Dear Friends,
Thank you once again for your support of CGM in various ways: by prayer, advocacy and also by your financial support. Your ongoing interest in CGM is a great encouragement to our partners and also to our team.
GAFCON
In April, our Director, Bishop Malcolm Richards was present at GAFCON IV in Kigali, together with over 1300 delegates from around 50 Countries. GAFCON (the conference) stands for Global Anglican Future Conference. In a time of upheaval in the Anglican Church worldwide where parts of the church are abandoning the authority of the Bible, Gafcon (the movement) aims to promote faithfulness to the gospel as declared in the Scriptures, as well as the proclamation of that gospel to the nations.
The GAFCON conference was a great place to make contacts for the work of CGM, with many delegates present from under‑resourced countries. Through a Moore College presence at a stall in the conference we were able to have conversations with many church leaders interested in accessing PTC resources.
As a result of the GAFCON conference we now have around fifty contacts to follow up. Please pray for these potential partnerships.
TEACHING IN DR CONGO
Following the conference in Kigali, Malcolm Richards, our CGM Director, travelled with his wife (Elizabeth Richards from CMS Australia) to DR Congo to visit three Anglican Dioceses. Malcolm and Elizabeth are former missionaries in this part of Congo and have many long‑term relationships there.
For many years they have had the opportunity to teach at clergy conferences in this part of Congo. At the recent clergy conferences in Kindu Diocese and the new Kalima Diocese, Malcolm was able to road‑test teaching that he has been preparing as part of the ‘Bible Basics’ initiative. ‘Bible Basics’ is ministry training material being prepared by CGM for oral preference learners in traditional communities.
Teaching the material in a target community (in Congolese Swahili) is a great help in assessing the model and the material that has been developed in the isolation of the Moore College office. Please pray for the ongoing development of ‘Bible Basics’.
NEW PARTNERS AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES
CGM continues to receive many enquiries from churches and ministries (often Bible Colleges), interested in accessing the PTC resources. Frequently these discussions with potential partners continue for lengthy periods before an agreement is signed. Often there is no positive outcome for a variety of reasons. It is exciting when a new partnership is established and students start studying the Bible in greater depth through access to our resources. Here is a snapshot of some of our new partnerships:
Kenya – The Massai Rural Training Centre in the Diocese of Kajiado
This Bible College in rural Kenya is planning to use PTC as the basis for their curriculum. We have offered the material in English as well as Swahili.
Madagascar – Diocese of Toliara
We have reported in previous newsletters that PTC is being used in the Diocese of Toliara in the south of Madagascar and forms the basis of the curriculum at St Patrick’s Bible College. Now the diocese is planning to use PTC in the grass‑roots training of lay ministers in new churches being planted among converts from the traditional ancestor worship religion.
Madagascar – Diocese of Antananarivo
In a new partnership, the Bishop of the Diocese of Antananarivo (in the capital of Madagascar) has just signed an MoU with the aim of using PTC to train lay leaders and evangelists (lay church workers) in his diocese. This is an exciting development, made possible through relationships fostered by Rev Al Lukabyo (Croydon Parish, Sydney), who has been teaching PTC to people from most of the 6 Madagascan dioceses. There is also a possibility that the Bishop will use PTC as part of the curriculum in the diocesan Bible School. These resources are being made available in French and Malagasy (Madagascan language).
Madagascar – Diocese of Antsiranana
In the north of Madagascar, the Diocese of Antsiranana consecrated a new Bishop at the beginning of June. Bishop Jaomandiny has already made a request that a partnership agreement be signed with CGM, so that PTC can be used as part of his lay training program.
DR Congo – Diocese of Goma
The Diocese of Goma in eastern Congo has requested that a partnership agreement be signed (for French and Swahili). The Diocese is also involved in an interdenominational Evangelism Training School called the Lake Kivu Christian Training Centre (CCLK) which has also signed an MoU for the use of PTC in its training.
DR Congo – Diocese of Kindu and the Diocese of Kalima
Agreements have also been prepared at the request of the Dioceses of Kindu and Kalima in the centre of DRC for use in their Bible Schools and also for continuing education for clergy.
Please pray for all of these new partnerships that the Lord would use PTC in the building up of His church and for a growing understanding of the Bible in those studying the Bible through PTC.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
We have reported briefly in the previous newsletter about the new technology being developed by Marty Olmos, our Educational Technologist. A demo version of this technology in a number of languages was prepared by Marty to show to delegates at the GAFCON Kigali Conference. This took many hours and required Marty to manually develop the platform and build the lessons.
The technology allows students to access PTC on very basic smart phones, mostly without connection to the internet. Based on a WebApp, while connected briefly to the internet a student can download a subject of PTC and then, offline, can study the subject including completing interactive quizzes. The student’s attempts at the quizzes are marked and feedback is given while offline.
As a result of the interest shown in this technology by a number of our partners, Marty has now researched the technology in greater depth with the aim of making whole subjects available in this format. This could have huge potential in areas of the world with limited access to internet (due to cost or availability) but where people have access to very basic smart phones. Please pray for Marty as he works at automating the creation of lessons in this new format using lessons currently available in our online learning platform (Moodle).
CGM EVENT
The annual CGM Event is being held at Moore College and online on 26th July. This is a public lecture on the subject: “Humility in Mission”.
These public lectures are designed to stimulate those in ministry in Australia and also those in cross‑cultural mission overseas to engage in missiological issues that directly affect them in their work.
In this lecture Dr Simon Gillham, Head of the Department of Mission at Moore College, will help us to think about the Bible’s demand to both develop and practice humility in our lives and in the way that we engage in ministry. Simon will interact with the Bible’s teaching as well as cross‑cultural ministry practice. Following the lecture, a Q&A session will allow those who attend to interact with a panel to discuss these ideas further.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Pray
We would love you to pray for our work. Please pray for:
- our Team here at Moore College
- for our partners (see our website which lists most of them)
- for our translation projects
- that the Lord would be pleased to use the work of CGM for the growing of His church and the establishment of His Kingdom.
Give
We would also value your financial help in support of the translation projects. If you wish to give to any of the translation projects please use the button below.
For more information about CGM please go to our website.
Thank you.
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