(MALAWI) All of the participants, who were church leaders and pastors in Kamanzi, Malawi, lined up in a row and were given a different role to play: one played the village chief; another played an unemployed single mother raising three children; one was a member of the parliament; and another was a bank executive.
Each of the 20 participants were given different roles and asked to think about the assets they would have if they really were those people.
Cuthbert, the facilitator of this Church in Community training, then began an exercise where he asked people to respond to his statements by taking a step forward if they agreed with them. He asked the people to take a step forward if they can eat three meals a day. The village chief, Member of Parliament, bank executive, and some other people took a step forward. The woman whose role was the single mother did not move. Cuthbert then announced that those who could afford a shopping spree in South Africa should take another step forward. The bank executive and parliament member took another step. The single mother looked around and smiled uncomfortably.
Cuthbert continued the exercise: those who can send their children to private school; those who can buy a bike; those who own a car; those who have a computer; those who eat meat every day. After 15 minutes, it was obvious that there were a few people who never took a step forward, while others were far ahead.
Cuthbert asked the participants who never took a step how they felt. Most of them expressed that they felt embarrassed and ashamed. They felt bad because they couldn’t afford to do most of the things that others could.
This training and others like it that are offered by World Renew’s partners in central Malawi were designed to “awaken” the church and community to the needs in their midst.
Cuthbert then challenged the group by asking, “If people who are acting these parts feel sad and left behind about not taking a single step, how much more pain exists for those who live in these circumstances every day?” He challenged the participants to be more inclusive as church and community members so that people don’t feel embarrassed and left behind. “What was the church’s role in caring for the vulnerable?” Cuthbert asked.
This training and others like it that are offered by World Renew’s partners in central Malawi were designed to “awaken” the church and community to the needs in their midst.
Those who grow up in the church learn that we were all members of one body—some of us are the eyes, others are the feet, and so on. Yet, the member of a church may not act like they are part of the body. They may not realize that another part of the body is hurting and suffering, or they do not respond to someone else’s pain. The exercise in Kamanzi helped the participants experience and understand a little bit about the shame and embarrassment that the poor and vulnerable live with. It helped them experience a little of what it meant to be the “other.”
Church in Community (CnC) helps people look at the world with new eyes. These new eyes can identify people who are vulnerable and struggling.
They see how they can help and they recognize the resources God has provided to meet others’ needs. God has given us a “body,” the church, and He wants us to use this body to respond to the hurt around us.
It is amazing to see what can happen when a group of people pool their resources and give their time and energy to help those who are vulnerable around them. Recently, I visited our CnC project in the north, Mzuzu.
There, the church members pooled their resources to help a family start a small business so that they could care for the orphans in their church. Another congregation dug a shallow well for an older couple who struggled to get water for their home.
With the new water source, the out of-work couple planted a garden to grow vegetables to sell.
We have conducted the first CnC training in Mzuzu and Kamanzi and plan to conduct a second training in 2015…Next year’s training will help participants prioritize the community’s needs and identify the resources that God has given them. Please pray for these trainings. Pray that God will soften hearts and give all of us new eyes.
- Pray for rain … good rain … timely rain … constant rain.
- Pray for all our new church partners as we develop new working relationships … give us both patience and grace as we “get to know each other”.
Blessings,