Skip to main content

Departure day

We’re going to Malawi together!

Travel Plan: We plan to depart Laguardia Airport, NYC, on Monday, July 5, at 6am, first to Dullus, and then on to Lilongwe via Addis Ababa Ethiopia. We will arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi, on July 6 at 12:20pm (with no overnight layover stop). Most plan to return to Laguardia on Friday, July 16, at 1:48PM. Some (including the Christensens) will continue to travel in Africa.

Destination: Malawi, a small land-locked, developing country of 12 million people bordering Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, is particularly vulnerable to famine and disease, and suffers from extreme poverty and AIDS. The July Mission Trip team will carry out its mission in and around Mzuzu City in Northern Malawi where WorldHope Corps supports HopeHomes orphan care program, Hope Tailoring School and Village Well projects in partnership with Mzuzu United Methodist Church and Malawi Shalom Zone Committee.

Reverse Mission: To raise hope in vulnerable communities through cross-cultural relationships, “reverse mission” and the ministry of presence. Our service team will focus its activities on being present in communities need and to vulnerable persons, who have their own gifts to share. By focusing our mission of help and hope on relational support and being with those who are economically poor, we hope to fulfill a ministry of presence (God’s presence through us) which may result in our own spiritual transformation. Henri Nouwen calls this “reverse mission.” In encountering the rich spirit of Christ in those whom we would serve, we ourselves are transformed in the process. A good way to prepare for the trip is to read Henri Nouwen’s book Gracias to deepen your understanding of “reverse mission.” Other reading material will be recommended to team members preparing for the trip.

Projects and Objectives: We will assist in food distribution, volunteer at selected mission sites, meet and encourage students receiving Hope Scholarships, assist participants in economic ventures that support the mission, and visit village well projects with the objective of mutual ministry and service. We will also explore with local experts social justice issues affecting Malawians, including the HIV/AIDS pandemic, extreme poverty, and local effects of economic globalization.

Specific Activities:
1. Serve daily meals to orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children and lead recreational and educational activities at two community orphan care centers, including HopeHome program sponsored by Mzuzu United Methodist Church with support from WorldHope Corps.
2. Visit with some of the youth recipients of Hope Scholarships and support for their secondary school education and vocational training
3. Visit CitiHope Malawi projects and meet local staff
4. Visit prisoners in Mzuzu Central Prison, delivering food and hygiene supplies
5. Possibly dig a village well and dedicate other village wells recently installed by WorldHope Corp as part of our community development program.
6. Help local community members develop micro-financed small businesses
7. Help organize a new ‘shalom zone” within the Mzuzu Circuit of the United Methodist Church
8. Conduct art workshops and recreational activities for vulnerable children and youth in remote rural area (possibly overnight).
9. Visit Livingstonia Mission (legacy of David Livingstone)
10. Worship with our Malawian brothers and sisters on Sunday in church

Local Ministry Partners: Mzuzu United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Synod of Livingstonia, Malawi, Mzuzu Shalom Zone Committee, and CitiHope Malawi
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

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 The...
Read more

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. Gab...
Read more

Let the River Flow: Why WorldHope Corps digs village wells

  Sunday Sermon at the The Water's Edge in OB , San Diego, CA. "Woman at the Well" (John 4:7-15) When you think about the gospel story of the Samaritan woman with Jesus at Jacob’s well, I’d like you to picture this Woman at a similar well in northern Malawi. Sitting and talking with Pastor Dennis Singini about water. Her name is Nyang'oma, which means "drum." Her Christian name is Mary Botha. She is 85 years old and lives in a village in the Kampenda area of Northern Malawi. She has cared for 11 children, two of whom have died. And her husband has died. When Dennis and I first met Mary in 2008, her village did not have a deep well or access to clean water. Nor did the six surrounding villages with over 1,500 people. Women and children had to drink with animals from shallow seasonal wells or walk about of 5km away to drink from the closest stream. Sometimes they would get sick and complain of stomach aches. Cholera and dysentery were widespread, and m...
Read more