Teem, Veritas graduate 78
Moderator of Michiru CCAP Reverend Paul Mawaya has urged 78 new church leaders to go out and be disciples in their various churches.
Mawaya made the call on Sunday, during their graduation in Theology Extension Education of Malawi (Teem) and Veritas after covering various modules of the training sessions of understanding the Bible.
“Michiru has over 5 000 congregants and several prayer houses and it is our intention to see most of the members trained in understanding the Bible so that they in turn train others to be disciple of Jesus Christ,” said Mawaya.
The ceremony took place at Michiru CCAP and was, among others, attended by the synod deputy general secretary Reverend Moyenda Kanjerwa, Veritas national director Reverend Davison Chifungo, Dorothea Mission director evangelist Saiti Phiri, Apostolic Faith Mission, Anglican officials from other churches as well as some CCAP congregations within Blantyre City Presbytery where some of the graduates came from.
One of the facilitators, Shadreck Madeya, said most people just preach for the sake of preaching, without having real knowledge of why the Bible was written, at what point.
Madeya said at first the CCAP was supposed to be sending its elders and deacons to Chilema Ecumenical Centre for training in church management and Bible understanding, but due to financial constraints and that some of the elders and deacons were busy with other commitments, the church could not continue with the training; hence the coming in of TEEM and Veritas training sessions.
“Veritas started sometime back and came to Malawi in 1998 to empower local congregations in leadership and Bible understanding. It has seven modules, including the four Good News gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
“Most preachers who did not understand the Bible cheat congregants when preaching because they do not know that there are wisdom books in the Bible. Veritas Bible School is important because it is where the truth of the Bible of is found,” said Madeya.
Reverend Kanjerwa, who was the guest of honour, thanked the Michiru congregation and its leadership for the training that has seen Ndirande -following suit.
“This is a good idea so that we have leaders in the church, especially elders and deacons that understand the principles of the Bible and be able to articulate them for others to understand our message when we preach,” said Kanjerwa.
One of the graduates, who preached during the graduation, Cathrene Solomon Phiri, reading from Phillipians 2:1-11, challenged church leaders to be humble and obey the word of God and imitate Christ’s humility.
Reverend Chancellor Chimpeni from Missions, Evangelism and Training Department at Blantyre Synod said some of the graduates, who finished module three, can be facilitators in training others. n
