I was privileged to be in Malawi again recently, spending the greater part of November in the work there. We have been exercised to try to follow up more of the many contacts made through the literature work, and also to be a help to the young assembly which Bro. Emilian Marianciuc has been instrumental in starting at Nsanama village, Zomba area, so we decided to try to address both of these needs at once by holding a 3-day conference there, and inviting some of the new contacts to attend. It proved to be a very useful time, in many ways. We took up the Epistle to the Galatians, ideal for dealing with the issue of true and false Gospels and their teachers and we could see that a number of those present were very greatly helped by the teaching.
However, very early on, even before the conference started, some of those we had invited showed themselves in their true colours. One was a self-proclaimed apostle, and another claimed that he had been instrumental in raising someone from the dead! He had seemed very bright and promising when we met him a few months ago in August, but he now appears to be a total fraud. When introducing himself to us he said he had been saved while training to be a school teacher, but he was heard to tell others at the conference that he was saved as a young boy, still at the primary level. Although these things are disappointing, they no longer surprise us, and indeed, we are very glad to know the truth about such people before getting more deeply involved with them. Paul's advice was so wise when he said: "Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins."
The other main purpose of the visit was to oversee the 2016 Gospel Calendar distribution. We had arranged for 100,000 calendars to be printed in Malawi, and although there were some (the usual!) issues with delays in getting the work done, we eventually took delivery of them in time to complete most of our planned road- trip around the country. It is always a thrill to see the enthusiasm for Gospel literature, and we are so grateful to the Lord and His people for enabling this work to proceed and to grow. With this latest production run of Calendars and tracts, the total number of items of Gospel literature distributed over the past couple of years is inching very close to 750,000! Please pray for the Lord's blessing.
Lord willing, I return to Malawi tomorrow and spend most of the next four weeks there. As usual, I hope to be further involved in Gospel literature distribution and open-air work, and also plan to use the opportunity to make some follow-up visits to contacts that have emerged following previous trips.
We have ordered 50,000 new tracts, and borrowing an idea from the brethren in Sri Lanka, I have also arranged for 10,000 Exercise Books to be printed, with some Bible verses and a short Gospel message on the cover. Given that schools are so under-resourced, we have no doubt that these will be popular and should open doors for us to speak to many students. I am also trying to source some pens and other stationery items to package together with the exercise books. I also have a desire to initiate a number of translation projects that I have been slow to get going, as there is a great need for simple booklets on the doctrine of the Gospel, basics of Christian living, and principles of gathering as an assembly. I hope to meet with the translation team to get this moving.
It is just about a year since the most unpleasant experience in the Lower Shire when an elderly pedestrian stepped in front of the Land Rover I was driving. Miraculously, although severely concussed, she escaped without so much as a broken bone, and this reminds us of the preserving power of prayer. Please continue to uphold us in prayer.
Spring 2016
Written by Stephen & Gail Harper - Malawi