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After the National Leaders Conference in Lilongwe, Malawi in September 2006, a series of follow-up sessions was carried out in Blantyre (South), Lilongwe (Central) and Mzuzu (North) from end October to mid November. Peter Hartman who travelled with the team sent us this report...
Elijah Amas from Musoma, Tanzania was first to arrive via Nairobi, followed by Richard and Ndumiso from Bulawayo, who crossed through Mozambique by car. They were joined by Roland and Peter and John Katimba, from Malawi.
The next morning, after a thorough check-up by Richard of his Land Cruiser, the team headed off to Blantyre Baptist Church, which had been rented for the three mornings of follow-up sessions in that city.
A group of around 20 leaders and 30 church members were present, of which about 10 had attended the previous national conference. The mornings were split into 2 sessions. On the first two days, both Roland and Elijah shared on the restoration of servants of God. Roland opened the meeting, followed by Richard, who expounded on the structure of the Church under the apostolic ministry. In the evenings, the team split up and went to minister in John’s, Andrew’s and another brother’s church. Friday and Saturday was spent in numerous one-on-one meetings with leaders, who expressed their interest in working together with CTMI.
On Sunday morning, Richard went to Andrew’s church, while the rest of the team went to John’s church. Roland shared on the true body of Christ. Afterwards, he and Elijah prayed with the leadership of John’s church, and with a brother, Sunny, who had participated in the follow-ups, as well as in previous national conferences. Roland then took the guitar and led the church in a song of worship.
After a quick lunch, the team met up with Richard and headed off on the 320 km drive to Lilongwe.
It was early evening, when the team arrived at the Gaunas’, (who famously welcomed 22 people into their home during the previous national conference). Once again they blessed the team with their hospitality, hosting everyone with their openness and generosity.
Roland, Elijah and Peter remained in Lilongwe, while Richard, John and Ndumiso continued a further 370 Kms northwards, to Mzuzu on Monday afternoon.
The Lilongwe meetings turned out to be a greater challenge for the reduced team, especially since there was no ‘man on the ground’ to assist them. Despite some logistical setbacks in the organising of the Lilongwe conference, and the resulting lower attendance of the meetings, both Roland and Elijah put their whole hearts into the sharing of the gospel of the cross, encouraging all the participants over the next four days.
On Thursday afternoon the team met with the leaders of a traditional church in Lilongwe. Roland and Elijah were able to share with these pastors how the Lord had worked in their lives and changed their ministry through the message of the Cross. They received a very positive response and this year, a door may be opened for a series of meetings with the entire body of over 360 pastors of this church in Malawi.
The team in Mzuzu held a series of fruitful meetings with Richard and John sharing to the leaders present. Several pastors were deeply touched by the messages and new, positive contacts were made during the three days spent there. They returned to Lilongwe late on Thursday afternoon, and the whole team was together for the last session in Lilongwe on Friday morning, at the end of which John shared his heart with all attending; how his life had been impacted over the past six years, while working together with CTMI.
Friday evening was a time of fellowship and catching up for the team, before separating the next morning.
Saturday morning, Roland and Peter boarded a plane to Johannesburg while Elijah and John headed back to Blantyre by coach so that Elijah could share in John’s church the following day. Richard and Ndumiso stayed in Lilongwe to minister in a church on Sunday morning, following a new contact made during the Lilongwe follow-up sessions.
In Johannesburg, Roland and Peter were met by Pastor Bruce, who had come to the International Conference in May. They stayed with him for a time of fellowship and sharing with his church in Sandton.
Roland again displayed his musical talent by replacing Kevin, a brother who comes from this church, (and, paradoxically, is currently staying at Roland’s house in Mauritius), on the drums. The church was very receptive to Roland’s preaching, as he shared his heart on how false doctrine and deception had to make way for the pure doctrine to come back in to the Church; how the Church needed to come to maturity through the pouring out of the different anointings and ministries (mentioned in Ephesians 4) into the Body of Christ. Unfortunately, he had to cut off his message in mid swing, as another congregation was due to take over the church after our meeting. Several church members approached us afterwards, during cake and coffee, and expressed their gratitude for the message they had received.
In the evening, Pastor Bruce organised a time of fellowship for the church to meet up with the team. Pastor Godfrey from Tsakane, came to visit, and spent some time with Roland. Early the next morning, Pastor Bruce dropped us of at the airport to catch our return flight to Mauritius.
It has been a rich time working together as a team seeing the outworking of the message of the cross in the field, in the lives of pastors; and experiencing how God unites hearts for the purpose of serving Him.
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