Motivating, Mobilising, Mentoring...

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...an untapped gold mine for mission

The work of the Malawi Mission Initiative is supported by SIM Malawi Project MW 96753 Mission Advancement Fund

 

Over the last 18 months, Watson Rajaratnam has been busy with the Malawi Mission Initiative (MMI), working in three key areas with the Malawian Church


The work of the Malawi Mission Initiative over the last 18 or so months has been centring on three main areas: mission motivation, mission mobilisation and mission mentoring. Heading up this work has been SIM Malawi’s Co-ordinator for New Initiatives, Watson Rajaratnam.

In terms of Motivation and Mobilisation, Watson has been working closely with the three key Malawian Denominations: The Africa Evangelical Church (AEC) – SIM Malawi’s partner church, Zmabezi Evangelical Chrch (ZEC), Baptist Convention of Malawi (BACOMA) and some individual congregations of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP).

“I realised that within these denominations there was a great need to motivate and mobilise them to get them to understand that mission is the heartbeat of God, and it should be the heartbeat of the church too,” said Watson.

“Working with them has opened many doors for me to preach in all of them about mission and discipleship, because the end-product of discipleship should be mission.”

Revd Gusty Makhutcha and his wife Elina who are being prepared to serve as missionaries in Mozambique

Apart from serving these three churches, Watson has also been working closely with the Baptist Theological College in Lilongwe and the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi (EBCoM) in Blantyre.

“I have been conducting seminars at both colleges, for students and faculty members, concentrating on the importance of making mission the focus of theological education, in order to produce mission-minded pastors as well as future missionaries from Malawi.” He said.

“As a result of these motivational and mobilisation talks, and preaching, churches have been gradually moving forward in their understanding of Missions and in their partnership with God in His mission. The AEC, in particular, has been positive in identifying one of its pastors as a candidate for cross-border missionary work. Revd Gusty Makhutcha and his wife Elina are currently undergoing training to prepare them to move to Mozambique to work among the Yao people in that country.”

The Mission Mentoring work has been with a small group of EBCoM students who will, after graduation, work as pastors within the AEC.

Prayer Points.

Please pray for the Malawi Mission Initiative and its members from many denominations as they come together to create mission-awareness among Malawian churches and help in the process of sending missionaries.

Please pray for the Makhutchas as they continue to work with SIM Malawi, raise the financial and prayer support they need, and prepare to go to Mozambique to work among the Yao people.

Please pray for the Malawi Mission Prayer Fellowship to function effectively, that there will not just be missionary-praying but that missionary candidates would also come out of these Fellowships in Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre.

He has delivered a wide range of lectures and seminars aimed at making them think about their own role within the Church and also the role of mission.

“We started with a series of talks looking at the challenges facing pastors in the Church today and have moved on to discipleship and mission.” He said.

Another key outcome of Watson’s work, and also as a follow-up to the Pastors’ Book Set Conferencesin Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Blantyre, has been the setting up the Malawi Mission Prayer Fellowship (MMPF) in each of these three key cities. Each MMPF is made up of ten to 12 pastors who come together once a month to pray specifically for unreached people groups and the mission of the Church.

“I think that the MMPF will have a major role to play in the development of mission in Malawi,” said Watson.

“These pastors and leaders gather every month to pray for mission, and I am certain that out of these groups, in these three strategic cities, will come candidates for cross-border mission. I also think that these groups will identify candidates from their churches and their denominations to go forward for missionary training. They are that important.”

Looking forward, Watson is excited by the untapped potential, not just of Malawi but other Southern African countries as well, when it comes to cross-border mission work.

“I believe that Malawi and other African countries are nothing but a gold mine for world missions, which is yet to be tapped for God’s missionary purposes.

“If we can continue with the same spirit, the same prayer and the same focus, I believe we will see the Malawian Church becoming a missionary-praying Church, a missionary-giving Church, a missionary-sending Church and a missionary-going Church. I want to see this process happening in the next couple of years so we see more Malawians moving into the mission field and serving in cross-border missions.”

The Malawi Mission Prayer Fellowship team in Mzuzu in the North of Malawi