A.
Today’s Membership in Blantyre
1.
Demographics of Blantyre District
The Blantyre District has roughly a 1,000 members on the
Church’s rolls, spread out over four branches—Blantyre 1st, Blantyre
2nd, Ndriande, and Zingwangwa--and one group—the Liwonde Group. Average Sunday attendance in each of the Blantyre
Branches ranges between 95 and 65. The
vast majority of the members are Malawians, with a scattering of members from
other African countries, such as Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South
Africa. The foreigner members are in
Malawi because one or more of the grandparents or parents are Malawian-born or
they came to Malawi years ago for family or work. Currently, the only “azungu” attending the
branches are Western missionaries, roughly 8 to 10 in number, and it is
unlikely that the size of the Western population in the Blantyre District is
apt to increase dramatically over time.[1] Each branch has members of all age
groups—from infants to the elderly; primary age children to parents with
families; young men to young women. The
Church’s proselyting efforts seem to have greater traction among late teens and
young adults, so it would not be surprising to see those age groups better
represented in the foreseeable future.
Those joining the Church come from a variety of backgrounds, generally
representative of the broader population; some of the new members are poor,
others more established and prosperous; some are educated and many are still
going to school; others have not finished secondary school. New members include the elderly,
middle-aged, young people, young teens, and children. The Church welcomes new members whatever
their circumstances, but it recognizes the prospects for success over time are
enhanced when those joining the Church come for “intact” families being
baptized together. This permits family
members to support and encourage one another.
The Liwonde Group operates under the auspices of Blantyre 1st. The original unit in the Church was the
Liwonde Group, located in Liwonde which is about 2 hours by car from Blantyre,
on the way from Blantyre to Mangochi and the southern tip of Lake Malawi. The Liwonde Group meets in a
newly-constructed meetinghouse, capable of accommodating a congregation of well
over a 100 members, located just south of where the main road crosses the
Shirer River. The Liwonde Group has
some 32 households, many residing in the Sitima Village, 13 kilometers outside
of Liwonde, an area inaccessible during parts of the rainy season due to seasonal
flooding along the Upper Shirer River.
Average attendance in Liwonde is 40 to 45, down from highs in the 60s. Recently many men had had to leave Liwonde
looking for temporary work due to the destruction of their 2015 maize harvest,
so many in the area, including members, are or will shortly be facing
starvation type conditions. Many
members spend an hour or more walking to Church for services and are periodically
cut off totally from Church due to flooding in the rainy season from December
to March. One Sunday last January 2015
Carole and I visited Liwonde with the Zone Leaders and Blantyre 1st
Branch President, right in the midst of some terrible flooding, only to find 6
members at the chapel for the Church services.
Given its distance from Blantyre to Liwonde, the Blantyre District faces
constant challenges in overseeing Church activities in Liwonde, including
routine leadership training. The
Blantyre Zone Leaders try to visit Liwonde at least one Sunday per month, and
Blantyre 1st and District leaders make occasional visits to provide
priesthood support.
Like any mission-field area, the District experiences
considerable member turnover. Not all
who are taught by the missionaries stick.
Some stay active for a few weeks, few months, few years, and then fade
away. The keys to keeping members
active are not hard to figure out.
They do best when they have a job in the Church, make friends, attend
seminary/institute classes, and study the scriptures on their own. Visiting less-active members can be very
productive. Many are open to being
visited—they do not consider the visits to be intrusive. They welcome short lessons and are willing
to talk about the Church. With some
gentle prodding, many will come back to Church, even if they haven’t been out
for a while. What is less certain is
whether they will continue coming on their own without constant reminders.
This past weekend[2]
President Erickson of the Zambia Lusaka Mission called a new District
Presidency for the Blantyre District.
As he did so, he shared with the new leaders his vision for Blantyre’s
becoming a new stake in the Church sometime in the next few years. No one expects the transition to be easy,
but having the goal in place will help the local leaders as they plan for the
future. Key steps will be the training
of the local branch leaders, organizing the district so that it looks like a
stake, continuing to shepherd the existing members, and helping the missionaries
grow the Church in Blantyre.
Currently, the Blantyre District has 16 full-time elders and
sisters, together with us as senior missionaries. When we arrived, 18 full-time elders and
sisters and three senior couples (including ourselves) were serving in Blantyre,
so the size of the local missionary force has slightly decreased during the
past year. How important is it to the
local District to have a full-time missionary presence in Blantyre? I have
never put that question to any of the members. Certainly,
the missionaries are the primary proselyting arm of the Church, responsible for
most of the converts, though working hand in hand with local members. Members
also draw strength from the full-time missionaries and see their constant presence
as reassuring.
[1]
Over time, Lilongwe, where the Church has the second District in Malawi, is
more likely to attract more Westerners, since Lilongwe is the capital of
Malawi, hence the center for foreign governments have a presence in Malawi, and
is increasingly the location of choice for the primary office of charities and
NGOs operating in Malawi.
[2] On
Saturday, November 7, 2015, President Erickson called a new District
Presidency, President Matale being called to serve as the District President,
with Brothers Chikapa and Chinomwe, as his first and second counselors,
respectively. These leaders were
sustained in the various branches on Sunday, November 8th.
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