The gospel is advancing. Now is the time to seize new ground for the kingdom of God. Today, Chris Larson and other leaders at Ligonier Ministries present plans for future outreach and share how your support is equipping the global church. By God’s grace, your timely generosity can help reach as many people as possible in 2025 with Christian discipleship resources and faithful Bible teaching. Please consider giving a year-end gift today: https://gift.renewingyourmind.org/3781/donate You can serve as a theological lifeline for Christians around the world when you become a Ligonier Ministry Partner. You’ll also receive exclusive teaching. Learn more and sign up: https://renewingyourmind.org/partner Meet Today’s Speakers: Chris Larson is president and chief executive officer for Ligonier Ministries. He directs and leads all strategic outreach initiatives and oversees daily ministry operations, seeking to spread the historic Christian faith to as many people as possible. J.D. Bridges is vice president of global outreach for Ligonier Ministries. He seeks to inform as many people as possible about the ministry and distribute its vast number of resources around the world through strategic partnerships and trade channels. W. Robert Godfrey is a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow and chairman of Ligonier Ministries. He is president emeritus and professor emeritus of church history at Westminster Seminary California. Burk Parsons is senior pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, FL, chief editorial officer for Ligonier Ministries, editor of Tabletalk magazine, and a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow. Meet the Host: Nathan W. Bingham is vice president of ministry engagement for Ligonier Ministries, executive producer and host of Renewing Your Mind, host of the Ask Ligonier podcast, and a graduate of Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Nathan joined Ligonier in 2012 and lives in Central Florida with his wife and four children. Renewing Your Mind is a donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Our kids are being bombarded with new definitions of words, entirely new explanations of Scripture. What we need is careful, simple, thorough, accessible, and trustworthy curriculum that parents can easily use in instructing their children through the great stories and teachings of Scripture.
A special edition of Renewing Your Mind as we discuss a significant new resource and how the Lord has blessed your support of Ligonier Ministries in 2024. The Lord is at work building His church, and one of the ways He is strengthening His people around the world is through the global outreach of Ligonier Ministries.
It is amazing to hear the reports day in and day out of how minds are being renewed and lives transformed. as the Lord blesses an episode of Renewing Your Mind, a copy of Table Talk magazine, a book we publish, or the teaching at one of our events, and today, in so many of the world's most spoken languages.
On today's special episode, you'll have the opportunity to hear a call we had recently with our ministry partners, giving them a behind-the-scenes look at what has been accomplished this year and some of our plans for 2025. If you'd like to join this special group of people, you can sign up to give monthly at renewingyourmind.org and select the option to become a ministry partner.
I'll talk more about that later in the episode, but for now, here's that call. We're joined in the studio by a number of special guests, and I'd like to begin by introducing Ligonier's President and CEO, Chris Larson. Chris, it's good to have you with us.
It's good to be with you, Nathan, and all of our dear ministry partners. I've been looking forward to this call for some time now. I really am so encouraged by all that the Lord is doing through this ministry, and it is a privilege to be able to report back to the ministry partners to thank them for their ongoing support.
Every single week seems to bring new milestones that affirm that now really is the time for Ligonier to press forward, to seize new ground for the kingdom of God. And we'll get into all of that a little bit later. Nathan, you're usually in the studio, but last week we took Renewing Your Mind on the road. And we did a Renewing Your Mind Live. And you're going to be doing this in many more cities.
Yes.
So this year marks 30 years of Renewing Your Mind. So we're taking it out on the road, as you said. We're in Dallas last week. And it was just so wonderful to be with ministry partners, listeners to the broadcast. And we had Dr. Stephen Nichols with us, Dr. Derek Thomas. And we looked, of course, at Romans 12, 2, that verse that inspired the name of the program. It was just a wonderful evening.
So if you're a Renewing Your Mind listener, and I trust you all are, you'll hear some of those cities and dates in 2025. And we hope to be able to see you in person. And of course, if you can't come to one of those events, we would love to see you at our national conference next April. And if you haven't registered, you can do that at Ligonier.org slash 2025.
Well, we're also joined by the chairman of Ligonier Ministries, one of our teaching fellows, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey. And Dr. Godfrey, this week, we're hosting Ligonier's board meetings. And as you're gathering with members of the staff, are you encouraged by what you're hearing about how the Lord is growing this ministry through the provision of our ministry partners?
I'm just wonderfully encouraged.
As I get older, there are a lot of things to be discouraged about in life, but the hand of the Lord seems so evidently on Ligonier in the way it's being blessed, in the way it's being given opportunities to minister God's Word, especially the opportunity to support the churches and not only build up individual Christians, but to build up local congregations, which is where Christ is doing his primary work, to build his church.
I've recently been studying Ephesians for my Sunday school class I teach at our church, and one of the things that has so impressed me in that study is the way in which Paul is calling Christians to know the truth. It's not enough to just be kind of a passive person. Christians are those who are eager to know the truth, to be growing in the truth.
Paul's prayer in the second half of Ephesians 1 is that they might be growing in a knowledge of how great Christ is and all that he is accomplishing, and then to know that he is accomplishing that in the church and for the church, and that Christ's great plan in human history is to create a new humanity in and through the church.
Paul is aware, as he writes to these Ephesian Christians, that they could easily feel that as Christians they had lost a great deal in becoming Christians, that they had lost power, they had lost influence, they had lost position in this world. And he's encouraging to know Christ is at work in the church.
For all of the church's apparent and real weakness, nonetheless, that is where Christ is accomplishing his purpose and where he will be glorified. And at the very center of that epistle, we read, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. I'm always encouraged to talk to Chris Larson because he does abundant thinking and planning and has a lot on his mind.
And to think that God is able to do more than even Chris Larson can anticipate or hope for. And Will is wonderful to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To him be glory in the church. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.
So it's not only the present church, but it's a future church. We'll be able to talk about that importantly in the future. So I am tremendously encouraged with Christ and his work and his power and his plan and the opportunity that he has given us through the support of our ministry partners to be able to be part of the fulfilling of that plan.
I've really appreciated that in a number of contexts you've described Ligonier as a fellowship of truths. Why is truth so important?
Well, because Christ is the truth. He's the way, the truth, and the life. We live in a world of lies. We live in a world of error. And you look at the history of the church, which I've spent a lot of my life doing, and we see how easily lies creep into the life of Christians and into the life of the church. And therefore, we have to be renewed continually in the truth.
And it was striking to me to see the Apostle John in the short letters that we usually ignore, stressing the importance of that fellowship in the truth for the people of God.
In the United States, we have just come out of an election. The world was watching. Dr. Godfrey, as we think globally and biblically about the role of government, do you have any words of wisdom for how Christians should think about the role of government?
Well, we have to remember that government is instituted by God, but it's instituted by God for a sinful world. So we shouldn't be surprised that there are struggles and disagreements. I'm becoming more persuaded that part of the reason disagreement has become so common kind of visceral and at times nasty in our country is that for too many people, politics has become their religion.
People used to have another religion and realize that politics was quite subservient to more ultimate issues. But now for some people, politics is the only hope, the only ultimate issue. And I think we have to be confident that God is in charge. R.C. used to say that we should worry less about who's in the White House and remember more who's on the throne of heaven. That's a paraphrase.
But we should have that confidence that God is in charge. He's accomplishing his purpose. And he wants us to serve him, perhaps in politics, but for sure in the church and in making the truth known.
Chris, how are we thinking about this moment and how it relates to Ligonier and our outreach?
I really think that there's a moment where we have open for us. As we've expressed before, there are more opportunities that the Lord has laid before us, really, than we can take advantage of. And so we're trying to press into this moment. And I do get a sense in which there is a peace dividend.
If you all recall when the world came out of World War II, and here in these United States, you look at the late 40s and 50s, and there really was a peace dividend where the country was able to grow and to expand. Well, in a different context... We certainly see that we have room to operate, room to move, room to move forward.
And Dr. Godfrey, we were just in California together, and I was meeting with several other ministry partners, and they're expressing a confidence as well for the church to be able to move forward. Because we pray for peace. We pray for kings and rulers and all those who are in authority, just as Paul exhorted Timothy to instruct.
But we pray for that so that the church could do its work and be about the work of the Great Commission and so that we can run unhindered. And so we pray for the Lord's blessing and we really want to get to work. And we see so much opportunity.
Speaking of getting to work, we're also joined by Dr. Burke Parsons. He is our chief editorial officer and also one of our teaching fellows here at Ligonier. Dr. Parsons, you and I have had the opportunity to teach at our Always Ready Youth Apologetics events.
And it's really a wonderful time as we see thousands of teenagers gathered together wanting to dig into the truth and to learn about apologetics. But there's a new discipleship resource that we're planning to unveil next year, pushing even younger than teenagers to serve this rising generation, Generation Alpha. Could you tell our ministry partners about that?
Absolutely, Nathan, and it's great to be with you and with all of our ministry partners. I was actually a ministry partner before coming on the staff of Ligonier many years ago, and I've gotten to know many of you over the years, and it's been a great delight to form the friendships that we have at conferences and other places, and especially in times like this when everything is so expensive.
that you as partners are continuing to remain faithful. And it tells me that you understand what is primary, what matters most in this life as we strive to, as Chris said, fulfill the Great Commission and give God the glory as He builds His kingdom. So this is a wonderful time together, and I'm grateful that we have to talk about this new curriculum.
It's something that we've been planning and discussing for many years. In fact, Chris, you and I both talked about this with Dr. Sproul many years ago. And I remember that when we discussed it with him, this idea of a children's curriculum, he was very excited.
Because in his ministry in life, of course, he has devoted tremendous amount of time to ministering to children, from his children's books to some of the youth series he's done. This is a pressing need, and I would even suggest a growing need.
in the church and for families, because it has become increasingly difficult to find trustworthy material that parents and teachers, both in the church and Sunday school, at home and family worship and homeschooling, can use that they can count on.
Because today, our kids are being bombarded with new definitions of words, entirely new and fresh explanations of Scripture, and what we need is careful, simple, thorough, accessible, and trustworthy curriculum that parents can easily use in instructing their children through the great stories and teachings of Scripture. And so I'm very excited about this curriculum.
It's been something we've been developing for quite some time now. As you all know, at Ligonier, we do not rush anything. We work very hard to take our time and to do the research and to do all the necessary investigative work to produce materials that we believe will be on the shelves of Christians and churches for decades and decades to come, should our Lord tarry.
And we certainly hope he does not. But these resources, we believe, will truly help the church and to help the next generation. You know, a lot of Christians I speak with are very concerned about the future, the future of their nations, the future of their churches. and the future of what is going to happen.
And one of the things that we need to be constantly doing is teaching our children, training them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, making sure they understand the right definitions of words and terms. And the only way they're going to do that is if they are grounded well in the Word of God and the theology of the Word of God. And that's what this curriculum aims to do.
I know Chris is very excited about this curriculum as well. It's something we've been discussing and talking about, all of us together, Nathan, JD, planning for really quite some time along with the entire editorial team. And so I am very excited. I know Chris is very excited about this as well.
We really are looking forward to serving families and churches and seeing what this can do, not just for churches here in these United States and Canada, but also as we're trying to now put this into hands of our global outreach partners and get it translated into other languages as well. It feels like we're just approaching the start line, waiting for the gun to fire.
And we're going to announce a little bit more at our national conference coming up here in April. And then we'll have some pre-orders and try and get it in your hands so that you can start to see it this summer coming up. And we really want to hear from you. How can we serve you better?
And take a look at this curriculum, and if it's something that you believe that you can use or your church can use, recommend it to them, and we'd love to be able to find ways to serve you all even more. So thank you so much, Dr. Parsons, for your leadership of the editorial team. Thank you, Chris.
As you think about this curriculum, what sets it apart from other curriculums that are already available?
Well, one of the things that's very important, and when we did our initial research several years ago, and we looked at every curriculum that we could find, every Sunday school curriculum, every children's curriculum that was used in homes and Bible studies and homeschooling families, we looked at everything.
And together with Thomas Brewer, who really has done the initial bulk of the work on this, who leads editorial, we found that most of the curriculum was complicated. It took a lot of work to use. It took a lot of time to even prepare to use the curriculum. It wasn't simple. And so one of the features of this curriculum is that it's simple.
Any parent, any teacher can pick this up and will be able to use it to go through the lesson and teach it to children. We also believe that this curriculum will prove itself to be far more trustworthy than a lot of the curricula that we're seeing out there these days.
Whether you realize it or not, a lot of the curricula that is sort of slipping into churches and Sunday school programs, there are a lot of themes that are also creeping in. sociocultural themes and even biblical theological themes that most of us are unaware of and would disagree with. And they're slipping in slightly at times, but as we know how things often do, they begin to snowball in time.
And so we want a curriculum that is trustworthy and that doesn't change every year. a curriculum that families can count on and they know that the theology in it is something that they can trust because it's based on our ancient creeds and confessions. And thankfully, there are two versions of this curriculum that are planning to be released.
The one is for our Reformed Baptist students and one curriculum for the Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed students. students among us. So I'm very grateful for that because I think it'll serve both churches and traditions well. Another aspect of this curriculum is that it will be thorough.
While it's not going through every chapter of every book of the Bible, what it does is it covers the main themes and the main teachings and the big stories of the Bible and helps to teach through practical application and the theological understanding of those stories and teachings. And so we also hope this will be very affordable.
Rather than churches having to spend tremendous amounts of money each and every year, the hope is that churches will be able to buy this once and use it, rather than having to buy a new curriculum each and every year. And so there are many other features, but those are just a few to answer your question, Nathan.
Dr. Godfrey is the only grandfather here in the studio. When you think about passing on the truth to the next generation, how important is that?
Well, it's absolutely critical for the sake of the souls of the next generation. I mean, that's our first concern. But also, as I look at my grandchildren and look at the history of the church in America, one of the really sad things is all the effort that goes into evangelism through churches to watch one generation come into the church and another generation leave the church.
The church should give at least as much attention to keeping the generations in the church from generation to generation as it does to reaching out to bring new people into the church. And so I think it's very exciting to see carefully prepared, reformed curriculum that can be used in homes and in churches and in schools
to be sure that our, our children are really from early ages introduced to the Christian faith. We know how now, of course, my grandchildren are a lot smarter than most grandchildren, but, um, of course, of course, of course, that's, Every grandparent says that. But it's absolutely staggering how quickly little children can learn and how much they can learn.
And to waste those years and not to fill their minds and hearts with the truth of God's Word would be a terrible waste. So I think this is a much-needed project and a very exciting one. We know that education far and wide in our country and globally the last decades has been watered down and dumbed down.
And to think that we're having really thoughtful, carefully prepared curricula that can lead students into the word in a way that teachers can manage is very exciting, I think.
We have some wonderful updates to share about the Lord's work through Ligonier globally. But while we're still talking about the next generation, Chris, could you just share with us the latest updates from Reformation Bible College, our friends just across the pond?
Well, yeah, just about an hour ago, Dr. Godfrey and I were in the board meeting. for Reformation Bible College and heard a wonderful report from Dr. Stephen Nichols, who is reporting on their largest class ever. And it is amazing to see the campus buzzing with life and to see students coming from all across the country here, from Canada, but even international students as well.
We heard about the growth of the online education program for the foundation year. And really, the school has achieved that size mark that Dr. Sproul set for it. And he had a very intentional focus when he wanted to say, let's not just keep growing and growing. Let's stay small.
and faithful and that was his focus by just intentionally focusing on a particular student body size and that allows us to have just the right faculty with the students and they're able to have that life on life discipleship as we love to see and nathan you know one of those rbc students quite well don't you
Yeah, so my oldest daughter joined Reformation Bible College full-time this year. And when I joined Ligonier Ministries, the college was about a year or so old. And so more than a decade later, I've seen that college grow. But to have my own daughter attend, I'm getting another glimpse into the faculty, the student life.
And it's just been so tremendous to see how the Lord has used the faculty to encourage her. I've honestly never seen her so happy and to have such godly friends that she is surrounded by peers her own age that are just as passionate about learning the truths of Scripture and have a faculty that not only academic,
and wanting to pass on the knowledge of Scripture and theology and church history, but they're committed to the discipleship of the students in their classroom. And the faculty have been such a blessing. Dr. Nichols, such a blessing to her. And so I continue to pray for her, praying for the school, and excited to see what these next four years bring.
But I am certainly an even greater advocate for Reformation Bible College since my daughter has attended, and just very, very grateful and thankful. We're also joined by JD Bridges. He's our Vice President of Global Outreach. And JD, I'm excited that you're in the studio because you're typically on an airplane, either going somewhere or coming home.
So could you tell our ministry partners about some of your travels this year and how their support is helping take our trusted library of teaching to the nations? Gladly.
It's just good to be with you all. It's good to be on the ground. This year, we've been on five different continents, and the opportunities everywhere we've gone have just really been overwhelming at times to see the response to Ligonier Resources and also the great need. And we just continue to come back with this consistent theme of urgency. Could you please send resources soon?
And I'm just pleased to report that there are so many needs. And at the same time, there's so many great examples of where those needs are being met and where Ligonier is able to provide assistance. And that's really in large part due to our ministry partners.
And so we see ourselves, Nathan and Chris, I know we've talked about this a lot, that we are really a supply line to the front lines of the Great Commission. And that means that we are partnering with people around the world, people who are actually boots on the ground doing the work.
and we are enabling what they do and to do it better and hopefully biblically and in a way that is trustworthy and consistent with the ancient creeds and confessions that we all adore and cling to so desperately. And I'll give you one example of a report we just received from a partner in Kenya. We have been working with them on providing resources to a hospital And it's been a pilot program.
And Chris, we've talked about this many times. We've provided study Bibles for them, for their staff, and even for the local pastors that are connected to this hospital. And at the same time, for the patients, we've been providing resources such as teaching series. Imagine sitting in a waiting room. It's not a great experience.
But what Ligonier has been able to do is to provide teaching series clips for all those people in the waiting room. And it lasts for 90 minutes and it continues to loop through. But they get great gospel content and they get to see that and listen to that while they're waiting for their loved one to be cared for. And so that's just one example.
The report on that pilot program has been outstanding, and we can't wait to scale that even farther. I mean, there are so many people that this particular hospital network can touch.
That's right. Yeah, I think the total number of hospitals is something close to 60 when you actually think about all the different facilities that they have. And it's in multiple countries and multiple continents.
Providing training for chaplains and other ways that we can come alongside them.
That's right. Yeah, and earlier this year, actually just a couple months ago, Chris, you and I were in Southeast Asia. We had an opportunity to meet with pastors in South Korea and a very similar interaction and engagement with them.
I think we were probably more blessed by that time with them than even what they were in just hearing the reports and the affection and appreciation they have for Ligonier and for Dr. Sproul and the teaching content that we produce. Yeah, our ministry partners –
You know this because you are beneficiaries of this ministry's teaching, and you've been helped by it over the years, of course. But Ligonier is synonymous around the world because of Dr. Sproul's faithful ministry with benediction. Bible teaching you can trust. And it's amazing, the doors, just the name of Ligonier is opening for us.
And so it doesn't matter where we are, people are eager to work with Ligonier. And in many cases, they're seeking us out rather than us going to them. That's right.
Yeah, and on that trip, was also able to go to Singapore. And what was so encouraging for me was that a brother from mainland China who has been a partner of ours for many years, was able to legally get into Singapore to spend some time with me and just to talk about opportunities we have to serve pastors in a very difficult country, as we all are, I'm sure, well aware.
Brothers who are persecuted, brothers who are operating underneath the radar of the Chinese government. And so part of what that conversation was addressing was the opportunity we have to serve them through an upcoming regional conference, Chris, in Singapore.
That's right. Our ministry partners can be praying for the conference that we intend to hold next September in Singapore. And some of you may not realize, but within a six-hour plane flight around Singapore, there's something like two billion souls who live in that radius. That's right.
It's actually close to 50% of the world's population is accessible within a six-hour flight from Singapore. And then, Nathan, I'll also just mention a really special event that Chris and I were able to participate in, which was the launch of the Reformation Study Bible in French. We were able to go to Paris and spend some significant time with brothers there.
And probably the highlight of the trip for me was just being able to share that moment. And Chris, what did you think?
Well, we had Dr. Ferguson there, and he brought a wonderful message of encouragement. And as we've seen the church in Europe struggle for the past several decades, what our ministry partners should be encouraged to hear is that the Spirit is bringing life back to the continent. And we're seeing good, faithful churches grow. Now, it's not spectacular growth, but it is steady growth.
And these are pastors there that are committed to laboring in difficult contexts. But also what's so amazing is to see how so much of Africa has come to Europe as well, and in many ways, bringing the gospel with them. And so you go to a number of these churches, particularly in France, the ones that we're aware of, and you'll regularly see brothers and sisters from French-speaking Africa there.
And that's a big impetus behind why we did the French Reformation Study Bible Project. Of course, not just for France, but for the French-speaking world. J.D., give us some perspective on how many people are speaking French today and millions more in the coming decades ahead.
Today, the number is quite large. I think it's something to the tune of maybe 300 million, three to 400 million people that speak French either as a first, second, or even a third language. But as we look forward over the next 30 to 50 years,
Because of the growth in Africa, especially in Central and Western Africa, those numbers are going to climb significantly to close to three-quarters of a billion people that will be speaking French. It'll actually be, presuming that trends will stay consistent, it'll be close to, like I said, three-quarters of a billion, but that'll be the number three spoken language around the world.
And so to deliver one of these Reformation study Bibles, we've been able to send approaching 80,000 study Bibles to Africa. How much does it cost?
It's about $25 per Bible, and that includes everything from the warehousing to the shipping. Imagine it going on a boat somewhere to a port, and then it's got to be trucked somewhere, and then it's got to be trucked again to the next destination, usually into the hands of the pastors. So all that cost. It goes into – it's roughly $25 a Bible.
All right. So before we leave talking about study Bibles, let's just talk about some of the languages that we've already done. But you've just rattled off to me this week in the office several other languages that are in the works. That's right.
So we actually have study Bible translation in Arabic. Bulgarian, Russian, and also in Polish. And we actually have some other proposals that we are evaluating even currently, and that number could grow more substantially in the weeks and even months ahead. So it's an amazing time to be at Ligonier to see the body of work that's happening around the world.
We talk of Ligonier as having the most extensive library of discipleship resources that are faithful to the historic Christian faith. And it is amazing to see you and the Global Outreach team growing and taking this truth to the nations. We want to scale up the work, but we're really going to be working on taking this library to the nations for decades, if the Lord allows.
And just from a round figure, how much could we spend on some of these other languages? We talk about reaching the world's most spoken languages, the top 20 languages. Of course, we're not including English in this, but how much could we spend per year Well, the work is so large.
We know that, like you were saying, it's multiple decades. But I really feel like with all of the projects that we have in front of us, it would be well within reason that we could spend a million dollars a year translating, dubbing content in video forms, printing, and seeing those books produced and then distributed to pastors. A million dollars per language per year.
We know how we would spend that.
We know what those projects are. Let me just put some of this into context. Recently, JD, you or one of your team members shared with me a shocking stat, a statistic that there's about 5 million pastors around the world. And this was put out by some other independent party who had done this study. And of those, maybe 95% have no formal theological training. That's terrifying. That's right.
And you have a goal of being able to take the study Bible and all of these resources and over the next 10 years, striving to reach 10% of that number.
Yeah, we realize we can't reach everyone, but we do know that we have significant distribution abilities. We have already distributed, Chris, as I was sharing with you, we've already distributed in the last decade over a half million Bibles. Now, imagine taking that same energy and knowledge to focus just on pastors.
and being able to, Lord willing, provide a study Bible for 10% of the world's pastors. We know we can't reach them all, but Lord willing, if we could do that over the next 10 years, we believe that our ministry partners are going to play a significant role in that.
Absolutely. Ministry partners, pray for this. Dr. Schroll was so clear in trying to help us to set goals, and we love exceeding those goals. So we're getting to work. We are at work, but your support helps us to get there faster. So thank you.
Just to put that $25 in context, J.D., to get one of these study Bibles into the hands of one of these pastors, you've shared before that for one of these pastors serving in Africa, that may be the equivalent of one to two months' salary.
So a study Bible in and of itself is out of reach for them just from an expense perspective, but also as you think about the Reformation study Bible, it is a theological study.
library in one volume, that if you were to break out the commentary, the notes, the theological notes, the creeds and confessions, this could be $100, $150, $200 worth of resources that we've been able to condense into one volume.
That's right. The Study Bible notes exceed a million words, and it would not be uncommon to equate that to approximately a 20-volume commentary set. And so having that in a single volume with God's word is so significant and really crucial for a lot of pastors around the world who have access to so little.
And often commentaries are not available in the languages or even in those places where we want to reach.
It's just so exciting to think about the impact that this may have as the Lord blesses a pastor who now has these resources and may be preaching to 500, 1,000 people on a Lord's Day, just the generational impact. So thank you to our ministry partners for the way that you support this outreach. Study Bibles, as we're thinking about for 2025, study Bibles for the world.
Well, Dr. Godfrey, our ministry partners often ask us, how can they pray for Ligonier? How would you answer that question? How can our ministry partners pray for this ministry in this season?
Well, I think in the first place, we need always to be supported in prayer that we'll be faithful to the Word of God, faithful to the Lord who inspired the Word. The history of the church is littered with organizations that started out well and did not continue well. And our great concern is that we would remain faithful. They can pray that if we're not faithful, we'd shut down. That's right.
That is what Dr. Sproul would have asked us to pray for. Absolutely. So please pray that we'll be faithful to Christ and to the Scriptures. Pray that we'll have wisdom. You've heard something of the opportunities that are laid before us. We've heard so powerfully from J.D. about appeals made to us for help. Pray that we'll have wisdom to know how to proceed, what opportunities to pursue.
where best to use our time and energy and resources. And then please pray that we'll have the resources to fulfill those wise plans. Our ministry partners know so well that we are dependent upon them for their prayers, but also for their financial support so that we can do the work the Lord is calling us to.
And, you know, as a historian, I can't help but observe that John Calvin would be so smiling to think there's now a Reformation Study Bible in French. He devoted himself and his energies—we forget this sometimes as a pastor and as a preparer of missionaries to carry the gospel to France—
And they used to say at the Genevan Academy that their diploma was their death certificate because so many went and were martyred for the faith. And to think now that we have a study Bible that can reach millions and millions and millions of French speakers with the gospel, and we know it is the Word of God, it's the power of God to salvation.
And so I pray that we'll have the resources to fulfill those opportunities, and we're So thankful for all the ways in which the partners have prayed for us and helped us.
Chris, Dr. Godfrey mentioned resources, the provision that we are even praying for as a staff. Leaders across the ministry gathered yesterday, and we prayed for the Lord to provide as we enter this year-end season. Can you just speak to our ministry partners about what that need is?
We love bringing these updates to you, our dear ministry partners, because you get sort of the insider access. We've thrown a lot of numbers at you today, but it's because we want to be accountable and we want you to know exactly what we're up to. And so when we come to you with these facts and figures, these are attached to real initiatives.
And so even now, as we look over the next six, seven weeks up until year's end, we're We have a $7 million fundraising goal, and that's a daunting number. It's a sizable sum, but the work is vast. It's immense. And so, you know, this is part of our annual budget need and a goal that we've set. And so we do need to hear from many of you. And many of you, thankfully, have stepped up in years past.
And by God's grace, we will continue to be able to move forward into a new year of ministry together. It's our pledge. to steward these resources effectively, ultimately knowing that our stewardship is to be held accountable by the Lord. We want to be accountable to you, our ministry partners, but we know that ultimately we must give an account to the Lord.
And so it is our pledge to deploy every dollar as efficiently and as effectively and that, God willing, we will stay faithful for the decades and decades to come. This is no time to tap the brakes, as you all have heard. We really want to press into this moment of opportunity. Your gifts, I really believe, are directly strengthening believers worldwide.
And every dollar fuels this movement of getting the historic Christian faith to the church throughout the world, ensuring that every tribe and tongue will hear the life-giving truth of Christ.
And you, our dear ministry partners, the Lord is using you to take that gospel around the world. And so on behalf of all of the team at Ligonier Ministries, I want to extend our thanks to you for your support, for your prayers for this ministry. I'm grateful to you, Chris, Dr. Godfrey, JD, Dr. Parsons, for being able to share this time with our ministry partners.
But I don't want to close without spending some time in prayer. So Dr. Godfrey, Would you close our time in prayer, pray for our ministry partners that are listening this afternoon, pray for the ministry here and also the church around the world?
I would be honored to do that. So let's join our hearts and our minds in prayer. Father, we acknowledge that you are able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think. And so we come to you as the one with all power and all wisdom and with good plans to gather a people in Jesus Christ as a new humanity. And we thank you for such a great and glorious Savior.
We thank you that we can know him who even now is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And we thank you, O Lord, that we can work to help him build his church, help as instruments, not to lay a foundation, not to do the hardest work, but to seek to be servants of Jesus Christ and of his church. And so we pray that you will help us. You'll help us in our weakness,
For we acknowledge we have many weaknesses and many needs, but we rejoice that Your Word tells us that Your power is made strong in weakness, that You accomplish Your purposes so often surprisingly. And we pray, O Lord, that You would surprise us and fill us with joy in what can be accomplished for you. And we pray for a world that is in such need.
Some parts of the world have been privileged to have much access to your word and sometimes have been very neglectful. Soften hearts there, O Lord, and open the way for Christianity to be seen as the truth and the power that it is, not as something passe and irrelevant.
And we pray, O Lord, for parts of the world who have not had much access to your Word or to the truth, that your Spirit would work there through the Word to accomplish great things for Christ. We pray especially for those who are being persecuted in parts of the world where your truth is so rejected that it must be violently opposed.
And we pray that the blood of the martyrs would indeed always be the seed of the church. And so, O Lord, we look to you to help us. We pray that we would be faithful. We pray that we would have wisdom to know best how to serve you.
We pray that every one of the study Bibles distributed might make an impact in the hearts and lives of pastors and of congregations and of those who do not yet know you. We pray for this new curriculum that is designed for children so that we might see the extraordinary blessing of the faith passed from generation to generation.
And so we know these great opportunities and enterprises can only succeed by your power and your blessing. And so we pray that you'll hear us. We pray that you'll unite us. We pray that you'll keep the staff here at Ligonier safe in their travels and in their work, that you'll keep them faithful to you in every way.
and that you'll unite us with our ministry partners in a great concert of prayer and commitment that Christ would be glorified and that he would be made known. So hear us as we bring these prayers for great things that you might, in all that we do, be glorified. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
By God's grace, 2024 has been a significant year of outreach, and we're all looking forward to 2025, especially with the release of our new children's curriculum. You're listening to a special episode of Renewing Your Mind, as you just heard a recent call we had with Ligonier's ministry partners, updating them on the past year and our plans for 2025.
Under God's blessing, none of this would be possible without your support. So thank you so much to those of you who pray and give generously. And as we approach the end of the year, if you'd like to make a year-end donation to fuel this outreach in 2025, you can do so at renewingyourmind.org or by calling us at 800-435-4343.
If you're not a ministry partner but would like to join this special group of people, in addition to helping take the truth of God to the nations, like you heard about today, you'll receive a Reformation Study Bible, a monthly copy of Table Talk magazine, an exclusive message each month, have streaming access to our entire teaching series library, and other exclusive benefits.
You can learn more and select the option to give monthly and become a ministry partner at renewingyourmind.org or by using the links in the podcast show notes. With a significant goal of raising $7 million by December 31st, we're praying that many of you will respond with either an additional gift or by becoming a ministry partner.
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