LPUKI’s Media Producer Vic Marsay recently chatted to Hamdani Tedja, Langham Preaching’s Coordinator for Indonesia. So far, over 6,000 preachers in Indonesia have been trained by Langham.
VM: Tell me about yourself and your role with Langham Preaching
HT: I’ve been with Langham since 2010, the first time Langham Preaching came to Indonesia. I took part in three seminars, finishing in 2011.
Around 30 of us were invited by Langham Preaching Director Paul Windsor to join the ‘Training of Trainers’ group. After that, we wanted to share it with others, because we thought ‘Langham is very good, it is transforming us’.
I became the preaching movement coordinator in 2014.
Praise God that Langham has quickly spread around Indonesia since then. Many churches see the need for Langham training for their pastors, resulting in more faithful, clear and relevant preaching. It’s only by the grace of God!
VM: Your team has worked on translating 17 books for preachers, can you share more about that?
HT: The more we are involved in Langham Preaching training, the more we see the needs of preachers in remote areas. They need books that are not too theoretical and help them train themselves and others in a simpler way.
VM: Is training pastors in remote areas a big challenge?
HT: Yes definitely – to reach them is so much effort and flights are so expensive.
But thank God for technology, though sometimes the internet is not good in remote areas especially if the rain comes. Even in Jakarta, sometimes that happens. If the church is in a remote area, they have to go far to go to the bookstore. Even in a big city it’s hard to find good Christian books.
Every time we deliver a seminar, we bring books. Especially thin ones, so we can bring more. When flying, a pack few clothes but many books!
VM: How does Langham Preaching equip people to equip others?
HT: We encourage every pastor who has attended Level One training to start a preaching club. When the pastor equips the elders, there are many testimonies that the church grows.
In Indonesia, pastors are so powerful. Pastors are respected, people see them as making no mistakes. So if the pastor humbly teaches them and shows integrity, it has a huge impact in their church.
VM: How can we pray for the preaching movement in Indonesia?
HT: Please pray for more trainers, especially from the next generation. Thank God that we are now training our third batch of trainers, 15 people who have completed all three Langham Preaching levels and the ‘Training of Trainers’ course.
Please pray for the sustainability of the movement, as we hope to grow to five movements within Indonesia rather than one. Please pray for more funding, so that our volunteers can travel to remote areas to equip more pastors – Indonesia consists of 17,000 islands.
If you could like to take part in the transformation of preaching in countries like Indonesia, please prayerfully consider financially supporting Langham Preaching.