Evangelical Church Of Malawi
(NYASA MISSION)
SHIRE VALLEY SUB-SYNOD.
P.O. Box 90, Nchalo, Malawi.
20th October 2010
The Evangelical Church Of Malawi (Shire Valley Sub- Synod) is looking for Experienced Coordinators to work exclusively in The Shire Valley Region (SVRC).
1. HIV AND AIDS TREATMENT AND HOME BASED CARE COORDINATOR.
(i) International and Multicultural
(ii) Qualified Clinician with either Diploma in Clinical Medicine or MBBS with little public Health training.
(iii) Vast Experience in HIV or Infectious diseases.
(iv) Experince working in a leadership role in HIV and AIDS.
(v) Other Public Health diseases control programs in tropics.
(vi) Knowledge about Scientific Literature on HIV and AIDS care and treatment.
(vii) Demonstrated ability in research world be an added advantage
(viii) Computer literate.
CONTRACT DURATION
Based on 5 years contract and annually renewable at the end of five years.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY
Working in a leadership role in HIV and AIDS and other Public Health disease control within the Shire Valley Region Council.
Caring the sick and alleviating the special groups i.e. orphans, elderly, and widows.
Research the effective approach towards the affected areas and families.
Working hand in hand with the Shire Valley Region and report to the Region council constantly.
Prepare to work odd hours sometimes.
Preaching and teaching in various church centres as deemed necessary by the SVRC especially on Sundays and other occasions.
Facilitate and organize community and review meetings.
Sound report writing skills.
Establishing and building of Health Centres and counseling places.
2. INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICE PROJECT COORDINATOR.
The Evangelical Church Of Malawi (Shire Valley Sub-Synod) is inviting missionaries to express interest in Infrastructure Services Coordinator from Overseas exclusively for The Shire Valley Region (SVRC).
Qualifications
Minimum holder of Diploma in Civil Engineering or any relevant qualifications.
Ready to coordinate in the remotest area in tropics.
With recommended experience in Infrastructure construction i.e. Churches, Schools, Clinics etc.
Computer literate
CONTRACT DURATION
Five (5) years contract and possibility of renewable at the end of five years.
OBJECTIVES OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE COORDINATOR.
To provide construction supervision services for the selected Shire Valley Regional Council developmental works.
Upgrading the poorly constructed churches and other infrastructures.
Rehabilitation of other lowly standard infrastructures.
Improving the church within the Project corridors through labour based reshaping etc.
Supervising the construction works for all selected church centres.
Verifying personnel protection but from within the church.
Verify the hand tools and equipment provided.
Timely report compilation and submission on all project activities and lessons learnt and challenges coordinator to the Sub-Synod Executive.
3. EDUCATION COORDINATOR.
The suitable missionary shall be:-
Qualifications
Minimum of BA in Education.
Familiar with Education context in Africa.
Willing to work in tropics.
Willing to work with Africans without a sign of discrimination.
CONTRACT DURATION
Five (5) years contract and is renewable at the end of five years.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Searching fund for orphans in Secondary Schools.
Improving the welfare of primary school going orphans by providing them with the basic requirements within the Sub-Synod.
Establishing the learning Institution within the Sub-Synod locality.
Introducing many primary Institutions for both orphans and those with their parents.
Employing good teachers to help the Coordinator.
It is expected that missionaries raise their own support and also assist in the raising of project funds for their respective projects.
For more detailed information contact the Regional Admin. Secretary through gzembetsani@illovo.co.za or otherwisemapute@gmail.com
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
witchcraft accusations
Barely a month after our dear pastor friend had to bury 4 youth after they had thrown themselves in a fire, today we were confronted with another so-called pastor who accused some teenage girls of being witches. The three girls, aged 14, 16 and 17 were consequently expelled from their families and beaten so badly by the community that the police had to intervene to save their lives. They came to the girlshome for help but the home is full beyond capacity and we had to house them in an empty room. Please pray that the Lord may provide the necessary resources so that we can help children and youths who after being accused of being witches are in grave danger without protection or rights.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria (CNN) -- Just after midnight, the pastor seized a woman's forehead with his large hand and she fell screaming and writhing on the ground. "Fire! Fire! Fire!" shouted the worshippers, raising their hands in the air.
Pastor Celestine Effiong's congregants are being delivered from what they firmly believe to be witchcraft. And in the darkness of the city and the villages beyond, similar shouts and screams echo from makeshift church to makeshift church.
"I have been delivered from witches and wizards today!" exclaimed one exhausted-looking woman.
Pastors in southeast Nigeria claim illness and poverty are caused by witches who bring terrible misfortune to those around them. And those denounced as witches must be cleansed through deliverance or cast out.
As daylight breaks, and we travel out to the rural villages it becomes apparent the most vulnerable to this stigmatization of witchcraft are children.
A crowd gathered around two brothers and their sister. Tears streamed down their mother's face as she cast out her children from the family, accusing them of causing the premature deaths of two of their siblings with black magic.
I was beaten by the prophet in the church.
--Samuel, 15, now homeless
RELATED TOPICS
* Nigeria
* Child Abuse
* Religion
"I am afraid. They are witches and they can kill me as well," she sobbed.
Taking his time to talk to the mother, Sam Ikpe-Itauma, an imposing man wearing a "Child's Rights & Rehabilitation Network" t-shirt, has come to try to rescue the three children.
"If we are not here there's a possibility of them being thrown into the river, buried alive or stabbed to death," Sam said.
He tries to persuade their mother and a crowd of villagers that the three children are not witches - but no one believes him. And so, putting the children in his white pick-up, he drives away to his orphanage and safety.
Sam runs Child's Rights & Rehabilitation Network, or CRARN -- an orphanage that supports nearly 200 children. All of them were accused of witchcraft and cast out by their families, often after being tortured. The orphanage provides security, healthcare, nutrition and counseling.
Check out the CRARN website
Godwin's story is typical. As he sat next to the quiet 5-year-old, Sam said that after Godwin's mother died, the church pastor told his family that "Godwin is responsible."
From his own investigation, questioning Godwin and talking with neighbors, Sam said that when a relative asked Godwin if he was a witch, "he said no and was beaten and made the confession that he actually killed the mother."
Sam said Godwin was locked up with his mother's corpse every night for three weeks with little food or water before a neighbor contacted Sam, who was able to rescue him.
Witches and wizards, they started getting afraid. I never gave them rest.
--Pastor Helen Ukpabio
Other children at his orphanage bear the scars of being beaten, attacked with boiling water, and cuts from machetes. But these children are the ones lucky to be alive.
"A child witch is said to be a witch when that child possessed with certain spiritual spells capable of making that child transform into cat, snake, vipers, insects, any other animal and that child is capable of wreaking havoc like killing of people, bringing diseases, misfortune into the family," Sam said.
"When a child is accused of being a witch -- that child is hated absolutely by everybody surrounding him so such children are sent out of the home... But unfortunately such children do not always live long. A lot of them, they're either killed, abandoned by the parents, tortured in the church or trafficked out of the city."
Sam doesn't believe in witchcraft and is trying to raise awareness in local communities now gripped by hysteria.
Belief in witchcraft is rooted in centuries of tradition, but it's only in the last 10 years, that it has become associated with child abuse, he said.
"It's a social crisis," he added. "Poverty propels this child witch phenomenon and poverty is a twin sister to ignorance.
"Most vulnerable children come from single parents, divorced parents, dysfunctional families."
But the orphanage has very little space for more children. Overstretched finances mean he can barely pay a skeleton staff of four people, as well as feed the children.
Instead, many children are left to roam the streets.
"My parents sent me out of the house -- said I'm a witch," said Samuel, a 15-year-old who has lived on the streets for five years after a local pastor blamed him for unexpected deaths in the family.
"I was beaten by the prophet in the church," he said in a quiet voice.
Samuel lives in an abandoned building with 10 other children accused of witchcraft. A local group, 'Stepping Stones Nigeria,' which is dedicated to helping street children, visits them.
"Religious leaders capitalize on the ignorance of some parents in the villages just to make some money off them," said Lucky Inyang, project coordinator for 'Stepping Stones Nigeria'.
"They can say your child is a witch and if you bring the child to the church we can deliver the child but eventually they don't deliver the children... The parents go back to the pastor and say, 'why is it you have not been able to deliver the child' and the pastor says 'Oh - this one has gone past deliverance - they've eaten too much flesh so you have to throw the child out.'"
And most pastors charge a fee for deliverance -- anywhere from $300 to $2,000.
One of the most notorious and influential pastors is Helen Ukpabio of Liberty Gospel Church. Her 1999 film, the widely distributed, "End of the Wicked" has been attacked by child rights groups for its depictions of Satan possessing children.
She had agreed to an interview but the meeting was continually postponed for two days.
But in her preaching at Liberty Gospel Church, she heralds success stories of how she has driven out demons through deliverance.
"Witches and wizards, they started getting afraid. I never gave them rest!" she shouted to a cheering congregation.
Some pastors believe education is a more powerful tool against witchcraft fears.
"One of the things that caused the parents to abandon the children is ignorance," explains another local pastor, Celestine Effiong.
The local government, however, accuses Sam Ikpe-Itauma and Lucky Inyang of using the children to run a scam.
"We insist that the name of Akwa Ibom state must not be smeared and the people of the world should not be deceived by certain NGOs who are claiming to be taking care of stigmatized children of Akwa Ibom," said Aniekan Umanah, the Information Commissioner of Nigeria's Akwa Ibom state.
"This is a ruse, they are making money for themselves."
Stories of NGOs rescuing children, say the government, are exaggerated. They argue instead, that a new Child Right's bill outlawing child stigmatization has largely ended the problem.
But despite some arrests, so far, the government acknowledges, there have been no prosecutions.
"There may be problems yes but it's been blown out of proportion and people are capitalizing, on what ordinarily may be a social problem, across the globe in painting Akwa Ibom state black -- that is the aspect we say no to. We will not allow the image of our state to be smeared."
Sam and other NGOs deny any improprieties, insist their finances are a matter of public record and plead with the government to support their cause.
"Relevant government agencies, working on security and protection of children must step up their efforts to make sure any child that is stigmatized must -- that parent, the churches, the law must be evoked to make sure such people face the law immediately, otherwise it must go on and on, on and on."
With the night comes the screams of more deliverances -- and more witches to be cast out.
Pastor Celestine Effiong's congregants are being delivered from what they firmly believe to be witchcraft. And in the darkness of the city and the villages beyond, similar shouts and screams echo from makeshift church to makeshift church.
"I have been delivered from witches and wizards today!" exclaimed one exhausted-looking woman.
Pastors in southeast Nigeria claim illness and poverty are caused by witches who bring terrible misfortune to those around them. And those denounced as witches must be cleansed through deliverance or cast out.
As daylight breaks, and we travel out to the rural villages it becomes apparent the most vulnerable to this stigmatization of witchcraft are children.
A crowd gathered around two brothers and their sister. Tears streamed down their mother's face as she cast out her children from the family, accusing them of causing the premature deaths of two of their siblings with black magic.
I was beaten by the prophet in the church.
--Samuel, 15, now homeless
RELATED TOPICS
* Nigeria
* Child Abuse
* Religion
"I am afraid. They are witches and they can kill me as well," she sobbed.
Taking his time to talk to the mother, Sam Ikpe-Itauma, an imposing man wearing a "Child's Rights & Rehabilitation Network" t-shirt, has come to try to rescue the three children.
"If we are not here there's a possibility of them being thrown into the river, buried alive or stabbed to death," Sam said.
He tries to persuade their mother and a crowd of villagers that the three children are not witches - but no one believes him. And so, putting the children in his white pick-up, he drives away to his orphanage and safety.
Sam runs Child's Rights & Rehabilitation Network, or CRARN -- an orphanage that supports nearly 200 children. All of them were accused of witchcraft and cast out by their families, often after being tortured. The orphanage provides security, healthcare, nutrition and counseling.
Check out the CRARN website
Godwin's story is typical. As he sat next to the quiet 5-year-old, Sam said that after Godwin's mother died, the church pastor told his family that "Godwin is responsible."
From his own investigation, questioning Godwin and talking with neighbors, Sam said that when a relative asked Godwin if he was a witch, "he said no and was beaten and made the confession that he actually killed the mother."
Sam said Godwin was locked up with his mother's corpse every night for three weeks with little food or water before a neighbor contacted Sam, who was able to rescue him.
Witches and wizards, they started getting afraid. I never gave them rest.
--Pastor Helen Ukpabio
Other children at his orphanage bear the scars of being beaten, attacked with boiling water, and cuts from machetes. But these children are the ones lucky to be alive.
"A child witch is said to be a witch when that child possessed with certain spiritual spells capable of making that child transform into cat, snake, vipers, insects, any other animal and that child is capable of wreaking havoc like killing of people, bringing diseases, misfortune into the family," Sam said.
"When a child is accused of being a witch -- that child is hated absolutely by everybody surrounding him so such children are sent out of the home... But unfortunately such children do not always live long. A lot of them, they're either killed, abandoned by the parents, tortured in the church or trafficked out of the city."
Sam doesn't believe in witchcraft and is trying to raise awareness in local communities now gripped by hysteria.
Belief in witchcraft is rooted in centuries of tradition, but it's only in the last 10 years, that it has become associated with child abuse, he said.
"It's a social crisis," he added. "Poverty propels this child witch phenomenon and poverty is a twin sister to ignorance.
"Most vulnerable children come from single parents, divorced parents, dysfunctional families."
But the orphanage has very little space for more children. Overstretched finances mean he can barely pay a skeleton staff of four people, as well as feed the children.
Instead, many children are left to roam the streets.
"My parents sent me out of the house -- said I'm a witch," said Samuel, a 15-year-old who has lived on the streets for five years after a local pastor blamed him for unexpected deaths in the family.
"I was beaten by the prophet in the church," he said in a quiet voice.
Samuel lives in an abandoned building with 10 other children accused of witchcraft. A local group, 'Stepping Stones Nigeria,' which is dedicated to helping street children, visits them.
"Religious leaders capitalize on the ignorance of some parents in the villages just to make some money off them," said Lucky Inyang, project coordinator for 'Stepping Stones Nigeria'.
"They can say your child is a witch and if you bring the child to the church we can deliver the child but eventually they don't deliver the children... The parents go back to the pastor and say, 'why is it you have not been able to deliver the child' and the pastor says 'Oh - this one has gone past deliverance - they've eaten too much flesh so you have to throw the child out.'"
And most pastors charge a fee for deliverance -- anywhere from $300 to $2,000.
One of the most notorious and influential pastors is Helen Ukpabio of Liberty Gospel Church. Her 1999 film, the widely distributed, "End of the Wicked" has been attacked by child rights groups for its depictions of Satan possessing children.
She had agreed to an interview but the meeting was continually postponed for two days.
But in her preaching at Liberty Gospel Church, she heralds success stories of how she has driven out demons through deliverance.
"Witches and wizards, they started getting afraid. I never gave them rest!" she shouted to a cheering congregation.
Some pastors believe education is a more powerful tool against witchcraft fears.
"One of the things that caused the parents to abandon the children is ignorance," explains another local pastor, Celestine Effiong.
The local government, however, accuses Sam Ikpe-Itauma and Lucky Inyang of using the children to run a scam.
"We insist that the name of Akwa Ibom state must not be smeared and the people of the world should not be deceived by certain NGOs who are claiming to be taking care of stigmatized children of Akwa Ibom," said Aniekan Umanah, the Information Commissioner of Nigeria's Akwa Ibom state.
"This is a ruse, they are making money for themselves."
Stories of NGOs rescuing children, say the government, are exaggerated. They argue instead, that a new Child Right's bill outlawing child stigmatization has largely ended the problem.
But despite some arrests, so far, the government acknowledges, there have been no prosecutions.
"There may be problems yes but it's been blown out of proportion and people are capitalizing, on what ordinarily may be a social problem, across the globe in painting Akwa Ibom state black -- that is the aspect we say no to. We will not allow the image of our state to be smeared."
Sam and other NGOs deny any improprieties, insist their finances are a matter of public record and plead with the government to support their cause.
"Relevant government agencies, working on security and protection of children must step up their efforts to make sure any child that is stigmatized must -- that parent, the churches, the law must be evoked to make sure such people face the law immediately, otherwise it must go on and on, on and on."
With the night comes the screams of more deliverances -- and more witches to be cast out.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Evangelist Richman Banda
Today a cry for help came from evangelist Richman Banda who works in the poor lower-shire in the vicinity of Nchalo. He is busy planting an Evangelical church called 'New Believers'. Even though Richman now has 20 families the church is unable to support his ministry sufficiently. He needs someone or a church who is able and willing to support this ministry with 30 dollars per month (MK 5000-00)?
We reckon this is a good investment in the kingdom of God as many more can then be reached with the gospel in this arid region.
For more information contact Africa Outreach or phone pastor Richman Banda himself: 00-265-884535227. Or write to Pastor Richman Banda, p/a Mr. Mageza, PO Box 18, Nchalo, Malawi.
May God bless you for considering his request.
Monday, August 16, 2010
MISSIONARY VACANCY AUGUST 2010
FAITH OUTREACH Pentecostal Church in Luchenza, Malawi is looking for a medium-long term full-time missionary to assist them:
Profile:
- A married person
- 30-60 years old
- Hetero-sexual orientation
- Committed Bible believing Christian, able evangelist, Bible teacher, preacher,
church planter.
Tasks:
- To start and give leadership to a Bible college to be run at the denomination
headquarers in Luchenza.
- To preach and teach in affiliate churches and at evangelistic meetings
- To assist in church planting activities
- To provide general assistance to the denomination and local congregation
Renumeration:
- The missionary is required to raise his own support which ideally should be about
800 dollars per adult and 500 dollars per child per month.
About the church:
Faith Outreach is a registered Pentecostal denomination with 7 congregations in Malawi and 11 in Mocambique. The denominations' headquarters are in Luchenza where it also has an orphanage.
Applications can be send to:
The head of the denomination, pastor Goodwill Chumba:goodwillchumba@yahoo.com or to the director of Africa Outreach Malawi Dr. Erwin van der Meer:africaoutreach@hotmail.com
Profile:
- A married person
- 30-60 years old
- Hetero-sexual orientation
- Committed Bible believing Christian, able evangelist, Bible teacher, preacher,
church planter.
Tasks:
- To start and give leadership to a Bible college to be run at the denomination
headquarers in Luchenza.
- To preach and teach in affiliate churches and at evangelistic meetings
- To assist in church planting activities
- To provide general assistance to the denomination and local congregation
Renumeration:
- The missionary is required to raise his own support which ideally should be about
800 dollars per adult and 500 dollars per child per month.
About the church:
Faith Outreach is a registered Pentecostal denomination with 7 congregations in Malawi and 11 in Mocambique. The denominations' headquarters are in Luchenza where it also has an orphanage.
Applications can be send to:
The head of the denomination, pastor Goodwill Chumba:goodwillchumba@yahoo.com or to the director of Africa Outreach Malawi Dr. Erwin van der Meer:africaoutreach@hotmail.com
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Progress at the girlhome
We are very pleased to report that enormous progress has been made at the home since it came under a new administration in February. The girls are very happy about the food and goods they receive. In spite of the fact that the same amount of funds are available the girls have much more food as now nothing is being stolen by the administration and all funds are properly handles and accounted for. We thank God that He has heard our prayers for a godly administrator. Not only ourselves but even the community leaders, community members, the department of social welfare and the media have noticed the positive developments at the girlshome. In the meantime all employees have gone through social welfare training and a gate, guardshelter and security wall was build. Also two churches have become pastorally involved with the girlshome which is another blessing. In the next two weeks we expect the arrival of a Belgian volunteer and also visitors from Holland.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The gospel in Malawi
In Malawi people are still very open to the gospel. The average Malawian, both in urban and rural Malawi lives in fear of witchcraft, magic and evil spirits and is in search of salvation from these things. Christ, along with forgiveness of sin and salvation from damnation is also the Lord over and above all the powers and can provide deliverance from fear and anxiety about these and replace it with faith and trust in Christ's protection. Please pray for us as we minister God's grace in this nation.
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