Writer: Alfred (RtH Malawi Staff)
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| 50+ leaders attended our Discipleship & Leadership Training in Lilongwe, Malawi |
On October 28th, the RtH Malawi team led a Discipleship & Leadership Training at Kakoma, T/A Mtema Lilongwe District, Malawi, Africa. We give praise to God that our team successfully trained 54 leaders from 20 Bible Study Groups in an effort to increase their multiplication of disciples. We conducted the training with several aims in mind:
- Encourage fellowship amongst the Bible Study Group members by directing them to work together and serve one another.
- Emphasize on spiritual discipline among leaders so that they would stand out as role models – godly men & women – in their communities.
- Equip leaders to shepherd their communities AWAY from "religion" and TOWARDS Christ.
We saw leaders rededicating themselves to Jesus and mention that RtH's teaching is more practical than other teaching they’ve studied— indicating to our team that the Bible Study Group Leaders really learned the material well. Throughout the training, a minimization of denominational gaps & differences unfolded — a result of our team's efforts to build fellowship amongst community members by bringing together leaders of various denominations to study together.
Last month’s training took a group effort to be a success: RtH Malawi Ministry Partners Martha & Brenda worked hand-in-hand teaching women’s and children's ministry. RtH Malawi Staff members Donnex, Joshua and myself taught on Shepherd Leadership Training. And our Bible Study Zone Leader Dashan, along with our community partner Velias, helped steer community mobilization and coordination between the RtH Malawi team and community members.
Spiritual Leaders Idolized
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| Joshua Training Men's Bible Study Leaders |
Reaching the Hungry’s Shepherd Leadership is grounded in God’s Word and points to Jesus coming to serve, not to be served. This is in contrast to many of the religious cultures in Malawi.
For instance, while it is good to respect & honor those in authority, in Africa, those categorized as “spiritual fathers” often go beyond just being leaders in the eyes of churchgoers. They become idols to people. So Reaching the Hungry’s teaching is unique in Malawi since it focuses on the relationship between man and God — not man and church/church leaders.
Worldly Cultures Idolized
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| Martha & Brenda Training Women's Bible Study Leaders |
Similar to other districts in Malawi, Lilongwe is covered with churches all over but people continue to still live in sin. People ARE in churches but NOT in Christ. And it seems like everyone boasts about their denomination — but not God. This is in direct contrast to what Jeremiah 9:23-24 tells us to do: "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord."
There is competition between churches to gather numbers but not disciples. This competition is fueled by the misconception that when you preach the truth and rebuke sin & specific cultural beliefs that go against the will of God, people will not follow you and/or your church will lose members. Our RTH Malawi team plants & grows interdenominational Bible Study Groups that counter such misconceptions. And in the midst of communities worshiping their culture, church, and church leaders — rather than God — Reaching The Hungry conducts Leadership & Discipleship Trainings for local Bible Study Group Leaders throughout Malawi to help free their communities from cultural idolization.
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| Donnex Teaching to 50+ Bible Study Leaders |
A Final Thought
The Bible Study Group Leaders we served are thankful to Pastor Carlos, as well as to Reaching The Hungry and its donors, for making last month's Leadership & Discipleship Training possible. One final thought I would like to leave you with is this: in Malawi, the standard of living in remote areas makes it so difficult for one to buy a Bible on their own. This is where Reaching The Hungry steps in and helps to meet this need by providing Bibles translated in Chichewa, both as hard copies and as audio. Our team is beginning to run low on our stock of hard copy Bibles so if you’d like to support Reaching The Hungry meet this need in Malawi, click below to give: