Madagascar is a massive island nation off the coast of Southern Africa. Almost 40% of its population is under the age of 15, according to the latest United Nations data.

This young population is wrestling with chronic poverty, corruption and inequality. Last fall, that discontent came to a head when power and water supply issues sparked protests led by Gen Z. The protests led to a coup and a military takeover.

While the conflict has settled, systemic issues remain, issues leading the country’s young population to search for hope and change. There’s an enormous opportunity to reach this next generation with faithful teaching of the Word.

A search for hope

“Church is the last hope to give them a real life,” says Jeriah Rakotoson, a pastor in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital city. 

The island is predominantly Christian, but much of that Christianity is cultural, confined to Sundays or tied to the false promises of the prosperity gospel. Many church leaders have never had formal training and don’t know how to understand let alone teach Scripture. As a result, the power of the gospel can get lost or diluted, and many people miss its transformative power.

Jeriah is one the church leaders who have launched a new Langham preaching movement in Madagascar, hoping to change that. These preaching movements are locally led and give pastors the foundational tools they need to preach the Word clearly, faithfully and relevantly. 

Get involved: Support preaching movements like the one in Madagascar

“We were all excited about what we received and excited to put into practice the study and the delivery of the Word of God,” says Hari Josoa, another pastor who is spearheading the new preaching movement.

A young movement

Last year, 38 preachers and other church leaders, many of them young, attended the inaugural Langham training seminar in Antananarivo. They formed five preaching groups that continue to meet regularly to practice what they learned, even amid the political instability. 

“They were very interested, and their lives are changing,” Jeriah says. “[The training] changed the lives of the young people.”

The movement is just beginning. “I believe that the vision of Langham — of preaching the Word of God in an effective, faithful to the Word, clear and relevant way,” says Josoa, “may touch the hearts of many Malagasy people and draw them to faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.”

Hope for an entire continent

In other parts of Africa, where Langham’s preaching movements are well-established, churches have seen this training bear fruit. 

In Liberia, pastors eagerly wait for Langham seminars to come to their area. Matthew Gonkerwon, a pastor who coordinates Langham’s preaching movement there, says, “To see that prosperity gospel is going down the drain [along with] false preachers, because more pastors … can go in the pulpit and preach biblical messages — that’s a joy because we want to see a new generation of pastors and teachers who study the Word of God and preach it biblically for growth in their own context.”

For now, the Madagascar movement is focused on the capital city. But Jeriah and Josoa pray that it expands to touch all parts of the country. “Pray for us that this is one of the movements that trains people to do what is true in preaching and preaching the true Bible in our country,” Jeriah says.