On behalf of the Malawian pastors and myself, I would like to thank you for your interest or involvement in bible-teaching in Malawi. You have warm greetings and prayers from 57 pastors thanking God for you and your partnership. It was a great encouragement to find both churches and individuals will to help equip African pastors for gospel ministry.

You can read the live posts from the course below and left, but in short, it was a busy and encouraging year. The plan was to teach two subjects in parallel this year, which was a step up. But we ended up doing three, because the Zimbabwean pastors missed the first fortnight and so were keen to catch up on the subject they had missed. So it was Mark in the mornings, Romans in the afternoons, and Old Testament in the evenings. We had a total of 57 students from Zimbabwe, Malawi, and a couple of Malawian missionaries to Mozambique. The course started at the AOG bible school in the middle of Lilongwe, but because of a massive AOG pastors’ conference, late in the course we had to shift to an Anglican seminary on the edge of the city. Despite the disruptions, all the pastors were very happy to have had their month-long intensive, and were humbled by all the expressions of support from the sponsors in Australia.

Flying out at 1pm today, so this morning is all about ensuring everything useful is returned or given away. All the lecture materials, pens, and markers went to the pastors. The printer, Malawian sim-card and spare internet access go to A.E.. Sneakers, casual reading books, and small change go to the room-cleaner. All that remains is a visit to the curio markets to burn some Kwacha with Pastor Edward’s men, and collect a few trinkets and cards for gifts and Malawi-awareness back in Australia. Then it’s off to the airport for the usual shenanigans queuing up for random officious purposes. At least they have done away with the departure fee of US$30. Two years ago that one caught me out, and left me negotiating with any American I could find in the airport to scrape together the dollars. An American lecturer from African Bible College came to my rescue (PTL!), and accepted my promise to mail him the money. Now the fee is just built into the ticket price, which is much simpler (and easier to increase, I imagine).
My last day in Malawi was a great experience, with a big open-air evangelistic rally with the Presbyterians in the morning, and the send-off for Enoch’s son in the afternoon. The send-off is a recent custom in Malawi, and involves the couple-to-be sitting patiently in a small tent while a dozen different friends of the family lecture them for 15 minutes each on an area of marriage – communication, nutrition, household management, finance etc. This produces many hilarious moments for the crowd, such as the advice to the wife that the bathroom should be so clean that you can take your tea to drink there. But after three hours of afternoon sun, and the fact that all the speeches are in Chichewa (Enoch periodically leans over to translate the highlights), I am quite tired and happy to be dropped back at the lodge for my final night.

One of the side-benefits of Malawi is the built-in detox. Chicken, potato, and rice are the staples, with the occasional Chambo (a sweet fish from Lake Malawi) thrown in. As a result, I always come back a few kilos lighter, courtesy of my yearly “Malawi-diet”. The traditional dish is called nsima, which is a dense corn-starch that looks like mashed potato but sits much heavier in the stomach. Filling, but minimally nutritional, it is eaten by plucking a chunk off the side, rolling into a ball with the fingers of one hand, and dipping in sauce. The first year I tried the hands-on method, and was promptly sick the next day – so for the sake of teaching continuity, I always use a fork now, and generally opt for rice instead of nsima.
Today we finished the course with the exam. Of course the power went out five minutes before the exam was due to start, but no-one was particularly fazed, so we pressed on and power resumed about 30 minutes from the end. The pastors are deadly serious about the exams, some not sleeping at all the night before. But everyone was “passably” happy, and we wrapped up with a presentation of certificates in the chapel. Four students were also due to receive their Level 1 of the International Certificate in Biblical Studies – so Enoch sourced academic robes for them. He explained afterward that this was important to confirm the legitimacy of their studies.
After photos and various farewells, most of the pastors departed. The Zimbabweans and a couple of others, however, are straight back to the books for the Old Testament exam tomorrow morning, before their grueling car trip home. They also need to find a street-dealer for US$, to exchange the funds provided by Australian sponsors for transportation. They are without passports, and so cannot do the exchange officially in Malawi. Sadly, I have very little US currency left to help, but they are cheerfully confident.
Meanwhile, Enoch has recruited me to preach to a group of Scripture Union ladies in the afternoon. On Sunday, my preaching engagement turns out to be Kafita CCAP, a church of 5 to 10,000 members I visited in my first trip to Malawi. Last time I turned up ready to preach, only to find plans had changed and one of the elders was preaching to a departing team of American Christians. So it’s a case of just turn up, and see what happens.
I celebrate the end of the course by kicking back with a coke in my room, watching the Untouchables on DVD. Fortunately the pastors have trained me in removing the bottle-cap using the door-latch.

Today we have to move from the AOG school to the local Anglican seminary, because of a conference. So a light truck is being borrowed from somewhere to somehow transport the 40 residential pastors and their bags across the city. We held the course two years ago at the seminary, but their prices increased 1000% in a year, somehow due to the GFC. They promptly lost all their business as a venue for hire, and have just started to bring their prices back down.
Today we also hand back the final batch of practice exams, which has been quite an effort this year with over 70 individual papers to mark since Friday. But we also head into the final few lectures, and a couple of practical workshops: one on starting a DIY Bible-college (for the level 2 students) and a preaching workshop for everyone to think about how to apply our studies to ministry. Please pray for energy and health, as I’m just starting to get a bit run down and sniffly.

Practice exams went off without too many hitches, with me dashing between the two classrooms. In God’s goodness we got hold of a printer to do the Old Testament exams which Julie had tracked down. We finished the day with a crazy and dusty game of 10-a-side soccer, in which I managed to score an own-goal, to everyone’s amusement. But a great first week in Malawi.

Got into the meaty parts of Romans 6 today with the Level 2 pastors. A joy to teach Africans – the ‘Amen!’s and ‘Praise God!’s were flowing as we reflected on the joys of being dead to sin and alive to God. Tomorrow we’ll do the practice exams, then celebrate the half-way point by playing some soccer together. Sadly one of the balls I brought over has a leak – hoping the other one is good! Pray for the Zim. pastors trying to do 2 subjects at once.

Lectures and exam tips for 3 subjects – my head is spinning a little! Got a first shopping trip to get quiz prizes and bulk water. Chatting with the Zim. pastors is sad. Malawi is poor, but their pastors are well-off compared to Zim. It’s better there now they’re on US$ – the shops have food, even if unaffordable. Books and Bibles are scarce, so they’re keen to learn here and pass it on.

The schedule for 2010 is somewhat hectic, trying to overlap two classes and upwards of 60 students using a single lecture room. The aim is to bring in the ICBS Level 2 students (who have already passed 6 subjects) only three days a week in the afternoons, and teach intensively, relying more on self-study outside of these times. Meanwhile, the normal 9am-4pm course of Level 1 students (yet to complete 6 subjects) will focus on the morning with more group time in the afternoons when the other lectures are on. To get a better vibe on how that looks, and inform your prayers day-by-day, the course schedules for both New Testament 1 and Romans are shown below. Click through for the big picture. The major prayer-points are quite obvious – God’s blessing on our somewhat ambitious schedule, and a high-level of understanding and equipping for ministry, despite less overall time per student (especially without Julie this year).

The to-do list before heading to Malawi is churning away. To print: Exams, Practice Exams, Exam Answers, Sample Answers, Group Workbooks, Lecture Notes, Surveys, Sermons, Sponsor Greetings… not to mention actually preparing the material for the lectures on Romans and Mark. The great blessing, however, is that all these things contribute to the learning value for the pastors, and the gospel partnership between our sponsors and the pastors. It is humbling how many people from St James have stepped up (many for a second year) and not only sponsored a pastor, but have chipped in extra funds, and written notes of encouragement to their pastor. It is a great reminder of Phil 1:4-5 – “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

2010 is shaping up to be another good year for Bible training in Malawi. At present we have lined up two teachers and four classes in a month-long intensive in June/July. In June, Rev Tony Wright will head over to teach the Old Testament 1 & Doctrine 2 subjects. Then Jon will fly in at the start of July to pick up the same students for New Testament 1 & Romans. This year we are attempting to teach two classes in tandem each time. A new class of pastors will come in for a full-time, residential subject, Monday to Friday, for the two weeks. Those who have already graduated from the six subjects of ICBS Level 1  will be taught a more advanced subject, three afternoons a week and on Saturday. The aim is to continue growing and stretching our existing pastors, but also start again to get a second group of pastors up to ICBS, Level 1.

To help sponsor the 50 places for Malawi pastors in 2010, head over to African Enterprise Donations, and categorize your donation as “Missions and Ministry” with a comment of “Malawi PTC”. Each $100 is roughly equivalent to the fortnight’s food and board for one student. But whether or not you can support the pastors financially, head over to the pastors page and pray for specific pastors as they continue their ministry and then attend the courses.