We might live in an advanced world in many respects, but there are still many people throughout the globe who do not have access to the Word of God, or to clear biblical resources for understanding and interpreting the Word of God for their own context.
Langham Literature has at its heart, a mission to strengthen and equip leaders of the Majority World church by providing them with excellent books to help them understand and teach the Bible. This is why they are currently developing commentaries that help church leaders in challenging contexts to preach and teach the Bible with resources in their own languages.
Developing much-needed contextual commentary
Currently, the Literature team are working on multiple commentary projects, including some that are particularly groundbreaking for their contexts. Local church leaders and Christians need Bible commentaries, to help them preach, witness and teach the Bible in their own language. Langham is involved in creating commentaries that, in some regions, will be the first such tool to be used in education and ministry.
Today many leaders in churches in sensitive regions are first and second generation Christians who have taken on responsibility in church and mission. A minority have received some theological education, but many are in need of basic, solid Bible teaching and interpretation. They will receive some of it through the commentaries Langham produces.
Commentaries are developed through the writing of scholars and theologians from that region, although some regions don’t have enough authors to contribute an entire commentary volume. In these cases, contextualisation is added to others’ writing to form a full commentary. This highlights the continual need for scholars to be raised up in all global contexts!
The questions commentaries seek to help Christians answer
The questions and challenges of Christians are vastly different depending on where they live in the world. In the Western World, we often take for granted that Christianity is the basis of our social morality and cultural structure. For many Christians throughout the world, the basis for starting conversations and explaining faith are very different.
Some questions that those in regions that have a Muslim context ask are:
- How do we explain our Christian faith and how do we faithfully live this faith in a context where not only the surrounding society but also our families and friends are Muslims?
- How do we address issues related to ethics, identity, faith communities and salvation?
- How can we authentically explain the historical context of our region, which demonstrates Christianity was there first, long before Islam, and can be considered as the roots of monotheism?
- How can we continue to witness in an increasingly Muslim-dominated context?
- How do we pass on the Christian faith to the next generation of believers in Jesus the Messiah?
These very questions and others like them, help to form commentaries that are full of contextualised insights that can equip local churches and Christians.
Do you want to be a part of bringing contextual biblical resources to regions that don’t currently have them? Donate to Langham Partnership Australia today.