Makwangwala Baptist Church

The church I attend in Arkansas, Cross Church, has begun partnering with local churches in Malawi. Among many things, this program will help promote healthy church growth and will assist the participating churches with some of the needs that they may have.

The first church to benefit from this program is Makwangwala Baptist Church! The village of Makwangwala is about a 20 minute drive away from Esther's House Orphanage. Last year the members of this church came together and bought bricks and cement and began putting up the walls of their church. When the rainy season started though, parts of the building collapsed. The rainy season is about to begin again soon, and in order for their building to remain standing they need to have a roof put up. The church members have provided the wooden beams and a portion of the metal sheets for the roof, and Pure Mission and Cross Church will be providing the other portion of metal sheets.

Yesterday Alyssa and I went do Makwangwala to do a simple "site survey" of their church and to confirm that they had gotten their portion of the metal sheets. We thought this would be a simple, 10-20 minute visit before we headed over to Esther's House.

As we drove up to the house of the pastor, we noticed a crowd of people waiting for us. As we got out of the car we were greeted by about 50 excited members of the church who were singing, dancing, and eager to shake our hand. They led us from the pastors house to their church, singing and clapping their hands the entire way. They were so proud to show us the work that they had completed on their church.

The church members leading us to their church

Some of the church members in front of their church!

Another aspect of the church partnership is providing the church with ten Bibles and ten hymnal books. With how easily accessible Bibles are in the U.S, it never really occurred to me until coming to Malawi how much of a blessing it is to have one. They were incredibly excited!

Pastor Kuzalo presenting the Bibles to their pastor

After doing our site visit to their church, we returned to the pastor's house to confirm that they had obtained their portion of the metal sheets. We were led into the room that was housing the metal sheets to find a table set up for a meal--some members of the church surprised us by preparing nsima, eggs, and greens! Food is valuable and is often given as a gift of appreciation.

The hospitality and warmth of the people that you will find in Malawian villages is overwhelming. I know that the support that we're providing them is a blessing to them, but the time that we spent with the church members yesterday was an immeasurable blessing to me.