Langham Live March 2026 with Andy Oatridge, Director of Langham Preaching: Europe and Caribbean of Langham Preaching
Event Transcript (Interview with Andy Oatridge and Mark Armstrong)
Well, good evening, everyone and thank you so much for being part of Langham Live in March. And for those of you who don’t know me, my name is Mark Armstrong, and I have the privilege of serving Langham Partnership as the Supporter Development Officer for the island of Ireland.
So I look after Langham on the island of Ireland. I really want to take this opportunity as we tune on, to personally thank you for your commitment of coming on to Langham Live each month. It’s a real encouragement to us as part of the team in Langham. I know that regularly our guests inform us that they are blessed as you pray for them. And I know that many of you pray for them right into the future. And so I want to thank you for committing to being part of Langham Partnership, Langham Live each month.
And it’s really my privilege this evening to welcome Andy Outridge. Andy is the Director for Preaching for Europe and for the Caribbean. And Andy, it’s really great to see you this evening. We really appreciate you taking the time tonight and tomorrow morning to come and to be part of us and to be our guest. First of all, Andy, tell us where you’re calling from tonight.
Yeah, thank you. Good evening, everybody. I think the privilege is mine, really, Mark, to be able to join you guys. Prayer is the heart and the energy and the source of everything we do. So thank you for the opportunity. Yeah, I’m just outside of Budapest in a town called Beatorbaj. It was 7,000 when we arrived and is about 17,000 now. So it’s been a new housing development area, but yeah, just 20 minutes outside of Budapest.
So you’re based in, obviously in Hungary and Budapest. I had the opportunity of being in Budapest two years ago at the relaunch of Langham Preaching in Hungary, and just great memories of that. So tell us who you are in Hungary with this evening. Tell us a little bit about your family.
Yeah, Sophie, my wife, is Hungarian. And then we have three older children. So we have David Arpad, who is 20 and still at home studying university, studying business in English in Budapest. And then Rekha Anna, she is 18, so she’s just finishing her schooling here, also in Budapest. And then Emily Chenga, our youngest, who is 16, going on 20, I think. But at school, all of them are fun and the house is often loud, so I’m hoping it won’t be too, too loud in the background, but…
Oh, I was going to say, I’m sure there’s a lot of people saying this this evening. You don’t look old enough to have a son of 20 years of age. You know.
Yeah, this is… Well, I have a son who’s 34, and this is what you look like whenever your son is 34.
But listen, we’ll go back and talk a little bit more about Hungary in a few moments, but would you like to share with us how you came to faith in Christ?
Yeah, it’s all by grace and all of God and not a lot of me. But I… I was brought up in a Christian family to which I’m eternally grateful. A really loving parent who clearly showed me, amongst many other things, what unconditional love meant. Even when I was a teenager, I definitely didn’t deserve any unconditional love. But I guess I grew up and as a teenager particularly, I didn’t have the happiest time. I was slightly leading somewhat of a double life. So I was at school pretending I didn’t go to church. And I was at church kind of trying not to be the big Christian guy. I wasn’t a Christian, but I enjoyed church. I wasn’t a rebel. I wasn’t a bad kid. But I struggled at school. And that became significant later.
And I guess the short version is I took a year out after finishing school and I told people different things, but really I was just scared about life. I just didn’t know what I was doing. And for various reasons, I was… Yeah, I knew I was a sinner because of the teaching at church. And I was… I guess I wasn’t scared of dying. I even thought about that quite a lot as a teenager. But I did fear meeting with God, with Jesus, because I knew… I knew I wouldn’t be on the right side. But I was just too proud, I think, as a teenager to… Even though I knew I needed help, to ask for help.
And then a number of things happened, including a death in the family that just made me think more of life and things. And my older brother Jonathan became a Christian a year before and his life changed somewhat dramatically. And so in the end, when I got courage, I started to ask him about, you know, what happened and what does it really mean? And then I still don’t know how to explain it, really. I was traveling in New York with my brother. He wanted to go to a church. I didn’t want to stay outside on the streets of New York by myself. So I went to that church and by God’s grace, came out a different person having been able to give my life or God opened my eyes, gave me the faith to respond to him. And that was when I was 19, so quite a while ago.
Wonderful. Wonderful to hear. Probably the best journey to New York they ever made. Obviously, as you’ve grown in your Christian faith, you’ve felt a sense of call into mission, into ministry, in which you ended up in Hungary. So perhaps you’d like to talk us through that call, how you ended up in Hungary.
Yeah, I think as soon as I was converted, I had a heart for mission. Within a few months, I was in Mozambique on a small mission team with our church, and I just loved it, seeing something of the world and something of God’s people in another country. I wanted to go to Bible college, but my father wisely said it might be worth going to get a degree and some sort of job and then step onto that. I was young in the faith and so studied maths when it was going to be a teacher. But always the call for mission was there.
And as a student at Sheffield, I met Mark Mennell, and I also joined the CU. And I loved life there. It was… It opened up my world to Christianity in a wider context, I think. And it was while I was there as a student that I went out to Hungary, I think each year, actually, just to go and help with Scripture Union children’s camps. And, yeah, I didn’t think much of Hungary the first time I went, I must admit. But I did become friends with a guy, Arpad, and he invited me back, and friendship developed, and I think most of us would know. I think it’s when you have friends somewhere that you suddenly start to love a country and a people, and that’s what happens.
So I offered to spend a year as a volunteer for Scripture Union in 2001, following my degree. And it was there that I ended up in a church, a Lutheran church, actually. I didn’t speak Hungarian. And so the kind pastor asked a young lady who was a student whether she would translate for this young English missionary. And that, of course, I guess you can imagine, was and is now my wife, Shofi.
So I think that the whole thing for mission was always, always there. And then when we got married, we started running, not children’s camps, but we developed some teenage camps. And I think bringing a team from the UK to work with a church from Hungary, bringing our two worlds together, we just realized, gosh, you don’t need to bring Billy Graham. You can just bring some good old Christian friends from England and the Hungarians love it because of the language opportunity. There you go. There was a mission opportunity on our doorstep, and I think that’s where God just formed a vision for us as a couple to bring our two worlds together. And we then went on and set up a small charity to develop that work. So the missions… Yeah, been there from the beginning, really.
I want to chat about ACORN Bible training in a few moments, but tell us a little bit about Hungary. Percentage Christian, how is the normal response to people of faith? You know, just tell us a little bit about culture and spiritual life of Hungary.
Yeah, it’s fascinating. I mean, I can’t get carried away by the politics. But one thing, don’t believe everything you read on the news. But it’s an incredible warm culture. It’s family-focused a lot more and it’s a lot more church-focused in that it would be more similar to where the UK was, I don’t know, maybe 30 or something more years ago, where the number of people attending churches is really quite significant or significantly higher than in the UK. But I think we realized that the one thing that was a huge difference was the lack of resources, particularly say 25 years ago when we started, and particularly a lack of training.
So the things I’d taken for granted in the UK, good Bible teaching, Bible training courses, training up students was a lot less prevalent in Hungary. Hungarians are very proud people. You probably pick that one up. They’re… They’re an island, the same as we are. It’s just… They’re surrounded by nature, by mountains, but they’re lovely. They’re… It’s a beautiful…
I keep it a bit of a secret, but Budapest really is, apart from being one of the safest capitals in the world, if not in Europe. It’s… It’s a beautiful place, beautiful people who have a real heart. They’re direct. So there’s none of this English kind of reservedness. If they don’t like your preaching, they will certainly tell you it’s too long, Mr. Preacher, it’s too short. They’re lovely.
Oh, it is certainly my experience there was lovely. And drinking coffee in Budapest is a very special memory. Obviously, you’re involved in other aspects of ministry outside of Langham. And we’ll talk about Langham in a few moments, Cornerstone Church and ACORN. So tell us a little bit just about both of those and your involvement in both of those aspects of ministry.
Yeah. So ACORN was running English language camps with Hungarian churches across all of Hungary. So Greater Hungary, across the borders as well. And then we realized the need to develop training for youth leaders and youth pastors, which resulted in the ACORN Bible training course. And that’s just developed over the years.
And then when I got involved in Langham, it’s basically a combination of kind of Proctrust Langham and anything else I saw in Sheffield. So we almost called it Langham Youth when I talked with Mark Mennell at one point and maybe it will become that one day. So that’s the ACORN Bible training.
And as part of that, we were always involved in the local church in our town, a Reformed church. And then after about seven years, we moved here in 2013 to set up the work of Acorn full-time. And after about seven years we moved from the Reformed church to Cornerstone in Budapest and we served there. I served as the youth pastor, just doing a day a week alongside the other work.
And then for a number of reasons, there were quite a few people from this town and they kept asking me, will you be part of a church plant? Because they knew I was an Anglican ordained minister. And I kept pushing back, pushing back. But in the end, about three years ago, we started thinking about that with us, our house group that was meeting in Beat Orba, our town. And so, yeah, two and a half years ago, we began the church plant. I’m one of three elders and I’m the only pastor in that eldership, but there are other retired pastors in the church community.
So that’s kind of one, one and a half, maybe days a week, looking after the church and enjoying the preaching, but obviously not every week. So something like once, twice a month I’d be preaching and it’s just… Yeah, I mean, it’s by God’s grace it, we started around… Not that numbers are the key, but it’s, it’s, it’s something of what’s in Hungary. So we started at 30 and now we would, we would be 100 on paper in terms of committed to the church, but probably 60 on a Sunday.
People will come to church in Hungary if you just do normal good stuff, you’ll fill a building. So yeah, yeah, it’s, I guess it’s the definition of what is good stuff as you know, is it entertainment or is it… Or is it God’s word being faithfully opened and unexplained?
The work that you do with ACORN and obviously the work which you’re involved in in Langham seems to complement each other so well. So how did you first come across Langham? You mentioned your predecessor, Mark Mennell, who was the former director for Langham Preaching in Europe and Caribbean. Was it Mark’s your connection with Mark? It really was your first introduction to Langham?
Yeah, that’s right. So Mark was… I heard that Mark was in Budapest, had no idea why, and he told me he was at a Langham conference. I wasn’t sure what… I mean, I knew All Souls Langham place, but I didn’t know what he was doing. I just said we should meet. So we met. And I mean, it was just beautiful. So it was what we’d been trying to do similar things, obviously on a bigger scale.
So from then on, probably 2017, I was very much committed to… Great to be back with Mark and then committed to the work in Hungary. And so I started helping with the work here and joined the leadership here and then helped doing some of the teaching. So that’s how kind of the Langham… Yeah, it was Mark. Yeah, he’s the guilty party. I totally blame him. Fully responsible.
Great guy. Great guy. Whenever I was in Hungary, one of my most favorite pictures I have is at one of the preaching conferences at a table. And at that table there is a senior pastor, a couple of youth pastors, a couple of students, and a systematic theology professor. In that one picture just shows me this is what Langham does. And the breadth of what Langham preaching does is sort of in that one picture.
Well, last June, you stepped into the role as Director for Langham Preaching for Europe and the Caribbean. Well, somebody has to do the Caribbean, doesn’t it? It’s a tough old job, but somebody has to do it. So what led you sort of to take on that responsibility, along with your already very busy and committed your existing commitments, which you already have?
Yeah, it wasn’t the Caribbean, but it was… Yeah. I mean, I knocked it back a few times at first, and then Paul Windsor happened to be in Budapest for something else. And Mark just said, just, do you want a coffee with him? And I said, of course. You know, no problem having a coffee with anybody. I love meeting people. So we spent a couple of hours. And it wasn’t that Paul was persuasive in terms of his words particularly. It was his personality and character that just attracted me. And that was one thing.
So I definitely blame Paul Windsor as well as Mark, but also, I… I think… I guess, I mean, it sounds a bit maybe odd, but it was just simply God’s call. So I… I tried to knock it back. And then as I started, we started praying about it as a family and then talked to, you know, close friends and the people who mentor me and who I’m accountable to, and… And almost everybody had… Well, actually, everybody had the same opinion, so there are some questions, but it was… It just seemed to be the right fit. Fit at the right time.
If it had come two years before, it would have been a no. Because of the church planting starting, the kids are now at an age where they were… They were quite happy for me to travel. So we sat down, had a good conversation, explained what it would mean, and, ‘Dad, you can travel as much as you want.’ That’s fine.
You’re still in your first year as the role; what encouragements have you seen as you look at Langham Preaching within the region, within Europe and the Caribbean? Let’s not forget about this. And then thinking more widely, I guess, look at the other side. What are some of the challenges you’re seeing regarding preaching within the region?
Yeah, and I think one of the things that’s most encouraging is for me, Langham, when I joined the organisation, or the larger organisation, I should say, the two things that stood out for me were family and humility.
So I’ve just been encouraged, impressed, delighted, just to be able to work in a team and with people, both in the GLT, the Global Leadership Team, but also in the European team, who are hugely gifted. I mean, I’m the new boy, I’m the relatively young boy, and… And it’s just a pleasure to be with brothers and sisters who… Who are just simply like I would be. We’re just God’s children. And the gifts that God’s given us are for him to use as he pleases wherever he wants to lead us.
And I think the encouragements are just to see the work that’s going on around Europe, as we know, you know, Europe is not easy. So I was at the All African consultation and… And things there are a lot bigger. The numbers are bigger, things happen in a more sometimes exciting way. But the thing in Europe, there’s such a great need for good expository preaching.
And I guess the challenges are different. The challenge is maybe there’s less prosperity gospel here in Europe than there would be in Africa. But then we have the secularism and the liberalism and having to fight against those things. So I think there are always challenges.
But the encouragements are Spain is just huge. I mean, I’m still yet to go there and find out, you know, on the ground what it’s like. But just hearing the story of how that work started, of just, you know, Mark going in, training up a few people and then those people then suddenly exploding, that training in all the regions across Spain is… is really quite exciting, really encouraging.
I’ve been in… Yeah, a number of countries more over in the east where it’s a bit more tricky, a bit more challenging in Turkey and places and to see brothers and sisters doing the same thing. And I think seeing that we just do the same thing in all the countries. So we open up the Bible, we sit around tables, we learn how to just understand God’s Word more and then practice how to preach and take the humiliation and get some feedback. It’s really encouraging.
And the challenges are clearly there, as I mentioned, in terms of how do we reach a growing secular society, that’s quite hard at times for the gospel. So I think Europe’s a tough, tough, tough soil in many ways.
Yeah, absolutely. And whenever you look at, you know, the challenges that are there, the Langham Preaching model is a relatively simple model, but it… but it’s really profound. And the changes that you see in people’s lives and preachings and the reports that we get back, it’s just really encouraging whenever you see them.
So it is. Looking ahead, what’s your hopes and your prayers for Langham Preaching in Europe and the Caribbean? As God willing, you will be with us for a number of years?
Yeah, I think I kind of look at the map and I see where we are. And again, it’s not about numbers but there’s a lot of countries where we’re not. So I guess my hope and prayer is that Langham will be in all the countries of Europe and the Caribbean where that’s needed. That would be one. And not that that’s an accelerated process, but just as and when new developments can occur.
We have Slavko Hadzik who’s been in the team for a long, long time and he’s now got a movement mobilizer role simply of helping start new movements and restart kind of those movements that need a restart. And that’s I think an exciting thing.
And secondly, I think my big prayer and hope is that we would be able to continually grow good relationships with similar-minded organisations who are doing the same thing in Europe so that we can do our work even more and even more effectively, but also just know what’s going on. I think there’s a lot of work that goes on and people don’t know about where it is or… or how it’s working. So, yeah, I’m excited. Have a big God and as we remain close to him, humble, who knows what God might want to do?
Yeah, absolutely. And that’s why cooperation is really important. I see your prayer points and they’re going to go up onto the chat box now. I see one of your prayer points is obviously Slavko has moved into a new role as the movement mobilizer, and that you are looking for the appointment of an Eastern European regional coordinator. It’s quite a mouthful, so… And certainly I’m sure that’ll be one of your main prayer points in which you’re wanting to bring, because Slavko’s boots are big boots to fill for any of us here as well. Is there any of those other matters of prayer points that you want to highlight or before we go to prayer?
Yeah, thank you. I… I think just number four. So it’s a big event that we’re trying to organise in September, which will be for the whole region to think about how to do facilitated training and particularly to… to bring a more clearer focus onto the small preaching groups.
So in Europe we’re a bit different to the… I think to the other continents really, in that we’re highly seminar-based, so we’re very much still having people coming in and giving lectures and there’s lots of PowerPoints. Whereas in the other continents it’s a lot more now grassroots, kind of starting at the small preaching group level, which is essential to training good preachers.
So I think there’s a kind of a move that needs to slightly happen, a shift slightly in focus and that will be a key event, really. It’ll be the key event to bring people from across the regions.
So I think for that and if I could squeeze in one little personal one, I’m preaching it. I’m speaking at the National Youth Conference tomorrow and this is one of the times when that having three hats isn’t so helpful, when things just all fall into one place. But that’s another place where we’ve been developing youth training and teaching and… Yeah, that would be just a personal…
Well, Andy, it’s been great chatting with you. It’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to speak to you screen to screen or face to face. Every way really appreciate the time in which you’ve taken this evening. So, Andy, thank you so much for your time this evening.
Thank you all so much.
Prayer Points
Please use the following requests from Andy when praying for his family and mission:
- For our small but diverse team of eight to continue growing in love, trust, and openness with one another.
- For the appointment of an Eastern European Regional Coordinator to support the work in Hungary, Romania, Transylvania, Albania, Georgia, and Ukraine.
- We thank God for the appointment of Slavko Hadzic as Movement Mobiliser. Pray as he works to start and strengthen movements in Czechia, Moldova, Montenegro, Macedonia, France, and Bavaria (Germany).
- For ongoing planning for the Regional Facilitator Training and Small Preaching Group Training this September, that it would help strengthen and refocus the work on preaching groups.
- For someone to support Andy by taking on some of his responsibilities, particularly in leading the Acorn Bible Training Course in Hungary.
- For wisdom as a team in how we use our time, that we would balance our responsibilities well and prioritise our relationship with the Lord and with our families.