Ron Neels' First Impressions of Malawi
March 17, 2024
What to write? How to express what has all been seen and heard? It’s really not possible. Impressive, beyond comprehension, humbling, and inspiring are just a few words that come to mind.
A Sunday morning church service at the Nunkuyu Reformed Presbyterian Church of Malawi under a tree was something we’ll never forget and I’d like to share the story. After driving two hours and navigating multiple detours, we came to a bridge that was impassible and we decided to hike in the rest of the way on a narrow winding goat trail in 25 degrees of Malawian humidity. Just twenty more minutes our guide assured us…every half hour or so! Finally, bedraggled, exhausted, and filthy we had to stop. No worries we were assured; even though it was just over the hill someone had run ahead to ask the congregants to “bring the church down to us” and we’d worship under a tree. Okay, but… a few of us still wanted to see the church building as well so up we went and encountered the women and children literally carrying the church benches, tables, and a few chairs down the steep incline. Wow. On we went over the top of the hill and behold, there it was. In all it’s simplicity it had a quiet, rugged beauty about it that I can’t put into words. God’s house. Literally in the middle of nowhere! Miles off the grid. Not a road anywhere near. Yet, it IS somewhere. God has planted His church here. It makes you feel really small….
Anyways, back to the church under the tree. Down we went and sat on the blankets provided for us. Pastor (Abusa) Jeri taught from the Westminster Catechism and then preached in English from 1 Corinthians 15 with a very capable translator rendering it in the local Chichewa language. I still find it impossible to fully process: sitting in the shade of a tree, listening to a beautiful, full-throated rendition of the Psalms being sung in Chichewa by about thirty congregants, many of them singing by heart, and listening to a local Reformed abusa preaching death in Adam and life in Christ. For all the differences in “flavour” with what most of us are used to expecting in a church service I will say this: God was undoubtedly honored in this preaching, man was abased, and salvation in Jesus Christ alone was preached. Needless to say, I will never forget this special shared intercultural church service. The message he preached, the rapt attention with which the congregants listened, and the honest, though simple, answers his direct questions elicited were respectworthy. If ever I doubted it, I don’t anymore. God has a church in Africa too. Who can tell what He has done and will still do here in this village? In Malawi? In Africa? “Earth’s remotest regions, SHALL his empire be!”
