During those two weeks in Magowi, I had many conversations with random people that I had met and made contacts with. Ministry is huge here in Malawi and the idea that the harvest is ripe but the workers are few is true. I was blessed to meet two brothers who were self-appointed church planters. The go and do door to door evangelism in an area, raise up a small congregation, train a pastor, and then build an actual church building. I’ve never been involved in a church plant before, so this was all new stuff for me to hear about. I was excited.
Pastor Kaline, and Pastor Rester came up to me after one of my teachings at our conference. They enjoyed what they heard and wanted to get to know me. They wanted to share more about who they were and what they were about. Now, I must point out that many people on our travels come up to us “Americans” and as us to partner with them and help fund them. This has so many miscommunications in our respective cultures; we have a hard time giving out money to strangers, we want to know where every cent of our funding goes, and we get offended because everyone asks us to help them. The truth is that I am a World Racer; I’m pretty poor myself. I haven’t been involved with one church in particular in over 4 years. I’m a traveler; so as much as I would love to come back, I’m not sure that’s necessarily in the Almighty’s plans for me. It’s a tough place to be in when I know I could make some sort of difference in a huge way by doing something so small. This is where my heart has started to break for Africa……
Africa is being evangelized to by storm. I know about Malawi at least. There are dedicated farmers who have become pastors and church planters to serve the Kingdom in a mighty way. They are ordinary men who have traded a life of work for serving. Once a church is planted, they find a pastor to lead the congregation, and then that pastor evangelizes in a new area to eventually plant another church.
Pastors Kaline and Rester came multiple times to meet me at the house in which I was staying. They came and asked me to come and share with some of their church plants. I excitedly agreed and they came a few more times to plan a service with me. I was honoured in what God was doing here. You see they biked 24 kms round trip each time just to speak with me for an hour. I enjoyed their openness and genuine friendship.
So on a beautiful Thursday morning, they arrived as they said they would and we biked off the 12 kms to wherever it was they were taking me to share with their congregations. First they took me to their home which was a small mud brick house and a straw roof. It was a tiny two room dwelling with nothing in it but an open floor space which provided us enough room to have our lunch. In Malawi they don’t use cutlery, they use their hands. So the procedure goes as follows; rinse your hand with the water basin (take turns pouring for each other), grab a handful of Ensema (maize meal; corn flour boiled to a porridge type texture and the let cool and solidify) and then take eggs and some sort of mystery meat.
After our lunch they took me to see a few of their church plants. Alas, we arrived at the church in which I would be sharing today. This church was one of the most beautiful churches I had ever been to. There was a live band and many excited dancing children. The instruments were a hand carved 4 string guitar and the drum kit was old pieces of iron and steel forged together in a shape of drums you would see at a concert. The bass drum was a wooden box with a jimmied pedal. It was quite original and one of the best live performances that I’ve ever heard. I’m pretty sure it was the voices that made it what it was. And then I taught.
On the way back to my house I continued to stop every once in awhile to take some photos of the majestic African sunset. Riding a bike down dusty African backroads for an hour seemed like the greatest thing done all year so far. For some reason everything in my life made sense. I thought maybe it was because I was at a point of true selflessness, or maybe it was because I never had an interest in Africa and this is where my Lord had led me. Either way I savored the moment and kept on peddling. The night was fast approaching.
I had mentioned earlier that my heart broke. This is what I discovered: The pastors and laymen are untrained and zealous young men. They give their lives and answer the call to pastor and lead congregations, yet they are untrained. I spent 3 years in Christian College programs and never really pressed in. In America we go to school and then look for a job that There are no Bibles except the pastors and a few of the believers. I have 4 to my name back home!!
I met two honest, faithful men who have laid down their nets to follow Christ. There are many more I’m sure. I thank God for my new friends for encouraging me and allowing me to experience life with them for a day. Sure I got to share with their congregations, but the thing I took out of this whole thing a new understanding of the Church. She’s more beautiful than what I’ve ever thought and I’m excited for what lays ahead.
