Newsletter 2023 June

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.

Read more . . .

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your ongoing interest in the ministry of CGM. Thanks as well to many of you who are faithful in prayer and faithful in financial support. CGM receives no funding from Moore College to cover the salaries of our team, nor to pay all the costs involved in our ministry such as the many translation projects and the provision of online learning tools. This means that we rely totally on the generosity of God’s people to continue with our ministry. Your generosity means that there are 1000’s of people studying God’s word and maturing in their love and service of Jesus around the world.

CGM – An Overview and Update

This diagram sets out what we do at CGM.

As you can see, CGM has no students of its own, but through our partners many people around the world are studying PTC at very low cost. This is Moore College’s gospel gift!

PARTNERS – establishing and maintaining

PARTNER SURVEY

In November we carried out our (2nd) annual partner survey. This survey helps us understand what issues our partners are encountering as they use our resources. Their responses about the PTC material itself and the way they access it either online or offline, helps us improve our processes and IT tools.

Overall, the feedback was very positive, with our partners reporting a high level of satisfaction and rating the material, our support of them and the IT platform as having high importance for them. For any interested in a more detailed summary of the survey results please contact us.

ENQUIRIES ABOUT PARTNERSHIP

We continue to answer many enquiries from those expressing interest in establishing a new partnership or using our resources. In the past few weeks we have heard from people in India, PNG, Lesotho, Nepal and Kenya. Although we receive many such enquiries, it is often many months until an agreement is signed, if at all. This means that at any one time we are having lengthy conversations, usually by email with many people simultaneously. Please pray that people would not only enquire but would follow through to use the material to study God’s word.

MAINTAINING PARTNERSHIPS

Most of our agreements (Memoranda of Understanding – MOUs) are in place for 3 years. Sometimes the MOUs need to be renewed before the 3 years have finished because the partner’s needs may have changed. For example, a partner may want to start using an online learning platform; or start accessing a new language; or begin a new translation project. Updating agreements is an excellent opportunity to have further discussions with our partners and to see how they can use our resources more effectively. Over the last few months we have been working at updating many of our lapsed or lapsing MOUs – many hours of work.

TRANSLATIONS

We continue to make good progress on a number of translation projects. An update about just a few:

FRENCH

The end of the project is in sight! By the end of this year we are aiming to have all 19 subjects ready for online use.

PORTUGUESE

Our translators in Brazil are making rapid progress and have completed 14 of the 19 subjects, including the notes and the quiz or exam questions. The translators are so efficient that other parts of the process are having trouble keeping up with them.

MALAGASY

The translators have begun the 8th unit of PTC. We currently have 2 units available online and are planning for the first 6 subjects to be online by the end of this year.

TECHNOLOGY

WHAT’S NEW IN THE IT DEPARTMENT

Updates to software always lead to more work! Our online learning platform uses Moodle, a well‑known online learning software. An updated version means hours of work and testing for our IT Team. They are making sure that the integration with our in-house administration module still works and are also preparing new training videos and manuals for our partners.

Marty Olmos, our Educational Technologist is also investigating new ways of delivering our PTC content to students with a basic phone and limited internet access. These students might find the current fully‑featured online service hard to access but would perhaps benefit from a richer, interactive educational experience than the basic paper‑based format. This type of student is a large segment of our partners’ students, so this project could have a large educational impact.

A NEW MOODLE FOR MADAGASCAR

We have reported in previous newsletters about the use of PTC in the Anglican Church of Madagascar, including the use of PTC at St Patrick’s Bible College in the Diocese of Toliara. In the past few months, our team has been preparing for St Patrick’s to have an online learning platform. This will increase the reach of the college and allow students from all over Madagascar to study PTC courses in Malagasy (not all subjects – see above) and French. Pray for our team as they complete this project and that students in Madagascar would make use of this opportunity.

GLOBAL PARTNERS

In this edition we want to introduce you to one of our many partners.

FOCUS ON A PARTNER MINISTRY – JOFC THAILAND

The James O Fraser Centre (JOFC) in Chiang Dao, Thailand is a Discipleship Training Centre which is focused on whole of life discipleship. Their aim is to teach God’s word and disciple men and women, equipping them to reach different people groups with the gospel.

JOFC is run by Jim and Linda McIntosh from Australia. PTC is one of the main elements in the teaching program at JOFC and they have been involved in the translation of two of the PTC subjects into ‘Easy English’. They also have a translation project for Thai and are scoping a new project for the Lisu language, spoken by a people group present in Thailand, and parts of Myanmar, China and India.

JOFC students study in the classroom with a teacher, but complete activities and an exam on the Moodle (online platform). Being online also means that JOFC can offer this course to anyone in Thailand who wishes to study PTC. Pray with the teaching staff at JOFC that PTC would be a blessing for the students at JOFC and also those further afield.

NEW RESOURCES

Work continues on the Bible Basics course that is designed for Oral Preference learners. We will give more information about Bible Basics in a later newsletter.

CGM EVENT

Another ministry that CGM has is the yearly public lecture. Please reserve the date 26 July 2023.

CGM – WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

We covet your ongoing prayers for our work – that the Lord would be pleased to use our work for the growing of His church and the establishment of His Kingdom.

We would also value your financial help in support of the translation projects. If you wish to give to any of the translation projects, or find out more information about CGM, please go to our website.

Thank you.
Read more . . .

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your interest in the Centre for Global Mission (CGM). A big thank you as well to those who have donated funds to CGM in general or to specific translation projects. Without your help, many of these translation projects cannot happen.

In this edition of the CGM Newsletter there is a report on our recent public lecture about oral learners but this edition will mainly focus on PTC translation projects.

WHY TRANSLATE PTC?

PTC is a valuable resource that CGM can make available to under-resourced churches and ministries around the world for little or no cost. Of course, many of these under-resourced churches need training materials in their own languages and so the strategic translation of PTC into other languages enables CGM to meet many more training needs.

There are 19 active translation projects for PTC. We have made significant progress in the last few years in identifying and starting translation projects in the most used languages. However, many of these translation projects are still in the early stages with many more subjects to complete and there are still a number of other languages which we could start to translate if funds were available.

Here are a few updates about some of these projects:​

​​​​​​BIBLE SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA AND ‘PLAIN ENGLISH’

A new partnership has been established this year with The Bible Society of Australia to translate the first subject of PTC into ‘Plain English’. Plain English avoids the use of complex grammatical constructions and is used by the Bible Society within Aboriginal Communities where English is a second language.

Developing a Plain English version is not the end goal but is the first step towards translation of the material into aboriginal languages. There are few theological training resources like PTC available in Aboriginal languages and Bible Society is hopeful that resources like this can be used in the future to lift the theological level of Aboriginal Bible Translation teams.

THAI TRANSLATION PROJECT

Our partner in Thailand, ‘JOFC’ is responsible for the Thai translation. This is a new translation and will go online immediately, as subjects are completed. ‘Introduction to the Bible’ has been completed and in October, JOFC students will commence studying online in Thai for the first time. Two more subjects are expected to be completed soon with others to follow.

บทนำสู่พระคัมภีร์

MALAGASY IN MADAGASCAR

The first six subjects in Malagasy have been in ‘offline’ use for over one year.

PTC is being taught in week-long seminars to a group of twenty-five people that meet several times per year. This group comprises five people from each of the five dioceses in Madagascar (there are six dioceses altogether). It is hoped that these same people will start to teach PTC themselves in their own dioceses.

Our key contact in Madagascar, Rev Berthier Lainirina is the main teacher at these PTC seminars and is now the Principal of St Patrick’s College. PTC in Malagasy now also forms the core of the syllabus for St Patrick’s Bible College in the southern Madagascan Diocese of Toliara.

From January 2023 St Patrick’s will embark on a new project – Malagasy PTC online. St Patrick’s is now the main training college for the majority of the Anglican Church in Madagascar and wants to extend its reach over this very large island by offering PTC online. Madagascar is a very poor country and most rural people do not have access to the internet. However, it is hoped that an online option will help train urban church leaders and future church leaders who do have online access. Our CGM Team is working hard to get the first subjects ready for online use by the new year.

OTHER TRANSLATION NEWS

We also have a team in Japan (CMS missionaries and others) beginning a Japanese translation. Good progress continues on some existing projects such as French, Russian, Portuguese and Swahili.

The technology behind our translation projects has seen some improvements which will lead to greater efficiencies. CGM is now providing templates to assist with the translation process and HTML (web) conversion. Word templates are provided for the translation of the notes and PowerPoint templates are provided for translation of the images. This important work by our team means that the time taken to get new material online is greatly reduced.

Please pray for these and other translation projects. To find out more about translations please go to our website.

EVENT – PUBLIC MISSIOLOGY LECTURE

In July CGM, in conjunction with the Department of Mission, held our annual public missiology lecture. The aim of these yearly events, is to engage Sydney Christians on relevant and helpful missiological issues.

This year the subject was ‘The Written Word in an Oral World’. The speakers were Dr Simon Gillham (MTC Vice Principal) and Bishop Malcolm Richards (CGM Director).

Simon Gillham looked at what the Bible says about itself, a written document designed for a largely illiterate people, while Malcolm Richards looked at what the church has learned about teaching oral preference learners from its history and from the modern missionary movement.

If you missed the event, you can view the two talks and the Q&A session in the video below.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

We covet your ongoing prayers for our work – that the Lord would be pleased to use our work for the growth of His church and the establishment of His Kingdom.

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 visit our website.

Thank you.

 
Read more . . .

Video recording of the night is now available! Please click here.

Read more . . .

The Centre for Global Mission has partnered with North India College of Christian who are translating the PTC into Hindi. Watch this video for more information about the Hindi Translation Project. You can support this project via our donation page.
Read more . . .

Dear Friends,

Thanks for your interest and support of the Centre for Global Mission (CGM).

CGM does not have students of its own but forms partnerships with Christian organisations worldwide, that use our material to train leaders and grow their people. We have more than 30 partners working in over 41 countries. That means there are many people studying the Bible and growing in their trust in Jesus through PTC resources around the world.

Prayer for the work of our global partners is vital, so in this newsletter we are going to give you an update about some of our partners. We only have room to feature five of our partners but in future editions we will feature more of our work.

The Anglican Church of Madagascar

There are a number of ways that PTC courses are impacting the church in Madagascar.

• For several years Rev Al Lukabyo has been travelling to Madagascar a couple of times per year to teach PTC in French. The plan is to train people from all 6 dioceses with the intention that these people will become teachers in their own dioceses. This has helped PTC to become known and accepted around the country. Due to Covid this has not been possible in 2020-21 but Al hopes to recommence this ministry in 2022.
• The translation of PTC into Malagasy, the language of Madagascar, has continued despite Covid. The translation team are nearing completion of the first 6 subjects which will be ready to go online next year. However, the Malagasy PTC notes are already in use offline!
• Our key contact in Madagascar, the Rev Berthier Lainirina (Malagasy translation team and Provincial Secretary of the Anglican Church of the Indian Ocean), has been appointed as the Principle of St Patrick’s Bible College in Toliara in the South of Madagascar. With a new evangelical bishop (Bishop Samitiana) in place, Berthier is now able to implement a solidly bible focused curriculum in the Bible School. This includes a number of PTC courses.

• A new program to train village catechists (lay leaders who run churches) has started in a number of dioceses in Madagascar using PTC in Malagasy as the main teaching resource.

Please pray

• for Bishop Samitiana in Toliara Diocese and Rev Berthier in the Bible school as they get established in their roles
• for the use of PTC in the Bible School and in catechist training and for the recommencement of visits to Madagascar by the Rev Al Lukabyo
• for the Malagasy translation project team and that funds will become available to continue

African Enterprise (AE) – Pastors’ Training Course

Of our partners, AE has one of the highest numbers of students enrolled in PTC courses. They use an online learning platform and student database developed and hosted by CGM. AE mainly run evangelistic campaigns in countries across Africa. However, they became aware that new Christians in need of discipling were being referred to churches, where the pastor had little or no training. They decided to use PTC to train pastors and other lay leaders – hence for AE the name PTC means “Pastors’ Training Course”. AE have active programs in Kenya and Ghana but would like to expand the program to other countries if finances become available.
Through AE, the PTC course is having a huge impact. Here is a report from Salome Wanjiru, one of their students in Kenya:

‘My name is Salome Wanjiru, a Kenya Christian.

I was privileged to have been studying PTC this season. Things I thought I knew enough on Biblical interpretation have been expounded and made clearer.

I have seen the emphasis on the unity of scripture – that what happened in the New Testament had been foretold in the Old – and that Christ is the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophesies. It has never been so clear. So good to see that God has remained faithful throughout many generations and still is consistent in His character regardless of our faithlessness and disobedience.

When I was doing Doctrine 1 it was awesome to learn about the Unity and Uniqueness of the Triune God. That the three persons are distinct in the work they do yet one. I had no idea about the order – this too came out so clearly.

I appreciate that this course has not only benefited me but my family and friends. I am grateful for the opportunity. God bless AE and supporters of PTC.’

Please pray

• for the Pastors’ Training Course in Kenya and Ghana, that God would use it to grow disciples
• that the program would expand to other countries
• for the staff in Sydney who administer the program

Work for Peace – Faisalabad, Pakistan

Work for Peace is a Christian NGO in Faisalabad, that seeks to promote understanding between Christians and Muslims and also to promote the Gospel in various ways. The main ministry until now has been a Primary School (a project sponsored by Anglican Aid), where poor Christian and Muslim children can learn together.

The NGO was started by Imran Maqsood who came to Sydney as a refugee. As Imran worked alongside his colleagues in Faisalabad, he became aware of the need to disciple young adults from the Christian community, so that they could become more confident in their faith and have a good grounding in the Bible. As a result, in the last few months they have launched English PTC classes in Faisalabad.

Please pray

• for the development of these courses by Work for Peace in Faisalabad
• that young adults would sign up to the courses and be strengthened in their faith
• for Imran as he prepares to study at Moore College in 2022

Eurasian Missionary College – Kazan, Russia

Eurasian Missionary College (EMC) is a small Bible college in Kazan which trains gospel workers across Central Asia. CGM has been working with a translation team in Kazan to prepare the first 6 subjects of PTC in Russian without a clear way forward for using the resource once translated.

When EMC requested a partnership with CGM so that they could use PTC as the basis for their online syllabus we had an answer to our prayers. During lockdown this year as one of their projects, our team has been hard at work setting up the online learning platform and training EMC to enrol students and administer courses. There have been some additional challenges since the online platform is in Russian and some of the EMC team have no English! But praise God because all is nearing completion in time for the first students to begin their courses in November.

Please pray

• for the first students as they begin to study these courses in Russian
• that God would grow his church in Central Asia
• for the CGM team as they learn more about making courses available online in languages other than English

North India College of Christian Studies (NICCS) – Delhi, India

After much discussion we have signed an agreement with NICSS in Delhi to begin a new translation project which will see all of PTC ready for online use in everyday Hindi.

Pastor Joy Gill at NICCS has explained to us that there is a large gulf between written/academic Hindi and that which is spoken and understood by average people. Their aim in this translation is to have a resource that is widely accessible to Hindi speakers of all levels of literacy.

Please pray for the NICCS translation team as they begin work on this important project. Currently the team only have enough funds for the first of 19 PTC subjects.

• for Pastor Joy and the translation team at NICCS as they begin this large translation project
• for the outreach of the gospel in North India where there are millions who do not know Christ
• for funds to become available for this important project

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These are only a sample of some of our Global Partners. One of these is well established but the rest are new and are grappling with how to establish new ministries and projects. Please pray as we provide resources to more and more ministries around the world and become involved in more translation projects.

You can also find out more about some of our partners using the below button.

CGM Partners

To see more details of how you can support the current translation projects including Hindi, Malagasy, Russian, as well as Swahili and Farsi, please use the below button.

Support CGM

Thank you for your interest and partnership!

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For your diary – CGM Event to be held in July 2022

Plan to join us for the CGM event of 2022, with speakers Simon Gillham and Malcolm Richards, as they explore Word ministries in an oral world. This event is entitled ‘The Written Word in an Oral World’. More information and the registration form are available using the buttons below.

More Information

Register Now

Read more . . .