One of the great privileges of HeartCry is to see the work of, and to partner with other faithful ministries in the fulfilling of the great commission. In the month of March, HeartCry had the honor of attending the Charles Simeon Trust workshop in India. These workshops are designed to give indigenous pastors a hands-on opportunity to discuss, outline, and discover the authorial intent of each book of the Bible. It provides strategies of how to approach the various genres within the Scriptures, how to discover the theme and message of the book, while also providing the pastors with multiple tools and techniques to help them
“walk the line”
(to preach the message of the text). Each participant in this conference was also assigned portions of the Scriptures that they would have to present before their group. They would have to discuss the strategies they used to discover the meaning of the text and then provide a copy of their preaching outline before the class. The other participants were then given a chance to ask questions and to interact with the presenter.
These workshops on expository preaching are much needed around the world. The truth is, not all preaching is good preaching. Many pastors, who love the Lord, come to the Scriptures and simply look for themes they can talk about on Sundays. They may speak the truth, but this is done at the cost of the intent of the author and its overall purpose of that particular book. When one does not find the line of the text, errors can be made in application. Therefore, this workshop provided the pastors with a steps (or a road) to take, before applying the Scriptures to the congregation.
- The preacher of God’s Word should first find the meaning and the historical context of the text. As Christ taught that all the Scriptures are ultimately about Him,
- The preacher must then apply the truths of the gospel to the text. This will prevent the pastor from applying the text too early, and simply teaching a moralist lesson.
- It is only after the pastor has done this hard work, that he is able to give proper applications for that text.
Through the support of the donors, we were able to bring many of our missionaries, and other faithful ministers to this workshop. For three days these pastors worked through the Gospel of Mark, discovering the purpose of this gospel. It was a joy to see these men interact, and learn from the instructors, and also from one another. The men were challenged (some even repenting of past mistakes), and yet encouraged, all at the same time.
Thank you for allowing this to happen. Please pray that this training would continue to develop in each of these men, and that they would use these valuable tools to feed His sheep better.
Stephen began working for HeartCry in 2015. As coordinator for Asia, North America, and Western Europe, he currently oversees the missionaries over 10 countries. He currently lives in Virginia with his wife and four children.
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