The bulletin insert at church today…
The goal was $30,000 which would provide the materials to build churches in ten Malawi villages. As of January 7, $52,394 has been received. That will mean at least 15 villages will have a strong church building with a metal roof. Upon hearing that we had surpassed the goal, Rev. Daniel Mhone, the Mission Area Superintendent, wrote the following letter to Belmont,
On behalf of the Malawi Church, I send our very tears of joy and gratitude at what God continues to do even in these days of our Christian journey. God moves among his people connecting us in prayer though separated by a very immense distance. [Belmont's Christmas Miracle offering] is a Christmas miracle at the very beginning of the century as the American economy is in turmoil. Yet in those very difficult circumstances, God moves his very people to give beyond what was targeted by over %50. This is no small achievement, neither of human doing BUT God’s own way of doing things even in our very days of existence. WE will not resist tears of joy and gratitude at God’s own miracle.
Those without shelter will have a shelter and the villages will have a place to teach children and women. These church buildings are the synagogues of our times. Synagogues were centers of education in the Jewish society and so the 15 new churches are forming a “synagogue theology” of Methodism in the newly legislated Missionary Conference.
All participating in this are a part of the history in the making. Please know this that our hearts have been challenged, warmed, encouraged and assured of God’s own presence in all this. We are talking of Emmanuel “God with us”, and we are all witnesses of this happening. God bless each one of us that is part of this doing of God.
The Malawi United Methodist Church has over 90 organized congregations but less than 10 permanent church buildings. Most congregations meet under a tree or in a temporary arbor. The $3,000 per church from the Christmas Miracle offering provides cement, sand, mortar, wood for trusses, metal roofs, and doors for the church. Local church members will make bricks, fire them, and do the construction for their new buildings.
In February, Kara and Jeff Oliver and Sue and Herb Mather will be in Malawi for two weeks. Although it will be the rainy season that makes rural travel difficult, they hope to photograph some of the villages which are receiving help with a church. And later, when the churches are completed, we will have more pictures to share. The Outreach Committee is working on recommendations for people-to-people connections between the people in the villages and their friends in Christ at Belmont UMC.
The miracle is more than buildings. The miracle is the enriching of the fiath for the people of Malawi and the people of Belmont UMC.
