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Sidney says...
It
is a delight to share information about the Mission work in
Malawi.
The Mission work is one thing
that I can really get excited about, because I can see God's
hand in the work at every turn. (You should some day ask me
how I feel about how Mark Thiesen was chosen for this work in
Malawi.)
The mission has always been
supported by a small group of churches, mostly from small
country towns. We have had only one or two families serving
there as missionaries, at a time.
I have been blessed to be a part in
the supervision of the work from the US side, for 32 years.
We are often compared
to denominational mission groups in Malawi.
Let me share an experience I had
a few years ago, as I traveled to Malawi, to review the work
there.
On the flight in, I met and had a
conversation with the administrator of The Baptist Missions in
Malawi and found that our work began about the same time as
theirs.
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He said they have 10 full time
missionary families working at their Malawi Mission and school.
(We had two families at that time, and one presently.)
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He said their budget was over
$100,000 a month. (Ours was $10,000 a month.)
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He said they had established 120
churches. (At that time we had helped establish over 1000
churches of Christ. It has doubled in the few years since.)
Although we do not keep formal
records of baptisms and other statistics, we are very aware of
the scope of the work, and it humbles me to think about it. One
reason we do not emphasize numbers is that we do not want to
place the temptation before the church leaders to grow those
numbers for the wrong reason. We therefore realize that any
number that comes to us is very conservative.
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We have graduated
well over 100 men who have completed and passed with good grades
the 4 year course of study we have established. It takes a lot
of effort and dedication for a man in this impoverished country
to devote the time needed to complete these studies.
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We have 8 village bible
study centers in Malawi. This is where we send a
teacher out to a village church, surrounded by many other
villages. Here the people can come study with less travel and
less hardship than if all the studies were held at the Mission
itself. These studies also count toward what is required for
graduation. For some who must work to support their families, it
may take well over 4 years to complete. In these centers, as in
all that we do, we try to encourage the churches to carry part
of the load rather than look to the Mission as if it were an
endless handout. In keeping with this, we ask the churches at
and around the village centers to provide the place for study, a
place to sleep and food for the students during the weekdays,
while they are there. The studies last all day long. We ask them
to also provide a qualified teacher or to support a teacher for
one month out of three. The Mission provides for a teacher for
the other months.
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Plus, we provide the study
outlines and teaching material,
and some means of travel for the teachers.
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In recent years, we have extended
our outreach into Mozambique, where we have
sent a local man, educated at the Mission, and a very
dedicated, godly man, to Mozambique to work. We now have 8 Study
Centers in Mozambique, as well as those in Malawi. The results
in Mozambique have been outstanding.
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Our overall work is centered on
teaching men the bible and
related subjects, so they can teach others.
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We are not there to go out and
convert people in their villages. Their own people can do a much
better job of this than we can.
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We are not there to feed hungry
people, though this is what we often do, especially during
floods, droughts and famine. We are glad in those times to be on
hand where we can see to this need.
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We are not there to raise the
standard of living for the people nor for the preachers. It is
always a temptation to want to pay a man $25 a month and tell
him to go out and preach. With this concept in mind, we could
raise a lot of money. What widow or youngster wouldn't be
thrilled to think that their contribution alone was supporting a
full time gospel preacher? Though this is really appealing, it
is totally wrong. Many good works have been torpedoed by this
idea. It elevates the preacher to a lofty position, causes
people to lose trust in him and is often a temptation to preach
for the wrong reasons. We have confidence that the men we send
out, who are on the same social level as the people of their
village, will be trusted and will be preaching and teaching for
the right reasons.
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By teaching men who can go out
and teach their own people, we are able to do a lot with a small
budget. This would not be the case if we were doing a lot of the
things for the people that they can do for themselves. This we
try to avoid in every area.
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We oversee a grade school
of 900 students.
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We have a local Maternity
Hospital at the mission which delivers between 60 and
90 babies a month. Studies are held with the mothers and their
families who come. This is before and after the childbirth. We
also maintain an ambulance for the hospital.
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Things like the hospital and school
and feeding the hungry, show that we are in Malawi to help
people and we are not there to exploit or take advantage. This
has kept us in good standing with the officials and the
government.
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The Mission is located on a
90 acre tract with a river running through it. The name
of the river is Namikango, thus the name of the
Namikango Mission.
The one thing that is most
important to the success of the Mission is to have dedicated
supporters who have committed a regular amount of
support for every month. And we would be honored to
have your you and your congregation join us in this. Often there
are special needs that arise, needs
like transportation and hunger. Many people stand ready to help
meet these special needs. But what the Mission needs most are
the people or congregations who stand by us every day, month in
and month out. The gas bill and the salaries need to be paid
even if there is not a catastrophe brewing. Regular monthly
supporters are the lifeblood of the work.
Having said this, we are grateful
for any support. A one time gift would
be highly appreciated.
Well, I could go on indefinitely,
but this is enough to give you some background on the work.
August 8,
2006 - Mozambique Article (.pdf format)
Tree
Articles (.doc format)
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