 29:1-14). The evening sessions were open and advertised to the Christian public in Cochabamba, and it was gratifying for the organizers that about 30 or more people drove out to the retreat center each evening, filling the hall with close to 90 people. This was certainly a lot easier and less tiring on all of us than having to transport the whole community by bus in to a central church, as they did in 2004.

The rest of the morning sessions included teachings by Chris, followed by a vigorous Q-and-A session. “Una mas pregunta, por favor!’“ (One more questions, please!) was the cry, especially during the Tuesday and Wednesday sessions when he was handling Old Testament law, until he would call a halt and move on. The attendees were a lively bunch. The fact that Chris had been with them two years ago and knew many of their names made these times very enjoyable for all.

Participants had two hours of group work on given passages in the afternoons. Then a plenary session began at 5:00 p.m., , with each group presenting their outlines. These were of an encouragingly high standard. The evidence of the previous two years of seminars and practice was clear . After pastors presented their outlines, Chris was invited to comment, and that was then followed by yet more Q-and-A until about 6:30 p.m.

This week counts as a module within CCM’s annual program of weeklong seminars, so those who register, do the required reading, and produce some written work later, get a unit of credit toward their diplomas.

In 2007, Bolivia is looking forward to a visit from Jonathan Lamb, Director of Langham Preaching. He will do some “training of trainers” teachings, as well as some specific teachings about preaching from a particular part of the Bible, or a single book.

Another aspect to the whole movement in Bolivia goes beyond this CCM-CCU annual seminar. Igor Amestegui, who attended the Langham Preaching Consultation in Colombia in September 2006, has organized Esquelitas Biblicas de Predicatores (Little Bible Schools for Preachers), using the same model that is being implemented in Colombia. He has 14 men and women who are meeting monthly with him in Cochabamba, being trained in basic skills, and being given opportunity to preach in his church (where the preaching team is already putting into practice the “plan your preaching” method that JSM-Langham taught two years ago). Igor hopes to enable these 14 to begin to teach others also during next year. Similar groups are being started in some of the towns where participants come from, so that the “preaching clubs” already going on there will metamorphose into such “esquilitas.” Igor is excited at the prospect of really making a difference throughout the country as the movement spreads. Igor himself is a gifted and respected biblical preacher, and will be a key figure in encouraging the movement and the network not only in Bolivia but also in other parts of Latin America.