‘This is truly a miracle’, said the group of church leaders, pastors and spouses in Ecuador. The opportunity to receive expository preaching training had helped them cross denominational lines.
As an international trainer for Leadership Resources International (LRI), I witnessed a gathering last May that fostered Christian unity among believers from churches in Portoviejo, Ecuador. A ministry that equips and encourages pastors around the world, LRI gathered 25 ministers for instruction on how to proclaim and apply the gospel with greater skill.
Although 94% of Ecuadorians claim Christianity, only 8% are evangelical. Portoviejo – less than 20 miles from Ecuador’s Pacific coast – is no exception. Even with many churches in this tranquil city of about 225,000 people, the state of the pulpit could be improved.
The widespread lack of expository preaching has resulted in legalism, with certain doctrines being overemphasised at the expense of others. Moreover, pastors and churches have remained isolated from one another due to denominational and theological differences.
Vision for the city
The training event in May followed years of prayer from Alexander and Oscar Paul, two key church leaders in the city of Portoviejo. These next-door neighbours and good friends serve as co-pastors in a church and are also colleagues at a local seminary.
Both have been trained in biblical exposition through LRI’s Training National Trainers programme (TNT) over the past three years. TNT invests in a small group of national pastors through two-week training sessions held annually for four years. As pastors receive training they then instruct other pastors.
Major stumbling block
One obstacle stood in their way, however: local leaders had no incentive to attend. To an outside observer, TNT appears to be just another Bible study. I’ve observed people often need to taste the riches of the Word opened up in this programme before deciding to invest their time. Six months ahead of the training, Patricio (LRI’s director in Latin America), Alexander, Oscar Paul and I brainstormed how to attract pastors to the event. One idea was to provide something not easily available in Portoviejo or much of Latin America: books soaked in Scripture and solid in theology.
We perused titles of books available through The Gospel Coalition International Outreach ‘Packing Hope’ before choosing Christopher Ash’s The Priority of Preaching, published by Christian Focus. The book argues for the authority and sufficiency of the preached Word and unpacks seven blessings of expository preaching.
Since it offered a perfect supplement to the TNT training, we hoped that the book would draw the interest of pastors and lead them to attend.
From scepticism...
Many church leaders approached the training apprehensively, unsure what to expect. One pastor’s wife, who attended in her husband’s absence, announced her scepticism: ‘I have no problem leaving early if this isn’t worth my time.’ The trainers encouraged her and others to let God’s Word speak to them during the gathering.
Over the next three days, attendees learned the basis of expository preaching and biblical theology as they studied the book of Ruth.
The clear unfolding of Scripture proved an enlightening and enriching method that shaped convictions toward a more Christ-centered preaching model.
... to excitement
As the training drew to a close, that sceptical wife expressed eager excitement to share the training with her husband. For the sake of other pastors, participants requested another training session, which has been planned.
The group of believers from diverse denominations left with full hearts and minds, having gained practical tools to more faithfully proclaim God’s Word. And in their hands they each carried one great book to further shape their ministry.
Join us in praying that the Word of God would spread widely and powerfully through more unified churches in Portoviejo and throughout Ecuador.
