Malawi

It has been almost two whole months since I up posted an update to this online journal of my own thoughts... so what have I been doing? Obviously not thinking too much!!

To tell the truth I don't think that I have given up thinking altogether rather that I have suffered from a period of either thinking of things insufficiently interesting to warrant permanent record or of subjects to which no sensible conclusion could be drawn and therefore there was no sensible reason to attempt to articulate them!

Fairly harmlessly, I can begin by saying that I have been out of the country on another excursion... this time it was Church not work related and turned out to be absolutely fascinating...

There is something youthful and electric about a group of people setting out purposefully to do God's work in the world outside of their usual context. It hung about like a cloud as we gathered together outside New Covenant Church Bryanston at Midnight two Fridays ago. Roof racks were stacked with Gerri Cans of diesel and camping equipment and wide-awake eyes peered out through misted up glass as Six 4x4s and one unsuspecting C-Class queued to leave the premises. “Tight fit” would be an understatement; I had been squeezed into one of the 4x4’s with some folks from Ebenezer Christian Fellowship, my Guitar was remaining in my boot in South Africa for next week and the bag with my clothes in was somewhat smaller than when I had packed it at home.

Of the trip two things are worth mentioning – Firstly the sheer lack of any noticeable infrastructure on the African landscape; as one watches baobab after baobab fly past the window and any buildings that you do see have that eyrie déjavous of a 70’s film about life in the colonies. Secondly the uncannily good company provided by my companions from Ebenezer, Brad and Chirissa (pronounced Sher-ee-sa) a young couple on eldership at the church and Bruce a youthful, old, missionary minded chap with a head full of interesting facts. The usual awkwardness that besets meetings of Christians one Church with Christians from another Church as you way up whether the books in their Bible are all in the same order as your own was happily absent and we chatted merrily away as we move from toll gate to toll gate along the N1. Bruce at 44 still had a surprising youthfulness that made him seem more like a jovial older brother than a chap nearly as old as my father and he kept us intrigued with information on various trees and birds, local customs much more…

Our convoy would take two days to cover the long road to Malawi, three boarder crossings would eat at least 5 hours of that time. The potholes in Mozambique I am sure would have had the owner of the Mercedes close to tears – but there was a good spirit in the tired group that limped into the camp in Blantyre 42½ hours after leaving Bryanston.

The intersting thing about outreach trips (from my vast experience of two) that no matter how much you come prepared to give it always seems that you end up taking far more away with you – I could probably rattle through all the things that made an impact on me over the period of the trip but I am not sure if they would mean anything at all to anyone else… it’s the same when you chat to other people that have just had a revelation – and they point out what seem to be the most pointless and mundane things that they found “completely mind-blowing” and you sit and nod your head and try to look enthusiastic and interested… never-the-less for my own records I will try and make a brief account of what took place.

The ultimate goal of the outreach was to get unsaved / backslidden Christians to three large meetings to be held in the gigantic tent that a team had set up on the mission premises the previous year. The plan was to go out by truck into the residential locations around Blantyre with some of the local Malawian Church leaders and to speak to people hand out flyers and invite them to the meetings. The trips were done in groups of about 40 to 60 people which were transported by trucks that only in Africa could escape as roadworthy!

Being primarily involved with the worship team meant that I only got opportunity to make one trip on the trucks but I it was certainly an eye opener. African people have a love for music that is enviable, a simple rhythm and few words and off you go …I doubt if we had a moments silence during the drive to and from our drop off points. The youngsters get it going but soon the old people are clapping and stamping their feet in time as truck negotiates (ramps over) the speed humps on Blantyre’s dirt roads. To cut a long story short the site of white faces wondering around on foot between the ramshackle buildings certainly generated a lot of interest and people that we approached would listen keenly to whatever I or Henry my self appointed the translator would say. Malawi has been described as the warm heart of Africa and this was all but evident in friendliness of the people. Our only bad experience was one older gentlemen who told us that their were already enough churches in the City and went ahead of us proclaiming us false prophets but then I guess it would be foolish to expect to preach the gospel anywhere with absolutely no opposition.

As things went their must have been over 3 thousand people at the first outreach meeting on the Thursday and the Malawians showed again that they have a far greater appreciation for worship, music and dance than we in our civilised westernised Christianity do. A local gospel singer with nothing more complicated than a simple jazz bass and drum backing track had everyone up and dancing from the front rows to the back soon even we caught the actions and rhythm – incredible!!! Worship was followed by a sermon from Hennie Keyter. Hennie has been the leader of a team of guys that has been working into the nations of Africa for more than 30 years. Quite, unassuming and slightly hunched I will count myself blessed for the rest of my life to have watched him preach. The picture of humility became and animated and impassioned red face – his passion was matched by the enthusiasm of the translator by his side whose expressive gestures brought murmurs of agreement from the crowd. The message itself was beautiful in its simplicity aimed at young old alike yet the response was phenomenal, a quite reminder that the gospel was never intended to be complicated!

By all accounts the trip was a success… by the end of the 3^rd meeting over 1900 people had taken Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour and given their names to the group of local church leaders to follow up. And as usual far more than anything contributed was the deposit left in the hearts of those that attended: from the servant heartedness of the ladies that prepared meals to the passion of the worship leaders to the devoutness of the local church leaders that really have given up everything to do the work of Christ it was an experience that left one revitalised, invigorated and humbled.

“He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in all the world, was taken up in Glory”

1 Tim 3 v 16(b)

God bless.