Spiritual renewal for PNG Preachers
by Wendy Toulmin, Langham Partnership Australia
The first Level 1 Langham Preaching seminar in Papua New Guinea took place early in December at the Christian Leaders Training College (CLTC) Banz, an hour’s drive east of Mt Hagen. We were warmly welcomed by Principal Ezekiel Ivihi and his staff.
This is Langham Preaching’s third initiative in the Pacific, supported and funded by Langham Partnership Australia.
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| PNG seminar |
118 preachers attended from 24 different denominational groups, as well as students from CLTC, a contingent from SIL-Wycliffe, delegates from Gospel Recordings, Evangelical Alliance, and a number of other organisations.
The seminar was facilitated by Paul Windsor, Associate Director for Langham Preaching, with Melbourne’s Andrew Reid and Tim Johnson. This was Andrew’s first return to PNG after spending his childhood there.
Many participants spoke of the seminar as a time of deep personal renewal.
“A long time in ministry can leave the tools going blunt,” said Pastor Gireva, a senior pastor with the Christian Life Centre. “This week has been about becoming spiritually sharpened again.”
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| Sermon outlines around the
auditorium resembled an art gallery |
During the group feedback sessions we posted the preachers’ sermon outlines all around the auditorium.
“It resembled an art gallery as people wandered around,” said Paul Windsor. “The quality of their work progressed so much through the week that during the final feedback session I decided to walk through the gallery myself and stop and ‘commentate’ on the various features of each outline,” he said.
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| Dr Rosie Crowter with seminar participants
and books by her late brother Phil. |
Five associates of Australian Indigenous Ministries joined the seminar, building partnerships with CLTC and Langham as they develop preaching training for an indigenous Australian context, and David Kima, Director of the very active Evangelical Alliance-PNG brought an enthusiastic contingent from Goroka.
Another key initiative of the seminar was the provision of the late Phil Crowter’s highly-acclaimed Pray-Prepare-Preach resources to many of the participants. It was a highlight having Phil’s sister, Dr Rosie Crowter, a missionary in PNG, with us. Rosie came with a group of pastors from Western Province.
The Level 2 seminar in PNG, preceded by a condensed Level 1 for a small group to be selected from denominations and provinces under-represented this year, is on track for December 2010. Pray for Emmanuel Kauna, David Kima and other members of the local organising committee.
