Of funerals, churches in Malawi

I normally do not comment on social matters because I have come to accept that I do not have a knack. However, I have done so this time because of a funeral which happened in my neighbourhood a few months ago which demonstrated problems of some Malawian churches.

At about 11 pm, I heard what I thought was a funny dog howling. It was, however, a lady’s voice wailing with articulate words alongside what I thought was the dog sound that I knew someone close by had died. And the lady made a good job of announcing it.

In this particular instance, the woman mourned that the recently departed was her generous aunt. Who would be kind like her? Cruel death! Why?

I alerted my wife about the funeral in the neighborhood. Early the next morning, I went to find out what exactly had happened. A woman staying two houses away from ours had passed on after collapsing. Her remains were to be interred at her home village about 50 kilometres away after a send-off ceremony at her house later that morning.

I had pressing work assignment that day and I decided to dash to the office to finalise it before attending the funeral.

While working furiously on the unyielding assignment, I got a call from my wife informing methat the funeral party had already left for the deceased’s village. She told me that she didn’t manage to attend.

I called an acquaintance who was close to the bereaved family who told me that a church problem had caused the sudden change of plans.

Apparently the deceased had been a devout church member until she moved to our neighbourhood two years before. Since then, she hadn’t bothered to join her church’s branch in our area until her death. When this fact was established, the pastor from her previous branch who had, in fact, come to perform the send-off ceremony declared that the church would not assist in any way, and he left. Church members then followed.

In frustration, the family decided to leave for the village immediately.

When I informed my wife about what had happened, she was surprised and made an innocuous comment which launched the trajectory of this piece. She, not I, does have the knack of noticing absurdities and calling them out as such.

The philosophy undergirding churches’ attitudes to funerals in Malawi leaves a lot to be desired, she said. They believe that funeral rites are for the departed soul which will help to enter heaven.

Funerals, my wife said, are primarily for the living, the people connected to the deceased. While churches support funeral arrangements, particularly here in Malawi, their core business is to convert people to faith. Preaching and singing at funerals should, therefore, be construed as another avenue to showcase the Christian faith and perhaps demonstrate what forgiveness should look like.

As a sensible husband, I do agree with my wife’s observations. What some local churches do when it comes to funerals of ‘backslidden’ Christians is far from the spirit of what the Bible promotes. It is as if such churches believe a different gospel, a vindictive one, a tit-for-tat mindset which the Bible speaks against.

Given our unique funeral traditions, churches could do a lot of things differently when dealing with their members who pass away while not active in church undertakings. Churches could use the occasion to comfort the bereaved families and friends and also reach out to people who are not members as well as encourage faltering Christians.

On a practical level, funerals of inactive members could provide opportunities to try out new preaching talent in the church. Have you noticed that some of the little videos making rounds on social media platforms are mostly from funerals? I suspect a few churches are already scouting for new preaching talent, through funerals, to a good comedic effect.

There are several good things that could come out of churches’ selfless posture towards backslidden Christians. Perhaps sensible Christians should collectively demand better accountability from these misguided clergymen who appear to lack the basics of practical Biblical forgiveness.