BY: PETER QEKO JERE,
Early this year the government of Malawi exported maize to help our brothers, sisters and children who are suffering in Zimbabwe. There were mixed reaction to this initiative taken by our government. However though some of us with a sober minds and loving heart, normally have no problem when it comes to doing such noble work helping the needy and we thanked God for what the government did on behalf of all Malawians. This is because majority of those suffering in Zimbabwe belong to the body of Christ and are registered members of various Christian churches. In other words by and large, the government sent maize to even help our fellow Christian brethren something which can not be taken for granted.
While at government level there was such commitment and support, we have not heard anything from the Church of which confesses Jesus Christ in Malawi on this matter. We wonder what the church is doing and when will it begin to help their suffering brothers? When we say that majority of those suffering are Christian we simply mean that they are Catholics, Presbyterians, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Pentecost’s and various charismatic church members. The Malawi church has sister churches in Zimbabwe hence it may not be right for us as a Malawian church to sit phwii and watch our fellow brethren suffering. If we do this then our Christianity is not that of Christ who still sits on the throne but somebody else.
The situation is Zimbabwe is an invitation letter to all Christian churches that time has come to get into Zimbabwe and help. God can not speak more loud and clear to the Malawian church than in this than in this situation. Behind this situation is the voice of God calling upon all the churches to seriously consider getting involved in helping those who are suffering. Therefore, a great window of evangelism has been open for the church that its about time that it should get into Zimbabwe and become an instrument of hope in the lives of those suffering.
The church in Malawi and its entire leadership need to realize that time has come to begin to act like Jesus Christ who had a holistic approach to ministry. This is because Jesus Christ not only preached the gospel but also spent a good part of his ministry feeding the hungry and healing the sick. The bible is clear that Jesus Christ healed and casted out devils in the lives of many but at the same time, those many thousands could eat the bread and the fish that he multiplied. Christ had compassion when he saw that they were hungry the exact thing that the church need to do. Just like Jesus Christ, the church need to show and demonstrate compassion as their master did. The church need to be available in the zones where people are suffering so that it can become the voice of encouragement in the lives of people.
However we need to realize that the church which confesses Christ need to act like Christ and not otherwise. Some may be saying that their churches are so much involved in such activities and hence it is not necessary to go as far as Zimbabwe to evangelize. In reaction to such arguments, we want to make the following statements: firstly is that the church which crosses the boarders to evangelize gets more blessed from God that the church which concentrates ministry in Jerusalem ministry. This may sound crude and hard to some of you but remains a sober truth as far as the word of God is concern. This is because Cross-boarder ministry demands more prayer, commitment, seriousness, availability and sacrifice. Secondly is that Malawi churches are poor because they don’t have a missionary touch to their evangelism. Of course some may have done this once but failed to sustain them.
Thirdly is that the missionary church can not be compared with the Jerusalem type. Missionary church goes international and has a wider angle from where it proclaims the gospel as compared to a church which focuses on their own territory. Finally is that there is more seriousness to cross boarder ministry than when you are involved in an internal assignment as far as ministry is concern hence we share the notion that there is something that the Malawi church is missing by not getting involved in helping the suffering church in Zimbabwe. Someone may argue that the Malawi church can not get to Zimbabwe because it has not yet finished assisting those in her Jerusalem. To this we may pose a question, if the church is sorting out its Jerusalem this time around then what has it been doing all these years?
This passion to help fellow suffering church connect us to what the Church in Caesarea did by helping their mother church in Jerusalem when there was famine. The bible declares that brethren in Jerusalem were saved from starvation because of the help which came from their colleagues in Caesarea and this was just a small poor church like any of the churches we have in Malawi. Though this church was poor, it managed to put something together to assist those suffering in Jerusalem.
This therefore teaches the Malawi church that though they may claim to be poor, there is still something they can still do to help those who are suffering just as their Caesarea did. Therefore, poverty is not a reason or factor to stop a church from helping and supporting those that are suffering. Having said this, the Malawi church today has to readjust its position as far as mission work is concern because there is more blessings in cross-boarder missionary work and it should not miss this opportunity to reach out..
While at government level there was such commitment and support, we have not heard anything from the Church of which confesses Jesus Christ in Malawi on this matter. We wonder what the church is doing and when will it begin to help their suffering brothers? When we say that majority of those suffering are Christian we simply mean that they are Catholics, Presbyterians, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Pentecost’s and various charismatic church members. The Malawi church has sister churches in Zimbabwe hence it may not be right for us as a Malawian church to sit phwii and watch our fellow brethren suffering. If we do this then our Christianity is not that of Christ who still sits on the throne but somebody else.
The situation is Zimbabwe is an invitation letter to all Christian churches that time has come to get into Zimbabwe and help. God can not speak more loud and clear to the Malawian church than in this than in this situation. Behind this situation is the voice of God calling upon all the churches to seriously consider getting involved in helping those who are suffering. Therefore, a great window of evangelism has been open for the church that its about time that it should get into Zimbabwe and become an instrument of hope in the lives of those suffering.
The church in Malawi and its entire leadership need to realize that time has come to begin to act like Jesus Christ who had a holistic approach to ministry. This is because Jesus Christ not only preached the gospel but also spent a good part of his ministry feeding the hungry and healing the sick. The bible is clear that Jesus Christ healed and casted out devils in the lives of many but at the same time, those many thousands could eat the bread and the fish that he multiplied. Christ had compassion when he saw that they were hungry the exact thing that the church need to do. Just like Jesus Christ, the church need to show and demonstrate compassion as their master did. The church need to be available in the zones where people are suffering so that it can become the voice of encouragement in the lives of people.
However we need to realize that the church which confesses Christ need to act like Christ and not otherwise. Some may be saying that their churches are so much involved in such activities and hence it is not necessary to go as far as Zimbabwe to evangelize. In reaction to such arguments, we want to make the following statements: firstly is that the church which crosses the boarders to evangelize gets more blessed from God that the church which concentrates ministry in Jerusalem ministry. This may sound crude and hard to some of you but remains a sober truth as far as the word of God is concern. This is because Cross-boarder ministry demands more prayer, commitment, seriousness, availability and sacrifice. Secondly is that Malawi churches are poor because they don’t have a missionary touch to their evangelism. Of course some may have done this once but failed to sustain them.
Thirdly is that the missionary church can not be compared with the Jerusalem type. Missionary church goes international and has a wider angle from where it proclaims the gospel as compared to a church which focuses on their own territory. Finally is that there is more seriousness to cross boarder ministry than when you are involved in an internal assignment as far as ministry is concern hence we share the notion that there is something that the Malawi church is missing by not getting involved in helping the suffering church in Zimbabwe. Someone may argue that the Malawi church can not get to Zimbabwe because it has not yet finished assisting those in her Jerusalem. To this we may pose a question, if the church is sorting out its Jerusalem this time around then what has it been doing all these years?
This passion to help fellow suffering church connect us to what the Church in Caesarea did by helping their mother church in Jerusalem when there was famine. The bible declares that brethren in Jerusalem were saved from starvation because of the help which came from their colleagues in Caesarea and this was just a small poor church like any of the churches we have in Malawi. Though this church was poor, it managed to put something together to assist those suffering in Jerusalem.
This therefore teaches the Malawi church that though they may claim to be poor, there is still something they can still do to help those who are suffering just as their Caesarea did. Therefore, poverty is not a reason or factor to stop a church from helping and supporting those that are suffering. Having said this, the Malawi church today has to readjust its position as far as mission work is concern because there is more blessings in cross-boarder missionary work and it should not miss this opportunity to reach out..
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