This is Area 50 Baptist Church in Lilongwe, Malawi. Lilongwe is a funny place, it’s the capital city, but there’s no much of a centre, everywhere is really spread out, and Area 50 (they don’t really have proper names – it’s like a city district I guess) has the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere as you head down the dust track to get there.

Last year Bishop Hannington Church helped to pay for the roof (so that the building wouldn’t fall down), it was great to serve there. We ran 3 evening classes on Principles of Exposition, looking at how we can rightly handle the Bible, including stuff on Parables and Old Testament narrative.

We also visited for the women’s meeting, ran a marriage seminar day, and joined them for their Sunday service. For my part I taught on Bible Principles, Genesis 1-2 and preached on James 1. These were all translated into Chichewa, the local language.

My feeling was that the saying that the Christianity is a mile wide, but an inch deep is true. There’s a great passion for the Gospel, and there’s a great desire to be taught the Bible, but listening to some of the elders teach, it’s clear they really need training to help them rightly understand and teach God’s word… great to be able to serve them in that way.

Have you ever played this game? I have. Few people admit to it, but I think most people do on the inside!

Apparently it’s pretty embarrasing when you get it wrong and you offer your seat to a fat lady on the train, as this report from the BBC Website suggests.

If I do get a seat on the train, which is rare if travelling from New Malden, but common from Portslade, then my trick is to sit with head in hands, sleep or pretend to sleep… that way if someone who may be pregnant joins the train then it’s easy to pretend I haven’t seen them… no awkwardness, no need to move, and I don’t look like an awful man for not giving up my seat   –   does this make me a bad person?

Whilst sat in a rustic lodge overlooking Lake Malawi I thought, I know, I’ll read a book! Fortunately close to hand was the ‘waiting-to-be-read’ copy of ‘Why Johnny Can’t Preach‘ a short book by T.David Gordon.

Gordon looks unfavourably on the general state of preaching in American churches, I agree with his summary and am sure it is equally applied (as a generalisation) to many churches in the UK also.

He sights two main reasons why Johnny can’t preach. Firstly because Johnny can’t read (texts). Gordon suggests that our culture no longer values literature, to the point where we don’t really know how to read properly. Gordon argues that we should get back to reading classical literature to hone our textual skills, or at the very least put a lot more work into scriptural studies including Greek and Hebrew.

Secondly, Johnny can’t write! Gordon says with the invention of the telephone and the Internet that we’ve lost the art of letter writing, of properly constructing well organised text. He says that this means we preach in a poorly organised way too.

On the whole I agree with Gordon’s assessments. We do live in a culture where reading and writing in the traditional sense are devalued, and this does have a negative impact on the way we read the Bible and come to structure and deliver a sermon.

However, Gordon misses one key step. How then do we preach, into a culture where these things are true. It’s all very well to properly read and understand a Bible passage. It’s all very well to compose a well structured sermon, BUT… this is not what our culture is used to or values… I would say it’s the job of the preacher, as well as to understand the passage, and to construct a sermon well, to also communicate with the audience in a culturally ‘normal’ way. Good book, and good insights, but I think misses a logical conclusion to his argument.

It’s rare that I see a new blog that compels me to mention it, but this is one.

A blog fundamentally about nothing, yet seemingly covering everything from music, film, politics, comedy, art, advertising, romance, facial hair and much more.

Check out SamUrbanHymns… here’s a teaser…

Check out the New Website for the Christian Web Awards! Entries are now open so why not nominate your site, or another’s to enter the awards. Last year was bigger and better than before… this year’s ceremony on the 15th October promises to raise the bar again as it showcases the best Christian websites in the UK! Hope to be there again!

The Christian New Media Awards were the first ever exclusively Christian award ceremony for bloggers and web designers in the UK. They were established in 2007 by Premier Christian Media to recognise and reward Christian achievements on the internet.

Now in its fourth year, The Christian New Media Awards continue to grow. The awards now feature a new media section, to recognise a wider range of Christian achievements in technology, from iPhone applications to VJ to flash games.

As usual, we’ll be awarding winners with a range of prizes, including £1000 for Best Small Church Website.

This is the kid that I call 'Chubba' from the town we worked in... I would have quite liked to take him home with me... Madonna style!

So, I’ve been away for a little while.

Been in Malawi. Nice place. Warm Heart of Africa.

We were doing some Bible teaching with a Baptist Church in Lilongwe (coming from an Anglican church – shocking gospel partnership)… and also had a short break by the big lake, and saw some monkeys!

…more reports to follow.

Great time was had at BBTB10… plans are already pressing ahead for next year… speakers already confirmed: Archbishop Greg Venables and Kent & Barbara Hughes…