Teaching “Christ-Centered Preaching” with MKA Ministries in Ethiopia
In the middle of January, I embarked on the biggest adventure of my 49 trips around the sun. Never before had I left the United States for a substantial period. The only time my head had not been on a pillow within the confines of the continental United States was one night in Agua Prieta and one night in Nogales, Mexico, for a seminary "Intercultural Immersion" class.
This adventure had me traveling nine time zones east to Ethiopia and spending two weeks away from my family. For several years, my friend, Samuel Getachew, encouraged me to head to his native land and teach a course to the MKA Ministries seminarians on "Christ-Centered Preaching." For much of that time, our congregation had been considering departure from our denomination, but in September of 2023, our congregation completed the move to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. I could no longer use that as an excuse to fend off Samuel's request. I spoke with our congregation's Ruling Elders and Mission Committee, and plans began to come together after their approval.
Samuel and I met several times to sort out what the class would look like and to help me know what to expect. Planning a class was new for me. I have been a student for most of my life, but my teaching was limited to a congregational setting until now. It was a rewarding experience to consider ways to approach the topic and plan assignments. I was looking forward to teaching because a pastor friend who taught in Africa had told me how rewarding it was.
Traveling to Addis Ababa was relatively smooth, and I had settled into the time change with relative ease as someone who requires very little sleep. One good night of sleep reset my internal clock. Fatigue was never an issue for me, but every morning, I needed to remind myself that I was on the other side of the world.
Sunday morning, I preached for the first time with a translator. Preparing to preach in that setting was a good way for me to prepare to teach on Monday. As I broke down that sermon, I realized how much of my speech is slang and upper Midwest nomenclature.
Observing this in myself was a big help as we began the "Christ-Centered Preaching" class on Monday morning. I knew the gentlemen in the class knew English, but I needed to consider my words and be aware of the language I was using. I realized they would understand my words, but they might be unaware of how I used them.
As I anticipated, it was a blessing to teach these gentlemen. Although a great divide existed between us geographically and culturally, we are brothers in Christ because we have union with Him in His death, resurrection, and ascension. That causes us to be very concerned about faithfully proclaiming the gospel of salvation, and from the beginning, the students' engagement with the content was encouraging.
On the first day of class, I made a case for preaching Christ from all Scripture. We looked at passages from Luke 24, Acts 2, and Genesis 3 to build a framework for this approach to expository preaching. After lunch, we looked at the practical aspect of faithfully preaching Christ and Him crucified from the whole Bible. We did this by examining several different heresies and false teachings from church history and discussing how Christ-centered preaching can address these errors and keep us from making them ourselves. We considered Trinitarian errors, the Pelagian heresy, the Prosperity Gospel, and "over-realized" eschatology. The topic of addressing errors with Christ-centered proclamation was the class session I was most looking forward to when I was putting together the class materials. It was a beneficial discussion, and it continued building my case for why Christ-centered preaching was important.
Tuesday morning, we considered what Christ-centered preaching looks like. We are not just giving facts on how the Bible is the story of the Messiah. When we preach Christ, we tell the story. We are unfolding the grand narrative of redemption from Genesis to Revelation, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the center of that gospel story.
During the remainder of the week, we spent time considering how Christ comes through via direct allusions to the coming Messiah but also in the way in which God works among his people. Types and shadows of Jesus are found everywhere.
The week was a great experience, and I came away nourished by the passion of these men for the gospel and discipling those under their care. They deeply desire to preach the Word to the people of God faithfully, and I pray that they were built up and equipped to share the great truth of God's saving a people for his own possession.
It was indeed a privilege to teach and learn with these men, and I look forward to hearing how they and the people under their care are blessed by the faithful preaching of Christ from all of Scripture.
