This is Area 50 Baptist Church in Lilongwe, Malawi. Lilongwe is a funny place, it’s the capital city, but there’s no much of a centre, everywhere is really spread out, and Area 50 (they don’t really have proper names – it’s like a city district I guess) has the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere as you head down the dust track to get there.

Last year Bishop Hannington Church helped to pay for the roof (so that the building wouldn’t fall down), it was great to serve there. We ran 3 evening classes on Principles of Exposition, looking at how we can rightly handle the Bible, including stuff on Parables and Old Testament narrative.

We also visited for the women’s meeting, ran a marriage seminar day, and joined them for their Sunday service. For my part I taught on Bible Principles, Genesis 1-2 and preached on James 1. These were all translated into Chichewa, the local language.

My feeling was that the saying that the Christianity is a mile wide, but an inch deep is true. There’s a great passion for the Gospel, and there’s a great desire to be taught the Bible, but listening to some of the elders teach, it’s clear they really need training to help them rightly understand and teach God’s word… great to be able to serve them in that way.

This is the kid that I call 'Chubba' from the town we worked in... I would have quite liked to take him home with me... Madonna style!

So, I’ve been away for a little while.

Been in Malawi. Nice place. Warm Heart of Africa.

We were doing some Bible teaching with a Baptist Church in Lilongwe (coming from an Anglican church – shocking gospel partnership)… and also had a short break by the big lake, and saw some monkeys!

…more reports to follow.

One of the things I do as part of my ‘discernment’ about possible ministry in the CofE is read books from different perspectives… one such book is ‘The Christian Priest Today‘ by Michael Ramsey, it’s a book all about ‘being a priest’, but I struggle with the way it’s often written because it’s coming from quite a Catholic position… one bit I do think is great though is his words on the priestly, intercessory role in prayer…

Now we can begin to see what is our own role of men of prayer, as priestly intercessors. We are called, near to Jesus and with Jesus and in Jesus, to be with God with the people on our heart…

…And because you are with him and near him whose name is love you will have the people you care for on your heart. In this way adoration turns into “intercession”, the bringing of people and needs and sorrows and joys and causes into the stream of the divine love. Be with God (adoration) with the people of God on your heart (intercession). It is like Aaron of old who went into the holy of holies wearing a breastplate with jewels representing the tribes of Israel whose priest he was: he went near to God with the people on his hear.

This week, hundreds of men, women and children were butchered in Nigeria, for being Christians, by Muslims. Islam = Religion of Peace? PRAY for Christians in Nigeria.

Archbishop Ben Kwashi said:

“It was not a good sight at all. The villagers had no chance whatsoever. They were slaughtered. I could see machete wounds in the necks of children. Kids from age zero to teenagers, all butchered from the back, macheted in their necks, their heads. Deep cuts in the mouths of babies. The stench. People wailing and crying. Some have lost their voices. I could not stand it. From what I saw from a distance, it was over 100 killed in one village. I don’t know what sparked it off. I thought we were making headway after the previous crisis in January.”

Ruth Gledhill – The Times

Barnabas Fund

Bishop Alf Stanway speaking to prospective ordinands…

“If other people knew you the way God knows you – your failings; your thoughts; your sins – what secretly goes on in your mind that no-one else knows about; would they trust you with the kind of work that God trusts you with? God has supreme confidence in His Grace. He’ll take the likes of you and me and Paul and give you the privilege of being His saints and fellow workers.”

We’re preaching through Proverbs at church… we did 1-9 expositionally and now we’re doing the rest thematically. I got to kick this off with the theme of Words. Most of the thinking is gleaned from Tim Keller… he’s pretty helpful.

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