Liberated from occult influences in Central Asia
Tina* is a Langham Preaching facilitator from a country in Central Asia. She shared her life story.
How did Jesus find you?
I grew up in an atheist society where we were taught that there was no God. Even though I was an atheist, my mother would always say that God existed and that we should pray to him. When I turned 30, I started wrestling with questions about life’s meaning.
My mother’s death became a turning point in my spiritual journey. In our family, she was always the source of encouragement, strength and assurance. With her death I lost this sense of stability in life. One day, my best friend became a Christian. She had tried to bring me to church several times but I kept refusing. But in 1999, I moved to the capital city and faced my challenges. During this time, my friend brought me to church.
Several years later I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, after I felt liberated from some occult influences. After I became a Christian, the encouragement, strength and assurance that I lost with the death of my mother I found in God. Through Jesus, I received such great peace and profound joy that I dedicated my life to serving him.
What do you enjoy about working with Langham Preaching?
I like studying and finding the truth in God’s Word. I value deeply that Langham is committed to training preachers to preach the Word of God faithfully. I also like training and investing in other preachers.
What does serving Jesus look like for you this week?
Every day I wake up at 5:00-5:30 and start my day with a devotional, reflecting on God’s Word. Since I work at a seminary, I feel I am reflecting on God’s Word all day long.
My main responsibilities during the week are overseeing the academic program of the seminary, making sure that the courses are taking place, that teachers are assisted properly and that students have everything they need to study well. I also supervise the daily worship services at the seminary chapel.
Lately, most of my time has been spent preparing our seminary for a regional accreditation.
Pray for the work in Central Asia
Please pray for Tina, and all the Langham Preaching facilitators in Central Asia, that they will know God’s blessing and help as they seek to spread the “benevolent virus” of expository preaching.
Pray also that they will have success in getting those who attend the training seminars into preaching clubs, where they can get feedback, ongoing support, encouragement and motivation to put the training into practice.
Pray for the Church in Central Asia, that they will be mature in faith and bold in their witness.
Join us in prayer
UPCOMING LANGHAM PREACHING EVENTS
Where countries are considered sensitive re: security, the region is mentioned rather than the country.
- July 14-20: Burkina Faso, South Africa(2)
- July 21- 27: Tanzania, Burkina Faso, South Africa(2), Sierra Leone, Ecuador
- July 28- Aug 3: DR Congo, Haiti, Thailand, Zambia, South Africa (2), Zimbabwe
- August 4-10: West Africa, DR Congo, Haiti, South Africa, Zambia
- August 11-17: Liberia(2), DR Congo, South Africa
SCHOLARS
- Pray for Egyptian Scholar George Bishai and his family as he completes his PhD back home in Alexandria.
- Pray for a Scholar from Myanmar hoping to come to Australia to study.
- Pray for Fanos Tsegaye (Ethiopian) as she studies in Scotland.
- Pray for the Asia Bible Commentary Series editorial team, who are meeting in August. The ultimate goal of the series is to strengthen the Body of Christ in Asia by providing pastoral and contextual exposition of every book of the Bible. Praise God for the 15 books already published and for the Editorial Team as they oversee ongoing work on the other books.
- Pray for the ongoing increase of preaching clubs in preaching movements around the world.
LITERATURE
PREACHING
Langham Australia CEO Gillean Smiley writes…
Thank you for your response to the June annual appeal for the work being undertaken in the South Pacific. In our society where we are constantly bombarded with campaigns to try something new, different and “exciting”, I was very encouraged by your recognition that what we are already doing is effective and achieving wonderful results, and therefore we need to keep doing it, and where possible do more of the same! What can be more exciting than seeing people growing in their faith and biblical understanding, equipped to reach out to their own communities, because they are being well taught by well trained and resourced leaders? The work of Langham around the world has made a demonstrable impact, and we are continuing to develop measurement and evaluation tools that allow us to review what we do, so that we can continue to grow and improve in ways that have the best possible outcomes. One example of this has been our research into the experience of Langham Scholars, including what are the factors that have led to the outstanding rate of return to their home context to teach, preach and train others as leaders. (General rates of return for Majority World scholars are fewer than 50%, those being trained for Christian ministry generally fewer than 70%, and for Langham scholars more than 90%). A key factor identified was the quality of Scholar Care provided to the scholar and his or her family during and after their studies. In response, Langham has increased resources and focus on outstanding scholar care and support, to maintain and even improve our excellent results.
To be able to continue this approach – i.e. a dynamic partnership with the people we serve, so that we can ensure our programs are as relevant, effective and useful as possible – we are particularly grateful for those gits we receive marked for use “where most needed”. It is a great joy to be able to respond to emerging needs, requests from our Majority World partners and to strategic priorities, with funds that are freed up from restrictions that limit them to a particular, specific activity (much as those funds are also needed and appreciated!). So to receive the message from our annual appeal that so many of you want to see us “keep going and do even more of the same”, and mark your gift “South Pacific OR where most needed” is such a blessing. Thank you!
If you would like specific details of how funds are applied, and the range of projects supported in the past financial year, please let us know with an email to australia@langham.org or call to 02 4751 9036.