Ministry in Malawi

Learning that internet in Malawi is horrible! haha. So I'm lucky to get a little post on here. But hey, that's ok.

Our team is thoroughly enjoying living with the Floreen's! I love playing with little Abigail and their great dane, Simba. It's been great getting to know Matt and Rachel. Matt's discretion and wisdom is amazing. He's really able to see through things. When we come back home after interviewing different organizations, he always comes up with questions we didn't ask or things we didn't think about.

So far, I've spoken with three different organizations, NGOs, non-profits, whatever you want to call them out of the hundreds that are here in the city. And so far, it's interesting to learn so much. As a team, we're reading through a book called "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert which is an ABSOLUTE MUST for EVERYONE to gain a BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF POVERTY AND HOW TO ADDRESS IT. It's been eye-opening for our team and gives us a better understanding of the worldview of Malawian mercy ministry.

The common theme I've seen among the ministries is that the challenge is that they don't have enough money. They need more money to expand or help more children. Another huge emphasis is on education: if everyone were as educated as Americans or Europeans, Malawi would be much better off. But is this true? Is that what's missing? Because I see a lot of poverty in America and Europe as well, even if it's not widespread. Besides, there's much more missing in the lives of Americans--like the kingdom of God.

I've gained a lot of interesting insights into poverty alleviation and can't wait to continue to observe different mercy ministries. Right now, I've come to the point of seeing the deep wisdom in Matt and Rachel's mission in Malawi. Their goal is to nourish and establish a strong church, and even a seminary as a future part of that church, that can then address the needs in the community, whether it be the gospel, poverty, discipleship, vocational training, etc. through other parachurch ministries or whatever, but CENTERED AROUND THE LOCAL CHURCH. That's the only way we can fix things, because that's how God has chosen to fix them, through the church by his Spirit and his gospel.