"This is real Africa", the young man said with pride, "as close as it gets to how it was in the days of Livingstone." A total stranger to me, but typically friendly as I have since come to expect of Malawians, he welcomed us to his homeland and introduced himself as an executive of the Coca-Cola company, which, I remember thinking, was most certainly not how it was in the days of Livingstone!
We were in adjacent seats on a domestic flight from Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, to Blantyre in the south, flying with the ever-struggling national carrier, Air Malawi, affectionately known to many as "Air Where-are-we?"! It was October, 2002, and Gail and I were making our very first visit to Malawi, to which we felt the Lord was calling us. Below us passed mile after mile of hand-tilled fields and tiny thatched huts, rolling hills and valleys, now parched brown by months of relentless sun, and thirsting for the first of the oncoming rains, which would bring with them an enormous explosion of green.
Four years later, as our appreciation for this wonderful country has grown, I can understand the pride with which that young man spoke. True, Malawi is one of the world’s poorest countries, desperately neglected and horribly abused. There is widespread illiteracy, more than 90% of the people live on pennies per day (typical wages are about 30p per day), food crises occur regularly, and the population has been decimated by HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, and other diseases. Average life expectancy is just 37 years, and 20% of children die before reaching 5 years of age. Yet the country, and especially its people, though hardened by such adversity, have an unmistakeable, irresistible and intoxicating charm, drawing out our hearts to them.
The name Livingstone is inseparably linked with the country now known as Malawi - some of David Livingstone’s descendants still live here. Blantyre, Malawi’s commercial centre and the original base of the African Lakes Company in the Shire Highlands, was named after his Scottish birthplace, and one of the oldest CCAP (Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian – a collaboration of the Church of Scotland and the Free Church) mission stations bears his name.
When Livingstone first arrived in Malawi in the late 1850s, several decades after Abolition in Britain, he was incensed by the practices of the Arab slave traders he found there. Emerging towns on the western shores of Lake Nyasa were little more than holding centres for tens of thousands of shackled African slaves bound for the Middle East and Asia. Enlisting the support of several Scottish businessmen and philanthropists, Livingstone passionately pursued his aim of putting the slavers out of business by introducing legitimate trade to the region, eventually resulting in the formation of the African Lakes Company, in turn leading to the British Central African Protectorate in 1893, later known as Nyasaland, and eventually, in 1964, the independent nation of Malawi was born.
Presbyterianism is still the strongest brand of "Protestant Christianity" in Malawi, colouring much of the people’s thinking, although today Catholicism, Pentecostalism, and Islam are mighty forces to be reckoned with. Often many of these influences are mixed together, liberally seasoned with ancient animistic traditions, to form a deadly blend of syncretistic poison.
Unlike some neighbouring countries, assembly work in Malawi began as recently as the 1960s. Although details are a little sketchy, it is evident that the late R C Allison visited Malawi around 1965 to meet two individuals who had written to the press at Bellville, South Africa, having read some tracts which had been printed there. Sitting under a big mango tree, brother Allison preached the gospel and the work began.
In the ensuing years, other missionaries visited Malawi from neighbouring countries to help in the work, notably the late George Wiseman, the late Jack King, and, in the 1980s, David and Grace Croudace (Zambia) who maintain their interest to the present. Mr and Mrs Roland Pearce were commended to the work in Malawi in the late 1960s, spending 5 fruitful years in a mainly rural ministry. Many Malawians still speak of these pioneers with affection and esteem.
Since the 1970s difficulties in obtaining permits prevented missionaries from entering the country on a permanent basis, and for the most part the work was carried on by locals. Although the help of the visiting missionaries was invaluable, the quality of the work suffered during these years from the lack of consistent teaching that missionaries residing in the country could have brought. Sadly, today there is much ignorance of the Bible, and many problems such as dishonesty, drunkenness, and immorality, even among "elders", which causes serious doubt about the reality of what many profess.
After years of prayer, David and Grace Croudace began to see doors opening in Malawi recently. The difficulty in obtaining work permits was resolved, and in 2002 two couples from the UK were commended to the work there. John and Priscilla Finegan settled in Zomba, and Jonathan and Ruth Newell, with their young family, in Blantyre. We were privileged to be commended to the work the following year, settling for a time in Zomba, though we have subsequently moved to a more rural area called Thondwe.
It has been important for us as new missionaries in a difficult field to build strong relationships with each other, and we are deeply grateful to the Lord that He has enabled us to do that. Those bonds have helped us all through difficult circumstances, which might otherwise have overwhelmed us. Recently we have been joined by two Zambians, Mark and Oscar, both of whom have plans to marry and settle in Malawi with their new wives. Mark works with the Muslim Yao people around the lakeshore, and Oscar works in Blantyre’s townships.
Historically, missionary work in Malawi has been mainly itinerant village work. This continues to be important, but we feel that the future development of the work requires more concentrated use of our resources. We would all love to see further development of the literature work, in which the Finegans are so interested, and a strong work established among the town and city dwellers, an aspect dear to the hearts of Oscar and the Newells. There is a pressing need for Sunday Schools and other children’s outreach, endless possibilities for those equipped to operate in education or medicine or with street children and orphans (of which there are said to be more than 800,000 in Malawi). For our part, we are compelled to carry out the commission in practical, Biblical terms (Titus 2.1,7) by trying to make a small contribution to the improvement of the daily lot of even a few Malawians, teaching them simple techniques to be more productive in the fields, and less dependant upon charitable aid. We hope that in this way we can get close to, and win the confidence of, a people from whom we are otherwise removed, by language, culture, colour, and a gaping economic chasm, and thereby open doors of utterance for the gospel. Please pray with us for the furtherance of the Lord’s work in Malawi.
