Mission, Vision and Values

Who we are comes down to our focused mission, Christ-centered vision and biblical values.

Mission

Langham Partnership’s mission is to strengthen the ministry of the Word of God through:

Nurturing national movements for training in biblical preaching
Multiplying the creation and distribution of evangelical literature
Strengthening the theological training of pastors and leaders by qualified evangelical teachers

Vision

Our vision is to see churches in the Majority World equipped for mission and growing to maturity in Christ through the ministry of pastors and leaders who believe, teach and live by the Word of God.

Values

Langham Partnership is above all committed to exalt the name and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, to promote the gospel of His grace, and to foster the mission of his church. Specifically, we are committed to the following core values:

The Bible

We affirm the supreme authority of the Bible and are convinced of its centrality for church growth, health and maturity. We endorse the call of The Cape Town Commitment:

‘Theological educators must re-centre the study of the Bible as the core discipline in Christian theology, integrating and permeating all other fields of study and application. Above all, theological education must serve to equip pastor-teachers for their prime responsibility of preaching and teaching the Bible.’ (IIF.4.d)

Prayer

We believe that the ministries of Langham Partnership are biblically mandated in their goal of teaching, training and equipping God’s people through God’s Word. We are confident, therefore, that they will be intrinsically effective and fruitful when they are carried out in dependence on God and in the power of God’s Spirit. Accordingly, we affirm the vital place of prayer in all that we do, as we seek God’s guidance, wisdom, power, protection and blessing, in the name of Jesus Christ and for his glory.

Preaching

Teaching

The Bible in both Testaments insists that the people of God need teaching and teachers. The seminary is a key institution in the church through its training of pastors. We also affirm the importance of non-formal means of teaching and learning. We strongly emphasize the need to train those who will in turn teach and train others. We also affirm the strategic value of Christian literature in nurturing such biblical preaching, teaching and learning.

The Church

Partnership

We seek to relate and listen to churches and Christian organizations in any country where Langham operates and to work alongside them, seeking to understand and facilitate the vision and mission that God has given them. Programs and projects will be undertaken only at the invitation of local and national church leaders, in consultation with them, and wherever possible under local leadership.

Servanthood

Mutuality

We recognize that God has given gifts to all his people throughout the world and we long to facilitate a greater mutual sharing of God’s blessings, spiritual and material, in all directions. While some parts of the worldwide church are at present entrusted with greater material resources than others, we strive to avoid the dangers of dependency or donor manipulation. We long to see a true biblical equality of resources and capacities throughout the worldwide body of Christ, such that Langham would no longer be needed except as a global fellowship.

Integrity

Excellence

Holiness

Statement of Faith

Langham Partnership is committed to the fundamental truths of historic biblical Christianity, in accordance with which we affirm:

Read our Statement of Faith

1. There is one, eternal God, Creator and Lord of the universe who, in the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, both governs all things according to God’s will and is accomplishing God’s purpose in the world and in the church.

2. The Holy Scripture in its entirety is inspired by God’s Spirit through human authors and constitutes the revelation of God’s truth to humanity. It is wholly true and trustworthy in all that it affirms. Whatever the Bible, rightly interpreted, is found to teach, we are bound to believe and obey. It is our supreme authority in every matter of belief and conduct.

3. All human beings are created in God’s own likeness and therefore have inherent value and equality before God. Human sin and guilt since the fall have rendered us subject to God’s wrath and condemnation and have resulted in our alienation from God’s life, suppression of God’s truth and hostility to God’s law. God’s love desires all to come to repentance and to be reconciled rather than condemned.

4. Salvation from the guilt, penalty and all other consequences of sin has been achieved solely through the work of Jesus Christ – his perfect obedience, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection and exaltation as Lord. Jesus alone is truly God and truly human, the only mediator between God and humanity. There is salvation through no other person, creed, process or power. Each sinner is justified before God and reconciled to God only by divine grace appropriated by faith alone.

5. The work of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the individual’s new birth and growth to maturity. The Holy Spirit empowers and indwells the church, enabling its constant renewal in truth, wisdom, faith, holiness, love, ministry, power and mission.

6. There is one, holy, universal and apostolic church, which is the Body of Christ, and to which all true believers belong. The church’s calling is to worship God forever and to serve God in the world.

7. As the Father sent the Son into the world, so the Lord Jesus Christ sends his church to participate in God’s mission by words and works. The church is called: to make Christ known; to proclaim God’s truth and the gospel of God’s grace; to make disciples among all nations; to exhibit God’s character through compassionate care for the needy; to demonstrate the reality of God’s kingdom through creative and sacrificial living, the community of love, the quest for righteousness, justice and peace, and the care of God’s creation.

8. As the Lord Jesus ascended to his Father, so he will return personally, visibly and in glory. He will raise the dead and bring salvation and judgment to final completion. God will then fully establish his Kingdom and finish the new creation - a new heaven and a new earth from which all evil and evildoers, all suffering and death, will be excluded and in which God will be glorified forever.