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Saturday, 17 October 2009 14:10
Teaching Homiletics in Malawi: By Rev. Christo Heiberg

Word & Deed is looking for one or more churches to sponsor the vital Logos Ministries project in Malawi. See project description in the box accompanying this article.
During the month of June I was privileged to visit Malawi for the purpose of training the reformed pastors of that warm and lovely African country. I was told that roughly 120 pastors of the Nkhoma Synod of the CCAP (The Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian) have up to a million members under their spiritual care! These pastors share the ministry of God’s Word on Sundays along with several of their local elders, since every congregation consists not only of a central (and very modest) church building, but also of several prayer houses. Thousands of church members come to hear God’s Word and worship Him on the Lord’s Day, but only after a long walk through the African veld – often on bare feet!Pastor Heiberg(middle row far right), Manuel Kamnkhwani(middle of front row) and some of the CCAP pastors who attended the seminars.

However, these elders’ qualifications and skills at bringing the Gospel are very basic, if not lacking altogether. That puts a huge burden on the ministers, who have to keep encouraging their brothers. Resources like books are hard to come by, and ministers’ conferences like the one I was leading, a rarity. Furthermore, while the average pastor may be quite conversant in English, the majority of their members and elders are basically only proficient in their local Chichewa language. This is what makes Word & Deed’s involvement with Logos Ministries, in the ongoing in-service training of pastors, so vital and strategic for the future of Christ’s church in Malawi.
Pastors came from all over the central Malawian countryside and the capital Lilongwe for a one-week course in homiletics (homiletics – the art of preaching). I was told that we were very blessed that so many men took the pains to travel to the mission village of Nkhoma – mostly by bus or minibus taxi. It’s not uncommon for a Malawian pastor to have two to three funerals per week – and a funeral in Africa takes quite a while, as some us know from experience. Nevertheless, I taught a basic course in homiletics for two weeks, to two groups of pastors. Each group consisted of about 25 participants. The first group also included four theological students, since the venue of our seminar was the Joseph Mwale Institute, home of the Nkhoma Synod’s theological training.

Rev. Christo Heiberg teaching one group of CCAP pastors.

Each of the courses began with a formal opening on the Monday night led by the president of Logos Ministries, a few speeches (including one by myself) and announcements regarding arrangements for the week’s proceedings. Each group chose its own ‘president’ (to be their liaison with me), a secretary and a timekeeper with a little bell (to announce the start or end of each session). I must admit that I was quite impressed by the punctuality of our African brethren!


From Tuesday through Thursday I led three sessions per day (two in the morning and one at night) with lots of time allocated for questions and discussion. In these nine lectures I first focused on the theological underpinnings of a reformed view of preaching, before entering into more practical aspects of making sermons. In this latter part (covering more than half of the course) I gratefully made use of Stuart Olyott’s little gem, Preaching Pure and Simple, as my textbook. Each pastor also received a copy of this book (courtesy of my home congregation in Sheffield), for which the brothers were deeply grateful. My last session dealt with the power of the Spirit in preaching and proved to be a highlight to us all.


From all the questions and discussions, I could tell how hungry and thankful these brothers were for this opportunity of learning and fellowship. Question topics ranged from the making of sermons and other spiritual matters to political and social issues facing Malawian society and the church in general. Quite a few sensitive issues present among the Nkhoma Synod churches in particular sparked openhearted and brotherly discussions. The pastors seemed eager to lead their churches in a godly and Biblical way, maintaining the focus on our Lord Jesus, crucified and risen, and on the necessity of the work of His life-giving Spirit in our lives and churches. Many stories were also told about of the rapid growth of Christianity in neighboring Mozambique, and to a lesser extent in Zambia. A few brothers also lamented in private the mayhem and misery caused by President Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
Of great concern to these pastors were also the growing influence of Islam in political circles, a resurgence of paganism and witchcraft, the destructive influence of human rights on moral values in general, and the growing impact of the decadent Western media, through its films and the internet. The latter two issues in particular were seen as a threat to the very fabric of a socially conservative and peaceful Malawian society. It is interesting to note that the whole political concept of “democracy” is by no means viewed with sympathy among these men, but rather with great suspicion, as it is perceived to be the vehicle that carries all of the above-mentioned permissive influences into their society.
In the faint electric light of the African night at the Joseph Mwale Institute, each week’s seminar was closed with a “formal” ceremony on the Thursday night. Each participant received a certificate from the General Secretary of the Nkhoma Synod, under the joyful applause of all the others. Thus came to an end an event that will not be easily forgotten by either these dear humble African pastors, or by their fellow-African facilitator, now living in beautiful Canada. (Unfortunately, we miss the southern cross in the nightly sky!) The God of heaven was present among us in a truly tangible way, renewing us by His Spirit and binding us together with bonds in Christ that will last unto eternity.

Rev. Christo Heiberg grew up in South Africa and is the pastor of the Zion United Reformed Church of Sheffield, Ontario.
 
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