Learn and pass it on

E3's Entrust programme supports Chrispin Banda as he runs the Facilitator Apprenticeship Programme (FAP), which helps pastors to train their key lay leaders as training facilitators, through Veritas College Malawi, so they can then equip others. There are now over one hundred active members who are facilitating lay training in their parishes, and the work encourages integral mission despite limited resources. In particular, sustainable agriculture through workshops and relatively low levels of support to get people started.

One of the partner churches is the Nkhoma Synod, which is part of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP), with its hundreds of congregations. In this church, most of the preaching and pastoral care is done by lay preachers and elders because an ordained pastor often oversees well over twenty churches. The outcome of its involvement in FAP is that those pastors are now equipped to train the numerous untrained lay preachers in teaching, caring for and leading churches as they serve locally.

Rosemary's story

One such lay preacher is Rosemary, a retired teacher and mother of five grown-up children. She facilitates three Veritas Bible classes as a volunteer, and is also an active member of the village savings and loans group, which helps the women who are part of the classes. Rosemary shares, "I was once just a church-goer with little knowledge of the Word of God. This changed when I was born again and now I want others to know what I have gained from knowing God. This is what motivates me to teach God's Word and because the participants are eager to learn ... I grow spiritually when I prepare the lessons and Jesus says that the workers are few, and so I must help. I enjoy seeing participants grow in their understanding of the Bible and learn to share it with others. Veritas has also helped us holistically as we have learned to budget, save and use our money productively through the village savings and loans programme."

Rosemary's willingness to serve others and help them better understand God's word is an inspiring example of God's transforming power, which has worked in her life and is now being shared with others.

The work in context

The church in Malawi has an unlimited opportunity to reach people with the good news of Christ. Many people attend church in this part of Africa and there is a spiritual hunger. Making conversation about spiritual things with strangers is not difficult because the African worldview is inclusive of the spiritual realm. Churches are well attended, yet there is often a disconnect between people's spirituality and morality and their daily lives. HIV and AIDS continues to devastate communities and families, corrupt practises permeate society, food prices are rising sharply and the gap between the minority rich and the vast numbers of the poor is widening. Malawian believers need equipping and encouraging with a biblical model for mission that is holistic, meeting immediate felt needs and emotional and spiritual needs.