December 30, 2011

Malawi Christmas and a Fruitful New Year

As preparations were made for our trip to Malawi this month, we knew we were bathed in prayer from people around the world for the registration of a new church in Lilongwe. This whole month we could see God’s hand in so many aspects:

We had the unexpected visit from 2 disciples from Malawi. 3 weeks ago we received a call Sunday morning before church from our friend Clifford who said he was at the bus station. It didn’t click right away that this was one of the men who has come to every Bible Study that we have held in Malawi over the past two years. He came with a friend to work for 3 weeks in Lusaka. So starting that first day he and his friend Frank were with us getting a taste of what Greater Grace was like with the church services and Bible College as well.

-Church Registration. Registration of a church is always an adventure because every country’s rules are different. So we had a game plan going into Malawi, but at the same time we also were prepared to be flexible. As Pr. Albert Ntalasha, Pr. Enock Muchindu, and I entered Malawi, God gave us Zephiniah 3:17 as a promise that we could rest in His love for us and the people of Malawi. Although the difficulties were minimal we decided to just rest right through them and watch God come through.


In order to register a church in Malawi, one needs a P.O. Box. In order to get a P.O. Box, one must live in Malawi and have at least a water or electric bill. Seeing we live in Zambia this posed a problem. But by God’s grace, the guest house we stayed at vouched for us and let us use their water bill. Thank God for using Pr. Andrew of St. Peter’s Guesthouse to help us.

-Legal Aid. After obtaining the P.O. Box, we set off for the administrative capital of Malawi, Blantyre which is also the former capital as well. It is truly a city on a hill (literally). We got all our paper work together and set off for a local courthouse to have all our documents notarized. Well isn’t it God that the man who notarizes papers is also a head advisor for the free Legal Aid office of the government. This gentleman was an angel from God, going through our constitution and telling us exactly what we needed to have in order to submit our papers for church registration.

-Final Hour. Once we had everything together, we headed to the Registrar of Societies to submit our paperwork. Again we didn’t know what to expect, we didn’t even know the price to register the church. I was so touched at how friendly and easy it was to work with the members of the Malawian government. Every person we met went out of the way to help us and walk us through the whole process. The registrar was no exception. After looking through our paperwork, he instructed us to pay the equivalent of $6 to register the church. I thought I heard him wrong, but after questioning that was in fact the price. There truly is a respect for God’s people even in the government of this country. The last hurdle we had to jump happened just before we prepared to leave. As the registrar came to give us our receipt, he told us that there was a problem with our paperwork. We thought “Oh great, I knew it was too good to be true.” Apparently we could not use the word “Malawi” in our church name since it Is copy written. The registrar said we had two choices: Ask for an exemption from the tourism board (we had no idea how long that would take) or change ever name in our church constitution. We chose the latter and started changing and printing in hyper speed. By God’s grace and favor, it was done and accepted. God was with us every step of the way and He gave us the present of a registered church in Malawi! THANK YOU AGAIN EVERYONE FOR PRAYING, GOD HEARD AND ANSWERED.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

-The right location for a building to rent for the church and Bible College.

-The right housing accommodation for the team.

-Continued excitement and expectation from the disciples until the church is permanently there.

Mquani-Chris' favorite zambian and malawian food (a lot like spinach)

Matt 11:28-30 - "some people are heavy laden with burdens"