Spreading the Gospel in Malawi

by Gracious

I have been so busy giving leadership Bible study classes. I feel like I am working double shifts. I teach during the day for 4hrs and on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays I also start from 5:30pm to 8pm. I have two groups, one has 6 full time students and pastors and the other one has 4. They are becoming well trained and I have seen much change in them. They now go from household to household using tracts and the Key Bible Verse booklets to reach out and minister to others. They are already becoming good teachers themselves since I always send them interested people to be taught so they can practice all that they learn in my classes.

I have a good time sharing the word of God and explaining about the classes going from business to business. People and many church leaders find this so inspiring. Their comment is that if other Christians and churches would be actively teaching others as Family Care Ministries does, many people would have more faith in and get a greater understanding of God’s word. We are indeed unique in all what we do here.

I also go with students door to door and many people get prayed for in the parks of Zomba. We have been witnessing in different areas meeting people and sharing with them the word of God. Our theme has always been the same: LOVE. The booklet with Bible verses has become a good tool in helping them know the truth about salvation and other topics. We have been going into Muslim communities without fear knowing that the love of God is for all of us. Their joy after receiving the word of God increases our faith daily. We are motivated by the love of God to do good and preach His gospel to all. The Lord leads us to those He wants us to meet and talk to.

Ruth also teaches lots of others around Zomba. She has formed about 4 groups which have more than 10 people who gather on the days of classes. She has trained other women how to witness. Testimonies are endless with these women groups. They’re out three times a week and are winning many souls. The women group is engaged in family counseling and families are no longer the same in most Zomba areas. They help each other to overcome family problems. They are also visiting inmates and are going to hospitals to pray and share the message of salvation with the sick and the staff at the hospital.

Some of the women in this group put their money together to travel to a rural area. Her report from this trip showed that 30 people received the word of salvation and were prayed for. They taught them some parts of our Bible study course as well.

Our main challenge now is training manuals. Many of our dedicated members can’t understand English well and therefore it isn’t easy for them to use the English ones. Finding the money for transport for visitation remains a problem too during this time as things are getting worse and worse economically and Malawi is experiencing a hunger crisis. The government has reached a point of even passing a law that no one should be employed until  further notice. So a major challenge we face is lack of employment. Many can’t provide for their families.

One of our members, who just graduated from our course on the 17th October 2015, got sick and within two days peacefully passed away. Before passing on in the hospital, he praised the Lord in tongues and loudly said these words:”I have carried my torch; carry yours also.”  We testified of this to all the 500 people who attended the funeral and many were touched since this brother was known for being a nonbeliever before. As a result many people inquired about Family Care Ministries and who this man was working with. Soon after the event many showed great interest to join the course immediately. Our brother Henderson was a very dedicated person who joined our team as a student in October 2014. Despite death being a blow to many who have little faith, his death has acted as fuel to our growing ministry.

The new graduates never have time to rest but are already busy out there winning souls and training others. It’s my hope that, as we focus on educating them, they will do even greater things with what we have given them. As the Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 2: “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

Report on July 2013 Trip

Josef reports:

It is good to be home. I’ve run the race and returned from a successful and inspiring 3 weeks mission trip to Malawi. I’m so grateful for all our friends who contributed to and made this mission trip possible. Your investment has paid off in souls and labourers won for God’s kingdom. The Gospel of the Good News is being preached in all Malawi. THANK YOU!!!

Here is in short some of the exciting things the Lord has done.

It took a 36 hours journey by bus through Zimbabwe and Mozambique to reach Blantyre in Malawi where I arrived at midnight. I was welcomed by our co-worker Charles who took me to an affordable lodge. The next day I was able to rent an old open bakkie – everything else was too expensive. We started our 1,800km journey from Blantyre to Chikwawa, Zomba, Mayaka, Malosa, Salima, Mzuzu and Lilongwe to visiting our precious and dedicated members. Petrol cost R20 (2$) which depleated my shoestring budget quickly as we travelled many dusty and grueling roads. But without this vehicle we would not have been able to reach so many.

It was truly thrilling to see the receptiveness of the youth and people there. We had almost every day meetings with young people from different churches, with pastors and/or had services for their congregations. We were there to encourage and give them the vision to carry the Gospel further and to provide them with training and material needed to reach and impact the local communities. Pastors rejoiced at the devotional and training material we were able to supply them with.

Over 400 people prayed to receive Jesus as their Saviour, including 3 village chiefs and a senior women chief. Many sick folks were prayed for and were healed, hearts were encouraged and young and old rejoiced in their new found faith. Thousands of gospel tracts were distributed and from it we got many calls from people who want to join us a or invite us to come to their area to teach them. We donated some footballs to members of the Activated youth  clubs as well as two manual foot pumps for those who run agricultural projects.

I was so glad to have our member Charles with me. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to travel with me in Malawi. He knows so many areas from his many years working with World Vision and as an instructor in rural development. He shares my passion to save souls, share the Word of God and make and train disciples. He was an invaluable help.

Our journey was full of joy and excitement, meeting many new precious people who fed and accommodated us. We saw much poverty but our message of love and hope still produced a smile.

For almost 3 weeks we ate only local food, including tea and sweet potatoes for breakfast and pap with gravy, a bit of green veggies and a bit of meat for dinner. We carried our natural eating utensils always with us (our fingers). The conditions such as unfamiliar foods, little or no electricity, bucket showers (running showers are a luxury in Malawi), car break downs, dusty and rugged roads or finding ourselves surrounded by goats and chickens didn’t matter. The happy and cheerful smiles of the people we visited made it worth it all.

WHAT THE PASTORS, LEADERS & YOUTH SAY:

Oh! what a blessing it is to be incorporated in your ministry. I am ready to work with you to win the world to Jesus. I’m looking forward to receive more of your program and the study materials. Teaching is part of my calling. Currently I teach leadership and ministering in E3 Partners. Thanks. – Ps Mixon

Thanks for your text which I’ve just finished reading. It is really on my heart to win lost souls and I promise to do this work till Jesus put me to rest. – Mary (teacher)

The rule “to love your neighbour” for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Malawi – April 2013

Gracious, our Malawian friend and Family Care Ministries co-worker, set out this April on a three week visitation trip to Malawi. His mission was to assess and counsel those who associate with our ministry and do the Lord’s work of spreading His Word throughout the country. Gracious had accompanied us on our last mission trip in 2012 and we could see that the Lord wanted to use him in a greater way to help and support the growing work there. As a national of the country he has insights and a perspective we don’t have.

He visited our teams working in Zomba, Salima, Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre spending a few days in each city. He taught, counselled and saw the work in action as he heard and observed different initiatives that teams had started in the various regions. In the classes he taught he used the questions workers encountered in their outreach as a starting point to further train and teach them. He wanted to see the needs first-hand.

In Zomba

In Zomba Family Care Ministries youth members are planning to have a vegetable garden to help support both themselves and the disadvantaged in their communities. After enjoying some teaching, teams went out on outreach to apply what they had learned in class. One team met some elderly people sorely in need of assistence with different work at their homes. They went straight to work to lend a helping hand promising to return the next day to do what required tools.

Pastor Maluwa expressed the need for a qualified person to help with classes. Charles, who heads up the work in Blantyre and had accompanied Gracious to Zomba, agreed to help with this. The only problem is that travel is quite expensive in Malawi presently but we pray that a way can be found nonetheless.

In Salima

In Salima, Gracious noted that the team is working very well together. They started a crèche nine months ago in a small village which is predominantly occupied by Muslims. They started out with only 5 children. In the beginning community members feared that it was just an initiative to convert the children to Christianity. Yet over time more and more children came as their parents saw that it was a sincere effort to help and give access to education to children who would otherwise have no opportunities. The nearest schools are too far for the younger children to walk to and the people in this community too poor to pay the transport to send them there leaving many uneducated. Parents realized that unless the children are given opportunities to learn they will fall behind and would never have a chance to make something of their life in a world where technology is rapidly expanding to all corners of the planet.

Gracious was able to meet the village headman and other leaders of this small community. He pointed out that dwelling on the differences of religion only hinders and stifles progress and urged everyone to lay these aside differences and focus on overcoming obstacles for the sake of fighting the extreme poverty and related challenges. He drew attention to the fact that though there are differences of religion many of the goals are the same and told them that unity is far more important than uniformity. He challenged them to support Family Care Ministries Salima’s effort in a practical way so that the children can be provided for with a meal to enable them to learn better.

Family Care Ministries encourages teams to be self-supporting and to raise what is needed for various projects and initiatives within the areas they are working in. It is simply beyond our means to carry the work single-handedly.  To do all they wish to do poses big problems for workers as the needs are immense in Malawi and most have little themselves. The country struggles with very high petrol prices which are nearly double that of South Africa. The cost of fertilizer – which is sorely needed to grow anything – and food prices continue to go up and up. This leaves scores and scores going hungry as they simply cannot manage to buy anything.

In Mzuzu

In both Salima and Mzuzu – Gracious’ next stop – he met and taught not only members of the clubs that had been formed but also interested pastors who came to hear (and check out) what Family Care Ministries teaches. One director of evangelism from Mzuzu was very touched and asked if it were not possible to open a school where pastors could be trained and where more teachers could be groomed. Many asked for more books and teaching materials and manuals to spread the word further. Much is needed in the way of material in the local language so we are making a renewed effort to work on translations.

In Lilongwe

When the gospel is preached and workers strengthened, the Lord sees to it that needs are met. Towards the end of last year we had to give up the place that we had been renting in Lilongwe due to rising costs. This left Gracious meeting teams in Lilongwe wherever they could. A member of a local church who happened to overhear and attend a class saw the need and offered them a room to rent at a reasonable cost for future meetings. 

In Blantyre

Charles has been active to make a difference in the community. He is using a small store front room as a Family Care Ministries office and base for various initiatives. Charles has been ministering to graduates and the youth in the area who show a lot of potential and are beginning to head the various initiatives he has started. He offers free computer classes to children and youth. He teaches them, memorizes Bible verses with them and formed different choirs. The materials we have supplied him with over the past year are available to everyone for self-study at his little base.  His plan is to start a poultry farm to help project participants to earn a living.

We saw evidence again that the work is touching lives and growing and spreading throughout Malawi through these efforts. As the days progressed more and more people were drawn to the meeting as word spread. For us it is not about reaching the masses but about training local workers. Family Care Ministries wants to find those who are sincere in their willingness to obey the word of God and ready to exercise their own faith not those who want to just see what they can personally gain by joining us. Trips like these are essential in determining this.

Into all the world …

We would like to give a little report of our trip to Malawi this July 2012. Our team consisted of Josef (Austrian), Talitha (German), Abram (South African) and Gracious (Malawian). We saw soon how each of us would bring his/her own gifts and talents to the table to make this mission trip a success. We travelled with our bakkie through Zimbabwe and Mozambique, a journey which took us 3 days.

From the onset of this year the work among the youth in Malawi had grown by leaps and bounds spreading to various parts of the country. We felt the need to make this trip to meet the youth and workers in the various cities to assess the situation and needs.  Most of the Activated Youth Clubs are in Lilongwe, the capital city. Others are in Mzuzu in the very north of Malawi and others yet in or near the cities of Zomba, Mangochi and Salima which are located along Lake Malawi.

It was truly an experience and very inspiring to visit the different cities and outlying areas and get to know many of those that had joined recently. If we can equip and train the youth to reach the cities and villages around, then we are reaching the whole of Malawi. What an inspiring vision!

Visit to Lilongwe, Malawi – July 2012

Visit to Mzuzu, Malawi – July 2012

Visit to Mangochi, Malawi – July 2012

Visit to Zomba, Malawi – July 2012

Visit to Blantyre, Malawi – July 2012

Reaching the Youth of Malawi

Pastor Hanock Simenti, from Global Gospel Assembly Church

My heart and spirit convicts me to write to you to testify of the benefits of Activated and what it is doing for us here in Malawi. Before I got to know the Activated Club I was regarding it as simple. Now I am surprised at how powerful it is and see its importance. As pastor I have special times to sit down with the youth encouraging them in spiritual matters. I inquired about the benefits and achievements the youth found in the Activated Clubs. I would like to share the testimonies that they told me and what they get from participating. May I beg you to read with close attention about some of the factual benefits.