Only four years ago, Langham held 850 preaching clubs and supported 69 scholars. Now in 2022, we’re holding 1143 preaching clubs and supporting 85 scholars. 

God’s work and Kingdom is growing through the ministry of Langham, with your support in gifts and prayers. Then there is Langham Literature…

Last week Pieter Kwant was on our monthly Langham Live Zoom call, as he comes to retire from his role as Langham Literature Director at the end of the year. Pieter’s involvement goes back over 20 years with Langham, not just four years.  

Only possible with God

But the stories, figures, plans, books to be released over the coming months and years that Pieter shared is staggering – all only possible with God. Humanly, it’s definitely impossible! 

One-volume Bible commentaries are reaching almost every corner of the globe; we’re supplying books to 700 colleges across 79 countries; and if that doesn’t blow your mind, how about supporting 23 indigenous publishers in 20 countries. That’s an increase of 8 publishers in just four years.

Please do watch the edited video of Pieter speaking. On the call, he talked about sensitive countries. Please do join us live for future calls, to hear the full conversations. It was a great time to sit back and be joyful and thankful for what God is doing here on earth.

Read and pray for Pieter Kwant’s prayer requests (edited).

By Simon Foulds, Supporter Development Manager, LPUKI

It was a tremendous blessing, given the circumstances, to have Ukrainian brothers in Christ; Roman Soloviy joining from Lviv and Taras Dyatlik joining from Rivne on the Langham Live zoom last week. They shared their experiences and extreme challenges they are going through, serving God in Ukraine as they endure the Ukrainian – Russian war.

Both have been involved with Langham for many years and significantly in the Slavic and Central Asian Bible Commentaries and similar projects.  Taras shared how these publications helped build up the community of theological educators and church ministers in Eastern Europe.  

John Libby, LPUKI National Director, shared that originally there was a significant number of the Slavic Bible Commentary at risk in a warehouse in Kiev early in the war, but most of these have now been retrieved, Praise God.  

Faith under fire

This horrendous war has unimaginably impacted their everyday lives. The Ukrainian population is all too familiar with the Russian oppression of their nation which has culminated with the horrific events of this year.

Thousands of people fleeing Ukraine, seeking refuge in neighbouring countries flooded all roads towards the borders.  People displaced from their homes and cities started to fill all public spaces: schools, churches, seminaries.  People were queuing for days to get across the borders.  Roman explained how he and colleagues did everything they could to help those people in those days.

Extreme situations lead to having to make decisions that are very difficult.  Shelling all around Ukraine led to deep questions having to be faced, such as “what do we do with our family?”  History had shown them, and they knew what atrocities would be inflicted on the nation by the Russians.

Roman’s wife took their children to Romania.  These are unforgettable moments, he explained.  Not able to know if he would ever see them again. Such decisions need to be made in the moment, moments that will never be forgotten.  Many men cannot leave the country because of their age and therefore face this harsh reality. 

Taras’ family is scattered. Many are serving in special forces. The daily calls between them bring relief that they are still alive.  

Both men affirm that the calling is to stay and serve with the churches and seminaries. There are very difficult days ahead, but as they share – the church is strong and will survive. 

And still the war rages, people are devastated, tired and mentally exhausted.  

Supporting refugees 

The theological seminaries are working together with local churches and were the first to receive refugees as the Russian army moved in and displaced hundreds of thousands of local people. Many people stayed at the seminaries. 

Taras shared how his seminary was one of ten locally who worked together as a coordinating group, creating a network of seminary-based refugee hubs.  They have helped evacuate more than 10,000 people.  Daily they help 4,000 refugees providing sanitation and clothing etc. They provide food and medical supplies to over 300,000 people.

In the midst of all that is going on, there are opportunities to listen to people and point them to hope, particularly the hope that only Jesus can bring.

Theological Reflections

War takes you to the root of your beliefs and theological reflection. It makes your theology extensional, Roman shared.

Churches are united, all churches are displaying their sacrificial nature.  The amount of kind works they are doing is tremendous. God is active, even in the secular space there is coordination and work being carried out that can only be inspired through God’s love.  

They believe in God’s intervention, reminding us it’s a challenge to faith when it seems that prayers are going unanswered.  It can cost and challenge inner strengths, emotions, courage.  

They are carrying faith to all the work they do having to daily and personally challenge the thoughts and doubts, looking for biblical, human hope and perspective. In the cold reality of the circumstances, it’s easy to want to run from this all but daily end up running to God where he meets them. It’s like daily becoming a Christian again and again in the growing of faith under challenge.  

Prayers for Peace

Roman asked prayer for God’s miraculous intervention as it’s a David v Goliath war.  He seeks prayer for their work helping internally displaced persons, 265,000 in one region. He encourages us to pray for these people in desperate situations and for the theological educators in the very difficult situations that they are facing.

Taras thanks God for the partnership working with them, outlining without this help they couldn’t survive.  He sought prayer for millions of divided families: fathers, husbands, wives and children who are all separated because of this war. 

Over 70 people attended the zoom call and were allocated to breakout rooms to pray about these requests. 

It was a privilege for all who attended the Langham Live session to pray into this war, to seek God’s intervention on behalf of the millions affected. There was a real tangible sense of God’s presence with heartfelt prayers raised to God 

Please do join us for the next Langham Live calls at the end of November. 

By David McMullan, Deputy CFO, LPUKI. 

Dr Riad Kassis, Director of the Langham Scholars programme, joined us on Zoom last week for Langham Live while relying on solar energy. Power cuts are extremely frequent in Beirut, Lebanon, where Riad lives.

As he shared with us, his home country is facing many political and economic challenges – and yet Syrian and Iraqi refugees are welcomed in. Riad’s wife is the director of an organisation which serves refugees called ‘Together for the Family’. 

Highest number of Scholars

Meanwhile, Riad directs the Langham Scholars programme: he shared that this year, Langham is supporting 98 current Scholars in many countries and contexts. It’s the highest number of current Scholars since the programme was started by John Stott decades ago. 

Riad emphasised that Langham’s support of these students is not just financial. Langham provides vital pastoral care for them and their families. He even pointed out that Rev Geoff Gardner, his own pastoral care coordinator (when he was studying for his PhD at Nottingham University in the 90s), was on the call! 

Langham also endeavours to provide Scholars with further professional development once they have gained their PhDs. This includes study residencies, writers’ grants and opportunities to present papers at academic conferences. 

Points for prayer

For example, on the call was a Langham Graduate from Mexico, who is taking up a residency at a college in Bristol, UK to work on a book. 

Over 50 people were on the call, eager to hear Riad’s points for prayer. He asked us to pray for safety as he speaks this week to university students at a conference in Syria. People there are in a very distressed situation following 11 years of war. 

Riad also expressed his gratitude to God for the many prayerful and financial supporters he has all over the UK. 

Supporters from Scotland, England and France

It was a privilege to break into smaller groups and bring before the Lord these matters for prayer. In my small group, supporters from Scotland, England and France approached the throne of grace in earnest. 

Please do join us for the next Langham Live calls at the end of October, when we will focus our time on praying for Ukraine. 

By Victoria Marsay, Digital Content Producer, LPUKI. 

On Tuesday 14 December we gathered on Zoom to hear from Gift Mtukwa, a Langham Scholar who graduated from the Nazarene Theological College, Manchester last year. He’s now serving back in Kenya. Watch the recording of the call, which included an advent devotional and a live Q&A.

Catch up with the conversation between Langham’s new International Director Tayo Arikawe and our Global Ambassador & Ministry Director Chris Wright. As Tayo started in the role in April 2021, Chris asked about his upbringing in Nigeria, his journey to faith and why he’s so passionate about working for Langham.

It was recorded on Thursday 28 October 2021, during a Langham Live prayer call.

During the Keswick Convention this year, Jonathan Lamb (Minister-at-large, Keswick Ministries) and Emeka Egbo (Associate Director for Langham Preaching Africa) spoke together on a Langham Live Zoom call. (The interview begins 07:46). They discussed how Emeka came to be involved with Langham, the development of Langham Preaching in Africa and the impact of Covid-19 has had on the programme. Watch the recording now: 

Over 70 people joined us in July to hear Dwi Handayani, Langham Preaching’s Director for Asia & South Pacific, share about her life and ministry. It was an inspiring time, including a live Q&A and pre-recorded interviews. You can watch the Zoom call recording now: 

2021 marks 100 years since the birth of our founder John Stott. In this special webinar on 26 April, we heard first hand from those who are now seeing his legacy playing out in the Majority World. Catch up with the recording on YouTube.