Skip to main content

TRAVEL BLOG Livingstonia


I preached today at the Livingstonia Mission Church--named after Dr. David Livingstone, the famous Scottish explorer, educator and medical missionary to Central Africa in the mid 19th Century who exposed the slave trade which led to its demise. Livingstone is remembered today as bringing the 3 C's to Central Africa: Christianity, Commerce and Civilization through colonialism.

The Livingstonia mission station itself was established by his successor--Dr. Robert Laws--who spent 53 years as a medical missionary and developed what is now the Central Church of Africa--Presbyterian. Today, there are over 130 churches with multiple ministries of holistic Christian care as part of the Presbyterian Synod of Livingstonia.

It was Dr. Laws who built a mission campus on the plateau overlooking Lake Malawi that became known as the “greatest achievement in Central Africa.” Today, the compound includes the mother church, primary and secondary schools, a hospital, teachers residences including Dr. Law's Stone House, woodcutting factory and store, and Livingstonia University with teacher's college, agriculture, and seminary. It sits ontop of a mountain plateau, too high for misquitos. Still, Malari is number two disease, second only to HIV/AIDS.

David Gordon Hospital in Livingstonia is part of the original mission station, established in 1975. Currently, the hospital is in need of various medicines and

Livingstonia has a population of 70,000 and 7k we're told by the doctors, are HIV positive. The hospital we toured serves over 8K patients each year, 75% of whom have AIDS. The whole country seems to be HIV positive, and it permeates the church and culture. Thank God the Anti-Retro Viral drugs are available and with this treatment AIDS becomes a chronic but manageable disease.

What a privilege to preach to 700 or so congregates who filled up the splendid sanctuary. My text was John 4--the stimatized Samarian woman at the well... The music of the 5 choirs, mostly young people, was incredibly good. Perfect pitch, rhythm and movements. Distinctively African. Well practiced. Brought tears to my eyes. Although the service was two hours long, it did not seem that way. It was well-organized and wonderfully-conducted. I kept wishing my family were here to experience worship at its best.

We had dinner at Dr. Andy Gaston's home, and along with the feast at the Taiwan
Medical Mission, it was the best food I've had since coming to Malawi 10 days ago. All my other meals were the same: lean chicken, greasy fries, spinach greens. Breakfast eggs are always cold. Beef is tough which i never get. I mostly eat french fries, greens and protein bars.

We swam in Lake Malawi. Very fresh, clear, warm water. Refreshing. Fun in the sun, no summer beach crowds, simply wonderful. Paul and I wanted to return just to hang out on the beach where the rooms go for $12/night! Its a favorite place for drifters, backpackers, expats on holiday, and the young at heart. No tourists, than God.

Popular posts from this blog

Mother Shalom

South Central, Los Angeles, was the neighborhood in the city where Communities of Shalom began in 1992. I met Marx Gutierrez from El Salvador who was there attending High School at the time. He remembers what happened at the corner of Florence and Normandy Streets in South Central, LA, when Reginald Denny was pulled out of his truck and beaten while the crowd looked on and the police did nothing; and how the Rodney King beating resulted in a not-guilty verdict for the police and resulted in a major, 3-day uprising in the neighborhood, until the National Guard came in and finally imposed law and order. He can still remember the fires, the bright orange night sky, the mass looting, 45 unsolved killings, the social chaos...And how the United Methodist Churches responded by creating a zone of shalom in 7 neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Today, Marx is a community organizer, and married to Jennifer Gutierrez, Conference Shalom Coordinator in the Calif-Pacific Annual Conference, and Rev. Vilma

First Generation Lambs Club Reunion

Fifteen of us gathered Saturday night at the Lambs Club for a 35 th year reunion of those who helped start the Lamb’s Church in Times Square in the mid to late 1970’s, including: Rev. Paul S. Moore , Founder of the Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene, and his wife, Tamara Dr. Michael J. Christensen , charter member and former associate pastor, and his wife Dr. Rebecca Laird Fr. William (BJ) Webe r, former Associate Pastor and Director of the Lamb’s Residency, and his wife Sheila who lived at the Lamb’s Jim and Dustee Hullinger, who were on staff together and made the Lamb’s their home for over 25 years Effie Canepa , who was the church pianist under 3 pastors, and her husband Peter Shirley Close, who attended the Lamb’s in the late 1970’s while studying, performing  and teaching music and voice Carl "Chappy" Valente , former associate pastor Rev. Bob DiQuatto , lead singer of the Church’s “Manhattan Project” and staff member of the Lamb’s, and his son Jason Rev. Gabriel

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue Lecture Notes: Presented by Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D.,  Associate Professor in the Practice of Spirituality and Ministry,  Drew University;  and  International Director, Communities of Shalom, The United Methodist Church Introduction “There is a little man in Peru, a man without any power, who lives in a barrio with poor people and who wrote a book.   In this book he simply reclaimed the basic Christian truth that God became human to bring good news to the poor, new light to the blind, and liberty to the captives.   Then years later this book and movement it started is considered a danger by [the USA, or Rome], the greatest power on earth.   When I look at this little man, Gustavo, and think about [the President of the US, or the Pope], I see David standing before Goliath, again with no more weapon than a little stone, a stone called A Theology of Liberation (Henri Nouwen