Malawi Church Growth the Outcome of Evangelism

Malawi, Africa

 

The fast-growing Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi (ELCM) plans and implements its own evangelism program with financial support from two expressions of the ELCA--the ELCA churchwide Global Mission Unit, and the ELCA Northwest Synod of Wisconsin.

“The ELCA and the ELCM are partners,” says ELCM Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe. “In partnership you have to trust the partner on the ground so that you achieve activities through them. We run our local projects with assistance from the ELCA. This is a pattern which we from Africa have been advocating for, because it empowers us to achieve our own goals.”

ELCA churchwide funds helped the ELCM design and administer a comprehensive program that trains evangelists and equips them with bicycles to reach new preaching points. When a worshipping community has the funds and labor to erect a church building, the ELCM pays for the roof using funds provided by ELCA Global Mission and the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin.

“Evangelism is best done by local people who know the context very well,” says Bishop Bvumbwe. “With a grant like this to help us witness to Christ in our country, we are able to achieve immense results.”

Find out more about ELCA Global Mission.