Sponsor-a-Pastor

Civil Unrest

admin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 05:42:11 +0000

Malawi is known as one of only 2 countries in Africa never to have had a war. So it is generally a haven of peace and the people are reluctant to express discontent. But you may have heard that there is a fuel crisis that has lead to lines of over 100 cars at every petrol station, plus a recent announcement that Britain is suspending 90M pounds of budget aid to the government.

So there were major demonstrations in the streets yesterday, and we had to cancel classes. Please pray for peace and wisdom on all sides, especially with rumours of deaths in the streets yesterday of a policeman and a poor little girl trampled.

Almost Done

admin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:34:37 +0000

It’s Wednesday of Week 2. I have a day off for marking, because of anti-government demonstrations. Praying for peace and no bloodshed. Only one day of lectures to go. It has been a whirlwind, but week 2 was good because of the smaller group and more time for discussions about how theology affects our preaching and teaching.

It has been sad this year to lose two former students – one of heart-failure earlier this year, and one of HIV-Aids just last week. We pray for God’s mercy and comfort and provision for their families, especially for the pastor who will sit his RCH exam this Friday, having lost his wife.

Ready for Week 2

admin — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 11:55:30 +0000

Appologies for lack of posts this year. 4 days of no internet at the lodge, combined with twice daily power cuts. The problem is apparently that the country relies on a single hydro-electric plant, which is aging and requires 6 months of maintenance.

But the courses are going well, and the reformation history students are ready for their exam tomorrow, after watching the Luther movie on friday, despite no power! The BT2 students have done well in their practice exams, looking forward to working more intensively with them this week.

Day 2

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:55:07 +0000

Just finished day 2 – 6 hours of lecturing on Biblical theology and Reformation church history. It is amazing how relevant and applicable the struggles of the 16th century are to the Malawians. They are finding analogies to present church abuses and policitics and practices that I would never have imagined. And they are pleasantly outraged by how unbiblical the church can become.

We have about 40 students in church history, and 13 in biblical theology. Most have done several subjects before, so it is a comfortable process. Admin this year has also been a breeze with the discovery of a western-style printing shop with gleaming new photociers that churn out resources at a high quality and a low price.

Malawi 2011

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 23:50:36 +0000

The first week of lectures is already in full swing in Lilongwe. The plan for 2011 involves three lecturers, 5 subjects, and upwards of 50 students. It turns out that we’re actually teaching at the Anglican college again this year, not the AOG college, as it’s a cheaper facility.

For the first week, Rev Pete Stedman from Norwest Anglican Churches is lecturing Level 1 students on Doctrine and Level 2 students on New Testament 2 (Acts). In the second week, Jonny Gibson will arrive from Cambridge and take the Level 2 students for a week of Old Testament 2 (the former prophets). In the third week, the other two lecturers will head home, and I’ll take over with a third subject for the Level 2 students – Reformation Church History, and a second subject for the Level 1 students – Biblical Theology 2. It’s a complex schedule, and God-willing both lecturers and students will make it through.

Some late-breaking good news is that the Zimbabwean students received funding for transport from another Sydney church, and so they have arrived and are in the program. In the future we hope to expand the program into Zimbabwe, but for the moment it’s great that they can join this month-long intensive.

Your prayers for this years’ intensive are appreciated:

Praise God for all the courses, teaching, and fellowship he has enabled over the past 4 years, 13 courses, and 250 students taught.
Pray for all the lecturers as we travel and teach as ministers of the gospel.
Commit the pastors to God in their studies, and pray for the churches and families they are leaving for the month.
Ask God to supply African Enterprise with all their needs in organising the venue, printing materials, and communication with the pastors.

2010 Report

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:08:19 +0000

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.

Last Day

Jon — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:40:25 +0000

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.

Day 10

Jon — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 11:35:50 +0000

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.

Week 2

Jon — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:48:14 +0000

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.

Day 5.

Jon — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:04:50 +0000

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.