Mwalandiridwa Assembly of God

 

 

Fredna and I preached at Mwalandiridwa Assembly of God church.  Arnold and Violet Banda are the pastors of this growing church in a very poor area of Lilongwe, Malawi.

 

Sunday, God's day!  A day to sing His praises, worship Him, bring our offering before Him and hear His Word.  Thinking about it, wouldn't it be interesting to be able to look in on every service around the world!  Can you imagine the differences you would see?  High church, low church and everything in between.

 

Most of the services we have been in Africa have been very different to most services in the States, especially when it comes to offering time.  Today was no exception.  During the offering there were three baskets placed on a table.  The first basket was for the morning offering, the second was for faith promises & tithes, and the third was for missions.  Another offering was taken at the end of the service - this one was for special projects.  Today's special project was electricity.  It will cost about MK12,000.00 ($86.33 in US dollars) to have an electrical meter installed at the church.  They take this offering on the first Sunday of every month, and it is a very special time!  The special project changes when the needed funds are collected.  I am not sure how many first Sunday's this project has been active, but today they raised about MK8,500.00 ($61.15) - short the needed MK12,000.00.  It was heart-lifting to see this offering.  People danced as they gave, and several made a real production of laying several bills on the table.  One guy put about 25 MK20.00 bills on the table - laying them on edge all around the table.

 

                        

 

This church has a vibrant Children's Church program, and all kids love to have their picture taken!

 

I have always heard that no matter how far you go into the bush around the world you will most always find two things: Assembly of God missionaries and Coca Cola.  Today I saw something new... a Fort Hood tee shirt with a Texas flag!  I told this gentleman that I had to have my picture taken with him since he was wearing the flag of my tribe!