USPG Lent 2017 Sermon
USPG Harling House +44 (0)20 7921 2200
47-51 Great Suffolk Street
London SE1 0BS www.uspg.org.uk
Registered charity number 234518
Introductory notes
This document contains notes for a talk of approximately 15 minutes for our Lent 2017 campaign to support the work of our partners in Malawi.
The talk accompanies the Lent 2017 PowerPoint, available at www.uspg.org.uk/lent
The talk can be used without the PowerPoint if facilities are not available, just remember to remove any references to the slides in the talk!
Please feel free to use some or all of this talk, and adapt it according to the bible readings for the day and the church in which you are speaking.
Slide 1 – Title slide
Slide 2 – Image from Malawi
Introduce yourself, including your role or involvement with USPG.
USPG is an Anglican mission agency. USPG’s full name – United Society Partners in the Gospel – reflects its approach to mission which is inclusive and empowering. USPG has worked in partnership with churches around the world for over 300 years, sharing God’s transforming love in practical ways. Our vision is to see every person in every community experiencing a full life – just as Jesus promised in John 10:10, when he said: ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’.
Slide 3 - Introduction to Lent – view from Mission Primary School, Samama
This Lent, USPG is exploring discipleship with the world church. By sharing stories from different Christians around the world, and how they live out their faith, we are all encouraged to grow in our own discipleship. One of the stories in our course comes from the Anglican Church in Malawi, and looks at how they are living out their faith and discipleship in practical ways to transform lives in their parishes. Their work is supported by parishes like yours, through USPG, and in turn it is hoped that hearing about their amazing work will touch lives here in the UK too, as people are inspired to go and do likewise.
Slide 4 –map of Malawi
Despite much progress over the past few decades, Malawi remains a country facing many challenges. In 2015 it was ranked 173rd out of 188 countries in the UN Human Development Index. 85% of the 17 million population live in rural areas, the majority of whom are subsistence farmers, making life vulnerable, particularly as the effects of climate change increase and harvests are ruined due to too little or too much rain. Life expectancy for both men and women is 55 years. The country has more than a million children orphaned by AIDS.
Slide 5 – Nthondo village in Malawi
USPG has been working in Malawi since the mid nineteenth-century, when UMCA – which became a part of USPG – first sent missionaries to the country. And these missionaries didn’t just preach. They also provided education, training in farming techniques, and set up health facilities, some of which USPG continues to support today. One church leader from the capital Lilongwe said: ‘Before the missionaries came to Malawi, our parents did not know Christ. [The missionaries] did great work for us. They brought holistic mission.’
Now, the Church of Malawi is carrying on that legacy with its own mission programme which is supporting some of the most vulnerable people in the country. Putting their faith into action, they tackle poverty, lack of education, hunger, sanitation, the devastating effects of climate change and the ongoing impact of HIV and AIDS.
Slide 6 – Agnes Dinale, with grandson Shepherd, and youngest daughter Ruth
The church programme is working in all four of Malawi’s dioceses. In each parish involved, a team of volunteers from their communities helps to identify the most vulnerable households. These people, who are among the poorest in the world, are then supported in practical ways, so that their lives are not just about struggling to exist, but about living more fully.
One challenge is ensuring that girls like Ruth, pictured here, have access to primary education. It sounds like it should be simple enough. Primary education is free in Malawi. But it is a legal requirement to have a school uniform, which is too expensive for many families to buy. So children from the poorest households, particularly girls, miss out on an education.
Slide 7 – Girls at Mission Primary School, Samama parish, including Benadetor
This has meant that girls like 14-year-old Benadetor Chabwera, from Samama Parish, have been unable to attend classes regularly. [Note: Unlike in the UK, in Malawi children may be in primary education until their mid-teens or sometimes later. Progress may be delayed if parents are unable to afford writing materials or the small exam fee. These problems are exacerbated in years of drought, which much of Malawi is currently experiencing.]
Benadetor is an orphan who lives with her auntie and three younger step-siblings.
Even without a uniform, Benadetor still made the 45-minute walk to the Mission Primary School each morning. On Wednesdays, which are non-uniform days, she was allowed to stay in classes. And on some other days she was also allowed to stay in school. But much of the time she – and others like her – were just sent home, and had to walk straight back again.
Slide 8 – A girl at Kanyongolo School, Chapananga, is measured for her school uniform
But now, Benadetor and hundreds of other girls are able to attend school because they have a uniform and school equipment, including notebooks and pens, provided by USPG through the church in Malawi. It costs only about £16 per girl. She is proud to have a uniform and is working extra hard now, because she is determined to make up for the time she lost. She now hopes to achieve her dream of becoming a nurse. Her favourite class is English – she said it will help her talk to patients who can’t speak her language.
Slide 9 – Netball practice at Msompa School, Chintheche, Diocese of Northern Malawi
The church’s programme for girls includes other ways of encouraging young women to stay in school, including netball clubs – a favourite sport in Malawi! Christina Nedi, another young woman supported by the church, is particularly keen. She plays three times a week and specialises in playing the position of Goal Shooter. She enjoys the physical exercise and strengthening her body so that she is not weak.
Slide 10 – Christina Nedi (in black T-shirt) and other girls perform a drama encouraging girls not to go off with boyfriends and leave school
Christina and other girls also perform dramas to teach classmates about the importance of education. Being close friends with other girls at school means they can watch out for each other and support and encourage each other in their education.
Because of this programme, supported by parishes like yours, hundreds of young women like Benadetor and Christina have hope for a fuller future and a life in more abundance than they had previously. She says that now, with education, it is ‘forward ever, backward never’.
However, there are also wider factors which have an impact on education. Benadetor usually has breakfast on about three or four days a week, and doesn’t have lunch at school. Particularly when approaching harvest time, when food stocks are running low she, many children in Malawi do not have enough to eat to be able to concentrate in school.
Slide 11 – Nancy Chongwe, Chipaeke farmers’ club
And so the church is working with vulnerable families to create farming co-operatives. Providing them with seed and fertilisers and even guinea fowl chicks, they are ensuring that more people, young and old, receive the nutrition they need and no longer fear hunger.
Slide 12 – Kayoyo parish farmers’ club
Not only can these co-operatives grow more food between them, the farmers can negotiate better prices for the surplus food they sell at market. They also set up ‘table banking’ where they can pool their profit so members are able to borrow money without interest to pay for things like school equipment.
Slide 13 – Posters teaching people how to use bio-filters, Chapananga parish, Diocese of Southern Malawi
Access to clean, safe water also remains a challenge in some areas of Malawi, with sickness endangering not just the education, but the lives of children and adults. Again, the church is working on a solution. For less than £60, the volunteer team in Chapananga parish, Southern Malawi, can build a bio-filter for safe drinking water.
Slide 14 – Concrete shells for bio-filters, drying in the sun, Chapananga parish, Diocese of Southern Malawi
The filters last for decades, so they are a great investment! And, most importantly, they are reducing sickness in this community.
Slide 15 – Members of the Chipaeke farmers’ club, St Joseph’s Parish, Chintheche, Diocese of Northern Malawi
These families in Malawi now have a life in greater fullness, and a more hopeful future. Importantly, this church programme is about more than just secular development; it is an outworking of faith and follows Christ’s example for discipleship. It is about putting our experience of God’s love and hospitality into action. It is about letting that love shine out of us and into the world. And, inevitably, people respond to that experience.
Slide 18 – Father Hannex, with parishioner Gilbert Manda, Parish of St Joseph’s, Diocese of Northern Malawi
A priest in the Parish of St Joseph’s, in Northern Malawi, Father Hannex, has seen his congregation grow from a few dozen to hundreds over the last year. He puts that growth down to this programme, alongside the Alpha course! One of that parish’s volunteer team, Nancy Chongwe, confirms this. Being involved in this programme has changed how she views the Anglican church. Now she knows that we are not just for church-goers, but for those outside of the church, meeting the needs of the whole community.
The welcome, compassion and love shown by the church to the community attracts people. Perhaps this is a lesson our churches in Britain could more fully learn from our partners around the world?
Slide 17 – USPG
More information
Find out more about how the Church of Malawi is using bio-filters to help families avoid sickness from dirty water in our all-age materials: http://www.uspg.org.uk/resources/discipleshipresources/
The USPG Lent 2017 study guide includes the story of Judith, another of the young women supported to attend school by this programme, and how having clean, private toilets is helping encourage girls to stay in education: http://www.uspg.org.uk/resources/discipleshipstudy2/
Find out about other work that USPG supports in Malawi: http://www.uspg.org.uk/worldwide/malawi/
Download other Lent resources including prayers and fundraising ideas: http://www.uspg.org.uk/resources/discipleshipresources/
Read examples of the Church of Malawi’s work tackling HIV and AIDS: http://www.uspg.org.uk/resources/hivstories/
http://www.uspg.org.uk/resources/hivbible/
USPG Harling House +44 (0)20 7921 2200
47-51 Great Suffolk Street
London SE1 0BS www.uspg.org.uk
Registered charity number 234518