Learning to Preach in the Middle of the Journey: Claudia Ossa on The Peter Way
When Claudia Ossa reflects on preaching, she doesn’t start with polished sermons or confidence. She starts with tension—the kind she has seen in countless students and young leaders, and in herself: people who love God deeply but feel unprepared or unworthy to preach. That tension became the spark for her new book, The Peter Way, a guide shaped by years of campus ministry and her own ongoing formation.
Claudia and her husband David lead La Ruta, a Globalscope campus ministry in Montevideo, Uruguay. Their journey began long before that, as students serving in the El Oasis, a similar community in Chile, learning to teach, lead, and care for others while still being shaped themselves. Claudia says that experience helped her see something essential: God often calls people to preach even while He is still forming them.
This realization drew her to the apostle Peter. His story—deeply called, deeply imperfect, yet transformed over time—became the framework for the book. In studying Acts 1 and 2, Claudia noticed that Peter’s preaching flowed not from mastery, but from dependence on the Holy Spirit and a willingness to respond to what God was doing in the moment. “Preaching doesn’t flow from having everything resolved,” she writes, “but from choosing obedience in the middle of the process.”
That theme threads throughout The Peter Way: preaching as a journey, not a performance.
Ministry That Forms You While You Serve
Campus ministry is woven through every page of the book. Claudia describes a ministry culture where learning happens in real time—watching mentors teach, asking questions, stepping into responsibility before feeling ready. Many campus ministers came with degrees in fields like engineering or nursing, not theology, which meant their formation happened alongside their service.
“There wasn’t a line between training and doing ministry,” she explains. “Formation was happening in real time.”
Her book speaks directly to that kind of minister: someone trying to be faithful while still growing, still vulnerable, still learning.
Writing in the Quiet Spaces
As a mother of three, Claudia’s writing process happened in the margins—early mornings, late evenings, and quiet moments carved out of a full life. Those spaces became moments of prayer and surrender. Writing the book slowly began to form in her the very truth she was writing about: obedience often comes before clarity, and God works powerfully in willing hearts.
Who the Book Is For
While campus ministers will feel especially seen, Claudia wrote The Peter Way for anyone who senses a calling to teach or lead yet feels the weight of their own limitations. It speaks to the fears many never voice: not being enough, not having the right preparation, or not knowing where to begin.
The book invites readers to relax their grip on perfection and instead grow in attentiveness to the Holy Spirit.
What Claudia Hopes Readers Will Find
Claudia hopes the book frees readers from fear-driven ministry. More than gaining confidence in their own abilities, she prays readers will grow in confidence in God’s faithfulness—learning to trust, listen, and respond with simplicity.
“Obedience, even in small and unseen ways, becomes a powerful place of transformation,” she writes.
The Peter Way is ultimately an invitation to keep moving forward with Jesus, even while the journey is still unfolding.