The Fisherman's Net Malawi Journal
When the Marlboro Seventh Day Baptist Church Young Adult class wrote and asked us if there was anything they could send us that we needed, we asked them to send us a tent. It was a real help to us when we visited a village church on an extended evangelistic visit which was called an "Effort."
The Mulanje Village Seventh Day Baptist Church is located very close to Mount Mulanje. From this perspective one can see the middle section of the mountain in the background. The opening exercises of the Sabbath School hour are in session in this picture. After the opening everyone is divided up into separate classes according to their ages.
During the dry season during special meetings services are all held outdoors. This is the annual business meeting of the Southeast Association with the officers of the Association sitting at the front waiting to give their various reports.
In order to make an outdoor service special, a pulpit shelter is often constructed.
This one was especially large and elaborate. It shows a real labor of love on the part of the local
people as well as a respect for the preaching of the gospel message.
The pulpit in this church is made of sun-dried bricks similar to adobe. This was the largest pulpit that
I saw inside a church building. It again shows the high value the preaching of the gospel of Christ is held
by the Seventh Day Baptist people of Malawi.
Outdoor pulpits were also consructed so a large group seated on the ground could see the preacher. Since I weigh a lot more than the average Malawian pastor (mbusa), it took a considerate amount of faith for me to climb up to this pulpit. I also refrained from "pounding on the pulpit" while preaching. I found that this high pulpit was much stronger than it appeared.
General Conference was held in Thembe. This large group met in an outdoor shelter because the annual conference
session at the Thembe Seventh Day Baptist Church was too large to meet inside. I was elected President of
the Central African Conference of Seventh Day Baptists and I chose the theme for the year, "The New Covenant,
Christ in our Hearts." Fedson Makatanje was elected Vice President.
Since I only had a beginning knowledge of Chichewa, Mbusa Fedson Makatanje served as my translator. I did, however, preach one whole sermon in the local language. It was entitled "Kodi, ife?" which means "Is it I" based on the disciples' question at the Last Supper. The word "mbusa" means "shepherd" and local pastors are considered spiritual shepherds of the people.
After a service there is often a communal meal prepared by the ladies. No, the man isn't instructing the ladies how to cook. Just how not to pose. I wanted a candid picture of actual meal preparation. The women wanted to pose for a still picture rather than have their picture taken while they were working.
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