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| Expository preachers on tour. Batten down the hatches. |
First up, Mrs. C had last week promised some photographs from camp in today's blog post. However, I've taken the executive decision (see also: Ephesians 5:22) to postpone publication. The reason is that most of my evenings this week have been spent editing the now-customary camp video, a compilation to music of the best images from the weekend -- and quite frankly, if I have to upload one more picture of someone bathing in mud, I might go doolally. However, the video is being premiered at the youth group tonight, and several members or leaders in the group have access to our blog. So, in order to preserve some element of surprise, we'll share the video in a separate post over the weekend.
Post-camp, I had just a few days to recover before setting off to Cochabamba for another adventure, albeit one that was conspicuously lacking in team-chants or blocked toilets. This time around, the environs were considerably more civilised (a monastery, no less), as I joined with a group of Bible teachers from around Bolivia for a Langham training weekend.
Regular readers know that Langham Preaching has been a major element of my ministry over these last two years. We meet once a year for an intensive residential training retreat headed up by Langham workers, and then in between, we meet once a month for our escuelita, in which a Bible text is prayed through, a sermon preached on said text, and then the sermon itself is deconstructed by the group (indeed, we had November's escuelita this very morning).
God is blessing the ministry of Langham Preaching in Bolivia to such an extent that the national workers are finding it increasingly challenging to meet the needs of all the groups in the country. Moreover, the vision has always been to equip local workers with the tools to take on much of the work themselves. For that reason, there is a renewed drive to train key Langham contacts throughout the country such as myself in running the annual workshops, and that was the purpose of the get-together.
The main seminars looked in detail at Langham Preaching's methodology, which would be based on a student-centric teaching model, one which is fairly familiar to people in Europe or North America, but not here; 'learning' in Bolivia at all levels is very much still saddled with the chalk-and-talk approach. Naturally, then, the theory behind such practice was relatively new to most participants, but even white guys like myself and England's Jonny Anderson (based in Sucre) learned much from these sessions.
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| Cochabamba's Cristo looms large over lunch. |
Additionally, I learned that the Trinidad model (annual meeting, monthly escuelitas, annual meeting etc.) is not the only approach taken to the local groups. Indeed, some meet on a weekly basis, and instead of teaching the main material in big, intensive annual chunks, it is spread out over the year in a way that perhaps guards against forgetfulness, as well as the big-event mentality (something that can prove a bit of an obstacle in this region of Bolivia). It's something to chew on for when we return from home assignment, with one or two others having recently asked me about the possibility of starting a new group.
Above all, though, the group was nourished by some tremendous preaching, with three sermons focusing on 'The Spirituality of Jesus'. After a couple of years of email contact, this was my first experience of meeting and sitting under the tremendous preaching ministry of Igor Amestegui, a Bolivian who is based in Cochabamba, but who is Langham's facilitator for the entire region of Latin America. Over the course of the weekend, it was a thrill to get to know people like Igor and other workers throughout Bolivia (including those working in Quechua and Aymara communities); again, I was thankful for the great opportunities for fellowship that have very quickly opened up to Amanda and I within the country over recent months.
Indeed, we're looking forward to receiving more visitors from around Bolivia before we leave Trinidad at the end of December: Edwin from Langham is due back in mid-December, and Brigitte from Latin Link will be here, God-willing, at the end of this month for an overnight visit. Before them, however, we are looking forward to welcoming LAM Canada's Sue Barham, who is due in the big T on Monday for a three-night stay. World: Trinidad welcomes you!
Prayer
- For our time with Sue this week.
- We're due to leave Trinidad for home assignment at the end of December, and the limited time available to tie up loose ends here is being more keenly felt with each week that goes by. Pray for calmness, and the sense to take each day as it comes.
Praise
- For an encouraging visit to Cochabamba last weekend for Craig.
¡Que Dios les bendiga!
Craig & Amanda
Interesting! Our annual business meetup was also hosted recently. It was a night event and a dinner bash had also been organized. It was arranged at reputed meeting space San Francisco. All services offered by them were top class.
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