During my time in Malawi I attended four different churches. Last week I shared about the first two churches I attended. The third Sunday started a bit earlier than the other two. That week rather than stay in Lilongwe, we went to a church in a rural part of the country. We also took along all the Bible School students to observe the church service. So 16 of us piled into the van and headed out.
We didn’t get very far before the police stopped us. The police have road checks pretty frequently in Malawi. According to Bern, the police are not corrupt. They do not take bribes. They stop vehicles to make sure all is legal. In our case the officer thought we had too many in the vehicle. The van could legally hold 16 people which we had exactly. The second time he counted he decided we were OK. We would pass a number of police check points on our trip today. Bern said it was because a lot of people were traveling as Monday was a holiday, Mother’s Day, so the police were out in force.
Another group that was out in force were young men involved with the traditional African religion. I first noticed young men in costumes along the side of the road. They always had some kind of a mask on. They were yelling and waving at vehicles as they passed by. According to Bern they were trying to get money. Some of the costumes were quite elaborate. Unfortunately we drove by at a pretty fast clip so I was unable to get a decent photo of any of them.
When we arrived at the church, it was a packed house. The church building is quite old. They are in the process of building a newer one but were having issues with the roof so they still use the older one. The church’s structure is a T shape with the platform at the top of the T. We had seats on the platform area looking out towards the congregation. However, we were off to the side somewhat so it wasn’t the best of views.
Since the church was full, most of the congregation sat on the concrete floor. There were a few backless benches which some (mostly men) were sitting on crowded together. I felt privileged to be sitting in a plastic chair on the platform.
Much like the previous two churches, the beginning of the service was full of music from choirs and groups. Because this Sunday the various preaching points gathered together, there were a large number of groups preforming. There were women’s choirs, youth choirs, and a group of young men. Each group did two or three songs so this time of music went on for well over an hour. While I enjoyed the music, I did reach a point where I was ready to move on.
The church used a sound box to provide the accompaniment for most groups. Bern told me that most of the music is original, written by someone in the group. They will save money for as much as a year so that they can go to a studio and get a professional accompaniment to the song. I was impressed. So much creativity. Here were unsophisticated people in the country creating music for their worship time.
This group of young men were really fun to watch. I managed to capture on video one of their songs. In this particular song they are indicating to God that they are anxious for Him to come back.
Following the various group performances, it was a time for the congregation to sing. I think they were happy to get up off the floor and sing and dance around. I know I would have been. Of course dancing included coming up to place one’s offering in the basket which was the next activity as they continued to sing.
After the prayer time came the sermon which I gave. Apparently if one is a guest, he is expected to preach, especially if he is a pastor. Bern translated for me. This was the first time I can remember preaching with a translator. A few times I tried to start before Bern finished translating, but overall it went pretty well.
I was later asked to give the benediction, which I had not anticipated. The service was long, but I wasn’t sure how long. Bern thought it was about three hours. Can you image sitting on a concrete floor for that long?
After the service they wanted pictures of our student group with members of the congregation. Following pictures we were on our way to lunch. We followed a pickup full of people who had been at the service. It was a full load. We also passed by parts of the village including a place where they mill the corn.
We were served lunch at the pastor’s home. By we I mean Bern and I. The students went off somewhere else to eat, and Bern and I ate with the pastor in his home, just the three of us. There were a couple of other men there who sat on the floor separately. First we had water poured over our hands to wash them. Then we dished out the food which was a cornmeal mush, beans and fried chicken. While I ate with a spoon, Bern and the pastor ate with their hands which is the traditional way to eat. They roll the cornmeal mush into a ball and use it as the basis to eat the other foods such as the beans. While the pastor seemed a nice young man, conversation felt awkward, and it seemed Bern and I did most of the talking.
After lunch we headed back to Lilongwe. Since it was during the heat of the day, traffic was lighter so we made pretty good time getting back to the Bible School campus. We did stop at an area that sold vegetables. It was mainly onions, tomatoes and potatoes. Sellers crowded around the van trying to get us to buy from them. They seemed particularly intrigued by me thinking I had the money, but I didn’t have any. Bern was the one buying for meals for the students. This picture shows all the red onions on the ground.
My fourth Sunday was also my last day in Malawi. My flight was to leave about 2:30. Bern wanted to take me to a non-Free Methodist Church so I would see something different. That was an understatement. We would attend the main Assembly of God Church in Lilongwe at the campus of their Malawi headquarters. Bern’s daughter attends church there as it is her fiance’s church.
The church has two services, and we decided to attend the early service at 7:00. There were not a lot of people there when we arrived. However, this was a very different church building. It was more like a church building one would find in the United States. It had nice padded seats to sit on, carpet on the floor, and a large platform with a screen where they projected the words to the songs. There was also a nice sound system.
As we entered the church, an usher escorted Bern and me to the front of a section where there was a table in front of us with water bottles. In my mind the only reason he took us there is because I am Caucasian and obviously a visitor. If Bern had showed up alone, I don’t think he would have been taken to that spot but just found his own seat in the congregation.
Directly in front of us and perpendicular to our row was a row of nice large office type chairs which also had tables with water bottles on them. It turns out those were for the pastors of the church and their guests. I have to say that bothered me some that the pastors were receiving special treatment from the rest of the congregation. But then I had to remind myself that I sat in a plastic chair last week while most people sat on the concrete.
This service used English. The local language was used in a few of the songs, but mostly it was done in English. Some of the songs were familiar songs which we sing in US churches. Apparently it was Men’s Sunday so the worship team was all men. There was also a worship band as well. In many ways it felt like a typical American service. Despite it being an Assembly of God church, there was less dancing and moving about than I had seen in the Free Methodist churches we had visited.
The one African custom they followed was that people did go forward to give their offerings. However, this was more ordered as well with the ushers dismissing people row by row so people walked by the offering basket in an orderly fashion.
Bern told me that the president of Malawi started this church and attends it every Sunday. He did not attend the service we attended. However, as we were leaving, they were bringing some large red chairs into the sanctuary. Apparently they were for the President and his wife to sit in for the next service. We left before his motorcade showed up.
Attending these four different church service gave me a lot of insight into the people and their culture. I found it quite interesting and a blessing to worship with them. There is obviously a difference between the social strata of the country. The Free Methodist churches I attended were generally poor churches or certainly lower middle class. The Assembly of God Church was obviously an upper class church. The people were dressed well, and many drove their own cars. For me I enjoyed the services at the Free Methodist churches more. They provided a different perspective on worship which I found refreshing.
Finally I want to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Look for my next post in the new year on January 3, 2024. Until then…