Richard Chalklen
Richard and Denise Chalklen
Richard ‘Chalky’ Chalklen is one of those Bible teachers who has his students’ undivided attention from his opening sentence. A lover of puns and plays on words, his messages are inevitably punctuated with alliterations and clever one-liners. Chalky’s unmistakable passion for God coupled with his enthusiasm to communicate is made evident by the speed of his delivery which has been known to leave translators exhausted by the end of a message.
With his wife, Denise, Chalky began ministry at OM’s LUKE in Halesowen where they spent a couple of years training OM trainees for outreach and involving them in church partnership. When they began to realize how great the needs were in their own nation, they transferred to Boschkop in South Africa where they were involved in OM’s missions training for the next eight years. Chalky’s specialty was coaching trainees in techniques for effective preaching.
Denise has always played a key role as a mother-figure, counseling and showing hospitality to over 100 students each year. She also teaches methods for ministering to kids. This year the Chalklens have transferred to the Church Partnership Department, relocating from OM’s training base to Johannesburg. Chalky is now working more directly with churches teaching books of the Bible, running seminars on Bible study methods and challenging young people for world missions.
Denise has teamed up with her two daughters to teach local ladies and their girls how to enjoy and make the most of their mother-daughter relationship. They have at times had up to a hundred women participating in their seminars.
After fifteen years in missions training, Chalky and Denise are still in full swing and are seeing more recruits than ever sign up for missions as a result of the challenge they present to churches and individuals.