Langham Preaching Initiative Grows in the Balkans

by Jonathan Lamb, Langham Preaching International Program Director

Working in fellowship with national leaders, a new Langham Preaching initiative has been launched in Croatia, seeking to serve local pastors and lay preachers in part of the Balkans. In addition to some 50 Croatian participants, small groups travelled from Novisad (Serbia) and from Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina).

Developed through the initiative of Toma and Ksenija Magda, the Level 1 training programme was hosted at the large Baptist centre in Cakovic, and attracted over 60 participants. Ksenija is presently a Langham Scholar, completing her Ph.D. through the London School of Theology, and Toma is a pastor giving leadership to the work across the Baptist communities of Croatia.

Several of the pastors wrote about the impact of the launch of the programme on their ministries:

‘I will preach in a more Bible-based way, and study the Word more systematically’; ‘I will re-set my priorities in ministry to include more studying and reflection’; ‘I will give more attention to living out in my life the things I preach’; ‘I will use the materials to help others in their preaching ministry’.

Even whilst the group was in the midst of the training programme, the Sarajevo delegates met to plan their first preachers’ club, which they started once they were home.

The plan for the future is to develop the 3 or 4-level seminar programme over a two-year period, with the encouragement to develop small preachers’ groups in between the meetings.

Some members of the small group of delegates from Serbia will hopefully become the planning team for the development of a Serbian preaching movement, which Langham Preaching hopes to develop in fellowship with local churches, the Serbian Project Timothy, the Belgrade Bible School and other partners.