How does the Word of God impact nations? Why does every church need a pastor who ‘correctly handles the word of truth’? What difference does it really make?
Let’s travel to South Africa and listen to pastors there, who say that faithful Bible teaching is what their country needs to heal and recover.
South Africa has had a turbulent history. During Apartheid, from the late 1940s to the early 1990s, a brutal system of institutionalised racial segregation was enforced.
Many assert that apartheid was influenced by a wrong interpretation of scripture. While Christian morality and doctrines were taught by the incoming Dutch people in the late 1600s, they also pushed an agenda of white supremacy and exclusivity.
Huge role
But through faithful Bible preaching, pastors across South Africa are now helping to heal the nation. Langham Preaching is playing a huge role in this, having begun training seminars there in 2009.
Pastor Frank Shayi, who was among the initial group of pastors attending the sessions, now leads Langham Preaching for the entire region.
He says the training impacted his personal life, and the lives of others in his church.
“Langham Preaching is equipping the pastors who are equipping the congregations. Those congregations are going to become salt in the communities and the communities are going to change,” Pastor Frank said.
Langham Preaching for all
Siphiwe Pandeka, who is a lay pastor in Johannesburg, believes Langham Preaching is so good, every person who gets into a pulpit should go through the training.
He says that as a result of Langham Preaching training, he is able to apply the Word of God to every situation he finds himself in. And there are broader applications too:
“The cultural diversities, the economic challenges, the social ills that we have in South Africa as a country, is the Word of God able to cover each and every single area of our lives as a country? Absolutely!”
Lasting consequences
There are lasting consequences for believers who receive faithful preaching week in, week out. Russel Abrahams, Langham Preaching’s coordinator for South Africa, explained:
“The Bible has so much to say about justice and reconciliation and healing and all of the issues that are still very very prevalent in our country. But if you are not careful enough, you miss all of that.
“That is the radical gospel and I think if we learn to preach it well as Langham seeks to do, preach it accurately, faithful to the text, God’s vision will somehow be imprinted upon our minds and we want to do it because we see this is the way we ought to have lived all the time.”
■ Thanks to your support, between July 2021 and June 2022 Langham Preaching has equipped over 9,800 pastors and lay leaders to teach God’s Word in countries around the world – including South Africa.
