Two days ago, I returned from another grand ministry trip, this time to Malawi. Our network is located in Blantyre, in the southern part of Malawi, which is part of the southern region of Africa. The travel to get to Malawi through Johannesburg, South Africa, is rather grueling, taking 40-50 hours. But once there, it is a joy to experience their motto, “Malawi: the warm heart of Africa.”

The day after arriving was Sunday, and it was indeed a full day. Starting at 6:00 am, I preached in one church, then was whisked away to preach a different sermon in another church at 9am.

Then I was asked if I would be willing to preach at a funeral that afternoon at yet another church. Obviously I did not know the deceased person, or any of these people, but a chance to share the Gospel is never to be refused. That service ended up having well over 1000 people (the leader of the service said 5000!), and so preaching the Gospel, in that case from 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, was a delight. Throughout the week, various people in the community recognized me as the speaker at the funeral and shared their gratitude with me. Several of the pastors present said the community would talk about this for 20 years to come. What a joy to minister to God’s people!

Here is a brief video of a few moments during the funeral:

The next day, the training of the network of pastors from the central and southern regions began. This was workshop #2, focused on 2 Timothy. Lest I sound like everything was smooth sailing, the first day was indeed a rocky start. The translation of the workshop materials and photocopying was not complete, the participants showed up late, there were no preparations for the midday meal and no money to prepare it, the participants had not prepared the pre-assignment I’d given them four months earlier, etc. Feeling a bit discouraged, I spent extra time praying, and God did a good work as the training progressed.

By day two, the pastors were really getting into the training, with lively interaction and fervent digging into the text. One of the most encouraging moments of the training was when I asked the master trainers to share about those to whom they had passed workshop #1. I halfway expected very few to have reproduced, but it ended up that all but two had significantly passed the training on, in many cases to multiple groups. In all, 332 other pastors and ministry leaders have received the first Pathways course, praise God!!

It just so happened that on the trip I was reading a book that focused on cultural differences between the individualistic west and most of the rest of the world that is collectivistic.

Patronage is a key theme in these collectivistic cultures, and while we in the west value our independence, that is not the way other cultures (e.g. Malawi) operate. I was a bit disturbed that there was so much dependence on me bringing all the funds needed for most of the elements of the training to happen, but this was expected by the Malawians. Westerners are the ones with money, so of course they will share with those in need. I am their “patron” and am expected to take care of the needs, and in turn they will fulfill my expectations of receiving the training and passing it on to others. After 15 years of full time cross cultural work, you would think I’d have all this stuff figured out, but I’m still learning and growing, trying to improve in my ability to minister to my African brothers and sisters.

On a side note, each day I got up about 5am and went out for exercise, often for a run. One day it happened to be in the afternoon that I went for a run and the rough and steep dirt roads I was running on were a challenge for me but no problem at all for the crowd of kids who came along with me. Check out this fun video!

At one point in the training is started to pour rain, and got so loud on the thin metal roof we couldn’t hear each other talk. Here is a quick video of it:

Thank you much for your fervent and faithful prayers while I was away. I needed them. By God’s grace, we continue moving forward in equipping global pastors and ministry leaders to handle God’s Word and preach it well.