Malawi: Non Nobis Solum

The plight of Malawi has been rightly described by Carol Bellamy, head of UNICEF, as the perfect storm of human deprivation, one that brings together climatic disaster, impoverishment, the AIDS pandemic and the long-standing burdens of malaria, schistosomiasis and other diseases.

--Book excerpt from Jeffrey D. Sachs, The End of Poverty, printed in Time Magazine, March 14, 2005

In Malawi, AIDS is a terrible but under-reported scourge  Life expectancy has been cut to 43, and officially up to 30% of people aged 14-49 are infected. Sadly, 60% of new infections in the 14-25 age group are girls and there are up to 400,000 orphans. (However), Malawi continues to be spiritually the most receptive country in central Africa. 

--The Gideon, February 2005, p. 16-17

Last year, our church completed our second capital campaign for our $ 9 million dollar campus renovation.  Our theme for our campaign was called "A Community for Everyone: Non Nobis Solum."  As we had done  in the first campaign, we set aside the first 10% of the capital campaign funds raised for three new mission projects:

1. Intentional evangelism and outreach in our growing community.
2. The establishment of a new hispanic ministry on our church campus.
3. To develop a partnership that would get our people personally involved in the world-wide Christian effort to address the effects of AIDS in Africa.

As you can imagine there was ample debate and discussion about the decision to set aside some of the desperately needed funds (we do have a mortgage payment each month of nearly $60,000 that has to be paid!).  But ultimately our Session decided that the theme of our campaign was truly the heartbeat and mission of our church.  We wanted to be a church that exists "Non Nobis Solum" which is Latin for "not for ourselves alone." 

Tomorrow, as seven of us from SCPC join 17 others from around the country to travel to Malawi, Africa, we will be one huge step closer to fulfilling one part of that larger vision. 

As a pastor, I rejoice that our church is healthy and growing.  We have had some hard days as a church, a painful split ten years ago required a long recovery.  For years, we had to focus on our own healing and unity.  But now, strong and committed to a missional vision, we seek to become more and more involved in the work of God to heal and reconcile the world. 

Over the next ten days, I would ask your prayers for our Y-Malawi Partnership. I will post some excerpts from our (expected) itinerary as well as the devotional reflections that we ill be using for our prayers and discussion.  Please allow your prayers to join with ours across the miles.

• Pray for safety and health. 
• Pray for unity for a diverse team that literally comes from across the country.
• Pray that our eyes will be open to the need and that God will grant us vision to see what our small contribution to his great redeeming work will be.
• Pray that we will have the experiences and then the words to engage our churches in this partnership.
• Pray for our potential mission partners: World Vision, Opportunity International; Fishers, Trainers and Senders; the Presbyterian Church youth ministry and missionaries in Malawi; the Jesus Film Project (and those we are still to discover.) 
• Pray that as we follow the King, we will ALL become like the King.

I also want to alert you to another blogger named Bill Rice (a member of my chuch) at "Dawn's Early Light" who is going to offer regular posts and updates on Malawi so that all who are interested can continue to grow in awareness of the need and challenges in this land.   Thanks Bill!