Langham Preaching and Langham Scholars work together in North India

by Paul Windsor, Associate Director, Langham Preaching

The Second North India Consultation was held by Langham Preaching in Noida (New Delhi) from 14-16 September 2009. Alongside the encouragement of being together and making each other aware of the training which is happening, the purpose of the consultation was to explore the ways in which Langham Preaching can be involved in North India in the future.

Paul Swarup (Convenor) with Samuel Yesudas, Joseph Selavadurai, Ernest Clark, Devendra Verma, and Isaac Thomas at the North India Consultation held by Langham Preaching in Noida (New Delhi) from 14-16 September 2009.

Participants included pastors, student workers, theological educators, missionaries among the poor, as well as the director of a wholistic hospital ministry. We were graciously hosted by four Langham Scholars: Paul Swarup (chairman), Finny Philip, AK Lama, and Paulson Pulikottil. People came from Rajasthan in the West to Assam in the East. Much of the conversation focused on Uttar Pradesh which, if it were a country, would be the seventh most populous country in the world.

India presents different challenges from the other countries in which Langham Preaching is involved. There are multiple grassroots training ministries already in existence. Langham Preaching becomes the catalyst who convenes the table around which these people gather, enabling them to network with each other and share resources.

Various fresh initiatives emerged from this consultation:

a. the intention to launch the Level 1-4 preaching seminars in Assam for the churches of the Northeast with AK Lama as the key reference point;
b. the commitment to an ongoing ‘training of the trainers’ through an expanded and strengthened consultation programme in which issues are probed (for example, the challenge of training preachers within the mainline/urban/educated church vs. the emerging/rural/semi-literate church) and we audit the training which is occurring with an eye on the ‘gaps and overlaps’ – and looking to address both these situations;
c. the convening of a consultation in South India.

It is with great encouragement that Langham Partnership International helps to establish quality training for the future of the church in India, and at the same time foster Langham Scholars in their committment to effective grassroots ministry.

Three Indian leaders at Langham Preaching’s North India Consultation held in September 2009. On the left is Paulson, a Langham Scholar who is both Academic Dean at Union Biblical Seminary (Pune) and Pastor of the Community of the Redeemed. In the middle is ‘AK’, a Tibetan convert and Langham Scholar who now leads the entire Baptist work in the six states in Northeast India. On the right is Raju, who was a consulting neurologist in London for six years but now directs Kacchwa Transformation Ministries in Uttar Pradesh, a wholistic ministry built around a hospital which is developing schools, starting businesses, planting churches and seeing hundreds and hundreds of people come to faith in Christ.