Twinning
Workshop
Evangelical
Lutheran Church In Malawi
And
The Northwest
Synod of Wisconsin - ELCA.
Chetek
Lutheran- Chetek Feb 16, 2002.
brief presentation by: Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe.
Background:
My family and I are the first official guest of the
Northwest Synod and its congregations. We are very grateful
to God for such an opportunity and are very thankful to all
those that worked very hard to get us here for our
sabbatical leave. Notable, we would like to specifically
mention Bishop Berg, Rev. J.M. Magelssen, Rev. Harold
Oelschlager, Camp Wapogassett and its Director Loren. As you
will recall, we came to this country in October of 2000 and
are due to return back home in June. The first part of our
sabbatical was spend one year at Camp Wapo helping and
working as an international resource person. We took
advantage of such an office to respond to a variety of
invitations which come from congregations and the ELCA to
introduce ourselves as a new companion of the Northwest
Synod. It was hard work undertaken with great joy knowing
that this was the only way by which people would come to
know our church and country as well as the challenges we
were facing. We are very grateful to all who invited us to
share news of our country with them. We have been deeply
moved by the love and interest congregations have shown. Not
only have their generosity been clearly demonstrated in the
way they have supported the work and the needs there, but
also by deciding to have permanent sister relationship with
some of the parishes. This is very positive, because as you
Will
have
noted, the ELCM was born out of lay movement and not
missionary efforts also otherwise known as home/parent
churches in Europe or the USA. It had to invite sisters and
brothers to be partners with it in mission. It was in this
way that some mission agencies in Europe came to support the
work of ELCM and continue to do so now. This effort
continued until now, its good that have you in the NW Synod
can join this partnership, please do know that you are not
alone, They are many more old and new partners in mission
with the ELCM. We have mission partners in Germany, Finland
and Sweden. These are traditional partners supporting the
ELCM running budget on annual basis.
Then we have
friends of ELCM. They do not have financial obligations, but
are taken seriously as anybody else. These are mostly
churches and congregations in the region and overseas. Most
of these were involved right from the beginning resulting
from some of the contact ELCM had. Because of its history
ELCM has a lot to gain from these relationships just as it
has a lot to give to it. There is still a lot to be done and
many more partners in every form are invited. It is for this
reason that we are happy to be here as part of consolidating
our relationship. Once completed, the twinning process will
help our congregations to come to know each other and
undertake their journey together in the 21st Century. Visits
shall be the crucial part of the journey in order to see
each others context. We hope and trust that this will in
turn enrich both of our churches to be thankful for each
other and to thank God for our companionship relation and
what it enables us to see in each other enriching our
witness and spiritually growing together. As a growing
church, we have a lot of expectations for our companion
relationship. ELCM is on record as one of the fastest
growing church in Africa along with other fast growing
Lutheran Churches in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Madagascar. Yet
it faces serious obstacles of poverty and diseases. The
profile reveals the difficult context in which ELCM finds
itself and witnesses. HlV/AIDS is on the rise and kills more
adults than any other disease. On the other hand malaria
still takes the lives of many children under five years.
Still more this year the country has experienced serious
food shortages due to flooding last year. As we gather here
today people in our country are dying of hunger. Floods have
also been reported this year which means the problems are
far from resolving. These are serious challenges and yet
opportunities for our partners to journey with us and
discover faith in difficult times. We are therefore happy as
your congregations commit themselves to these partnerships
to journey with us. May God bless us as we begin the journey
together so that we may continue to walk together in the 21
st Century.
Our Set Up. How it all begins.
The ELCM.
The Preaching
Point: Served by lay
people,
mostly youth
and women is established, nurtured, and visited by nearby
congregational leaders in most cases evangelists who preach
the word of God witnessing its growth into a full
established congregation. Most of the congregations have a
preaching point under them. (The worship is often in
temporary buildings or under trees). Here is where it all
begins and can grow into a congregation.
The
Congregation: Served by lay people mostly women and
youths under the leadership of an evangelist and church
elders who devout more time to its work. Here the pastor
will visit regularly for sacraments (at least one visit in
six weeks) is required. The congregation is a place of
church growth through bible study and Christian witness.
(less than one fourth of these congregations have a
permanent place of worship). The evangelists and parish
workers uses bicycles for their traveling around the
congregation. It is here where we build village chapels and
assist with bicycles.
The Parish in
Preparation: served by an assistant parish pastor is an
area growing into a parish. These areas are reviewed every
two years and usually received by the church assembly into
full parishes. Their set up is similar to those of the
parish. In order words these are parishes in making. The
assistant parish pastor is supervised by the parish
pastor.
The Parish: A center of common church work within a
specific geographical area under the parish pastor who is
supported by the assistant parish pastor, parish worker and
evangelist. The parish pastor and the assistant are often on
full-time basis while most of the evangelists and parish
workers serve the church on voluntary basis. ELCM has thirty
of these. It is here where the life and ministry of ELCM can
be experienced. A lot of what makes the church takes place
here. It is here where town chapels are needed so that they
can provide a home to the parish also known as parish
center. So far only one-fourth of the parish centers have
parish centers. The same is true of transportation. It is
here that motorcycles are required to help the pastors to
travel around. A parish normally has between nine to twelve
congregations, A vehicle would even be more appropriate, but
being aware of our limited resources a motorcycle does the
work. Again only less than one-fourth of our parishes have a
motorcycle. It is here at this level where the twinning has
been made in ELCM.
The Central Office: (head office ) also known here as church
wide offices or office of the Bishop. It is here where the
church is coordinated under the supervision of the
Bishop. The Bishop has one assistant also known as
the Dean of the Cathedral in Lilongwe. Other officers are:
The
Treasurer ( beading the finances)
The Administrative secretary ( administration dept.)
The Principal ( lay training dept.)
Youth and Sunday school coordinator.
Women's coordinator
The building supervisor (buildings)
Small Project Stores/Section
Security officer - security services.
It is here that the bishop and other officers operate from
and regularly visit the parishes throughout the country. A
4x4 land cruiser is the greatest need here to help the
Bishop in his travels. The bishops visits are a source of
great encouragement to pastors who serve in what are often
difficult isolated areas and have to witness in difficult
situations. The parishioners eagerly await the bishops
visits each year. Choirs (youth and women) are participants
to the visits which are the central part to Evangelism and
church growth. The head office is in a separate building
from the Lilongwe parish. The whole property is also known
as the Lutheran Church Center.
Church Institutions
1. Lutheran Girls Secondary School at Bwengu.
The school is a boarding school run by the ELCM in
conjunction with the Malawi Government (ministry of
education). The church ran the institution with the local
community, while the government employs and pays the
teaches. The school also helps a limited number of boys in
the area as a way of helping the local community with the
educational needs.
2. Primary Schools:
A total of seven primary schools for both girls and boys are
ran by ELCM also jointly with government throughout the
country. Only two of the seven schools have permanent
buildings. Just like with the churches, the community has
bricks, but needs financial help to build permanent school
blocks and teachers' houses.
3 Adult literacy Education Center:
For mostly adult women who cannot read or write are run
by the ELCM in almost all its congregations which have
permanent buildings. It is also here where the feeding
centers for orphans as well as their early education is
provided. The church provides the learning centers (church
buildings) while the community provides the teachers.
4. Evangelical Lutheran Development Program (ELDP):
Is a joint program run by ELCM in corporation with the LWF -
World Service Department in Geneva. It carries out major
development work on behalf of the ELCM. This institution is
now in transition to become the development department of
ELCM from Jan 2003. Most of development, relief
rehabilitation work is undertaken for ELCM by ELDP. After
transition it will also serve as the diaconic section of the
church. So far ELDP has had a good record of emergency
response and preparedness.
Dear
Friends,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Synod
Office and all congregations that have responded in
supporting the needs of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Malawi, especially for the growing needs of orphans.
Kindly please convey my appreciation from those in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi.
Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe
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