The condition of the church in Malawi is similar to the struggles faced across the African continent. Our country has upward of 20 million people, and if you were to ask, almost everyone would say they are Protestant Christians. But we have many, many needs—chief among them, robust, sound doctrine.
A Complicated Landscape
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. In our country, it is very hard for Christians to access Bibles and other Christian books. Most people live below the poverty line, and it can be very difficult to purchase a Bible. These Bibles only cost around $10, but it is far too expensive for many people in Malawi. Many people in our churches do not have access to Bibles, which makes them vulnerable and dependent on what their spiritual leader teaches them.
In Malawi, many of the churches that are committed to preaching the gospel are struggling financially and facing great spiritual warfare. Prophetic ministries and prosperity gospel preachers have misled and confused Christians in Malawi.
That paves the way for this. Unfortunately, most of our churches are easily influenced by culture or the political landscape. This is clearly contrary to the biblical teaching in Romans, which admonishes us all: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
One specific prayer request: please pray for the economic empowerment of Christians in our churches, so that they’ll be able to access solid resources. And pray that we are not entangled in worldly thinking, but can set our minds on the things above.
A Desperate Need
Many of our churches claim to be Christian but are not Christ-centered. Despite statistics showing that at least 80% of the entire population claim to be Christians, many don’t know what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and are not willing to surrender their life to Christ.
The church in Malawi is facing a deficit of leaders marked by godly character and sound doctrine. Some people who are currently serving in leadership in churches desperately need to be discipled and trained before stepping back into leadership positions. Unfortunately, some pastors in Malawi accidentally preach heresy week after week simply because they haven’t been trained. Some pastors have never received theological training and don’t know how to interpret the Word of God properly.
Some pastors read Scripture out of context and end up forcing the Bible to say things that God didn’t say. They are misleading the church by preaching a false gospel. For many of these pastors, their focus is drawing people to themselves for material and personal gain instead of pointing people to Christ, our Savior, and the chief Shepherd.
So I would ask if you could pray for God to raise up trained leaders, particularly pastors—men who know the Scriptures and know the Christ, and know how to share him in our local context. I understand that this is a global need, but I feel it with urgency everywhere we go.
The Need for Biblical Training
The church in Malawi needs an affordable, strong institution that can provide sound training for the church. This training would serve as a foundation for the flourishing of healthy churches across our nation.
Pray that God may raise up a generation that is hungry and thirsty after God’s Word and his mission. Pray that God would raise global churches to partner with churches in Malawi. May the good Lord continue to bless you as you consider praying for churches in Malawi to be the salt and light of the nation.
Robert Manda is a catalyst of Acts 29 in East Africa and pastor of New Life Church in Lilongwe, Malawi. He is the founder of the Pastoral Training Institute of Africa and holds an MDiv from Reformed Theological Seminary.
