Day's Diary

January 28, 2007 ~ Mlombwa

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Compared to wild rides in the rain to a village church opening or the confusion of the General Assembly opening worship, this Sunday was quiet and uneventful, but it was such a blessing. I made the first of the Partnership Church visits, this one to Mt, Pisgah’s partner church, Mlombwa CCAP, just out side of Blantyre.

The Synod Partnership Committee here has arranged with the partner churches for me to come and bring greetings from their partner church, preach and then meet with the congregational Partnership Committee to see how we can strength the church to church partnership. A member of the Synod Committee will go with me or meet me at each church and then meet with the congregational committee as well. It is a wonderful plan and the proof of the wisdom of the plan was today at Mlombwa.

We began with Mlombwa for two reasons. First, it is Mt. Pisgah’s partner church and this allowed me to “Go Home” first, before going out to the other churches and second, it is just off a tarmac road, and that is important during the rainy season. The Partnership Committee is more concerned about adventures of traveling on dirt roads in the rain than my good friend Silas is. They have planned to keep me on “safe” roads until the rains end. For me, Mlombwa was like going home. I have been with that congregation four times, have stayed in a number of homes of congregation members and have hosted a number of members in my home and in our church. All of these things are the hope of the Partnership that we build friendships that bridge distance and that bind us together in Christ. This has been the joy and the blessing for many of our partnered congregations over the years of the partnership.

Actually, I made it a weekend visit. I went to Blantyre Saturday, did a bit of shopping and visited with the Sherbinos for a while before I met my friend Gertrude Kabawzi, with whom I was to stay. Gertrude’s is the first Malawian home in which I ever stayed. We became fast friends and keep in touch regularly. Gertrude has a master’s degree in Development. She worked for six years at the Projects Office and is now working for an organization that does community-based HIV/Aids education and support work. She spends a majority of her time in the villages doing the education and setting up various programs. Her husband, Wiseman, is an executive with Escom, the national supplier of electricity. They are friends first and foremost. That is one of the blessings of strong partnership. Many in Pittsburgh and Malawi share such friendship, I know. The amusing event of the evening came as Wiseman and I were discussing the changes in available technology in Malawi, like flat scene TVs with satellite hookup, which were watching at the time, or the cell phones that have changed communication in all of Malawi. Then I observed that with all of this, there are still many villages that have no electricity. Wiseman was in the midst of explaining some of the alternative power sources that Escom is exploring to make power available and affordable in these villages, when the power went out and we sat in total darkness. After we stopped laughing at the irony of timing, he called his colleagues to report the outage and check on “lights on” time, while Gertrude set out candles and moved the cooking from the electric stove to the outside charcoal fire. An hour later, when the lights came back on, dinner was ready, thanks to the old fashioned way of Malawian cooking. We turned in early, because one of the reasons for my staying over was that we needed to be at the church at 6:30 a.m. to prepare for the first service.

When we arrived at the church, we got word that the pastor’s mother had just died and he had gone to attend to the details of the funeral. There was a hushed conversation that I could somewhat follow in Chichewa about the second service. I was to preach the first service and then meet with the congregational committee, while the pastor preached the second service. I asked if they wanted me to preach for both services and the elders just smiled. That was what they were hoping for, but would not ask. That would not have been Malawian polite, but since I offered, well . . . So I preached both services, and Gloria Kadzamire and her husband, who had come from the Synod committee graciously sat through both services. Dr. Sue Makin had come for the service and brought with her two nursing students who are at Mulanje Mission Hospital from Holland for 6 months. Gertrude and Wiseman took them to their house after the first service and Gloria and her husband and the congregational partnership committee members and I joined them there for lunch and the meeting.

Mlombwa is a growing church in a growing area, like several areas around Blantyre. What once was village is now becoming “suburbs” of a sort, as professional people build homes and small communities in what was once, and in some cases still is, maize fields. The fields and the small houses are sandwiched in around the walls of comfortable homes that sport satellite dishes and all the modern comforts. The church reflects this subtle movement. When I first preached at Mlombwa, it was in a small building with a metal roof and openings in the walls for light and ventilation. There was no electric and were no windows, as such. Today we worshipped in the new sanctuary, with all the amenities of a large church. The congregation is made up of folks from both communities. The elders have made a conscious effort to make certain that each committee of the church has a balance of folks from the different backgrounds. Much of the lunch conversation had to do with how a congregation moves from a village style to a city style, without losing anyone along the way. The houses look different, but the concerns are the same as many of our communities in Pittsburgh Presbyter that have seen similar changes in the northern and western areas of the county. When we get beyond the differences of appearance in the buildings and the landscape, there are many issues and concerns of faith and growth that we hold in common, with which we are struggling. These conversations are what build the bonds of partnership, too.