Langham Preaching International Director Jonathan Lamb reports on the rapidly growing preaching movements in Tanzania:
Tanzania is hosting one of the fastest growing Langham Preaching movements in the world. Launched two years ago with a small group of pastors in Morogoro, the 2007 program, held in February and March, has attracted over 300 participants in a new regionalized training initiative.
A two-level event took place in Morogoro, and a new Level 1 program was launched the following week in Mwanza, on Lake Victoria. The local team managed to cope with the logistical challenge of welcoming double the anticipated number of delegates at the new Mwanza program!
Under the local leadership of Frank Luvanda and Tony Swanson, the preaching movement has gathered momentum through the development of many preachers’ clubs in the central part of the country. On arrival, the two Langham preaching facilitators, Simon Vibert and Rodney Wood, were also encouraged to hear how the teachers at the local Bible school had worked with their students all year to continue to teach “the single idea of the text leading to the single idea of the sermon!”
Langham Literature made a significant contribution in sponsoring a Swahili Bible commentary for all of the participants, and continues to explore the possibilities of helping local writers to provide good material in Swahili for the future.
Commenting the week after the training, Tony Swanson, AIM missionary who is helping to coordinate the Tanzanian program, wrote:
“I even experienced some direct benefits on Sunday morning when our local AIC pastor who attended the seminar, preached an expository sermon for possibly the first time in his life. What was just as encouraging was that I was able to follow a Swahili sermon from its beginning to its conclusion without wondering where he was going or when it would end!”
Significantly, a group of seven pastors travelled from Zambia to take part in the program. Writing to Jonathan Lamb recently, the Zambian delegates said:
“After being invited to Langham Preaching in Morogoro, we came to realize the importance and need of Bible exposition. Despite the numerical growth of the church, it is evident that the health of the church is below par. Facing this challenge, and seeing how beneficial the Langham Preaching seminar was in Morogoro, we hereby request that the same program be established in Zambia.”
And they have since reported:
“In my district we are having the first preachers’ club meeting on March 23rd with 36 pastors from different denominations.”
Langham Partnership UKI hopes to respond to the Zambian call at the earliest opportunity.