AP

Soggy bread or changed lives?

There’s a Bible book known for its philosophy on life (Ecclesiastes), where the 11^th chapter begins with a strange saying: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days”. I remember hearing this metaphor as child and thought it strange, picturing that the only return you could possibly expect was soggy bread. But I think I get it now.

For the past three-day weekend around the foothills of Mt Mulanje (a 3,000m spectacular part of God’s creation), we have been casting God’s bread upon the waters. And, in God’s good timing, its own reward will return.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were devoted to distributing to the most needy: a copy of the Bible, a Bible study method bookmark and hymnbook – all in their own language. Mulanje Presbytery received us with open arms, and invited us to visit some of Malawi’s poorest and most remote congregations with these gifts. In casting ‘bread’ upon the waters, our confidence is that because this is God’s Word we’re distributing, it will return with blessed lives, enlightened minds and rejoicing hearts rather than soggy bread. 

By the numbers

Statistics don’t tell everything, but they do give a picture:

          16 Aussie PCV members

          12 Malawian Presbyterian congregations

           1,200 Chichewa Bibles

           1,200 Bible study bookmarks

            600 cloth bags for the women

            400 Chichewa hymnbooks

           10 Romans Commentaries by Douglas Milne (one for each pastor)

All this, and more, distributed to the poorest Christians of the south-east corner of Malawi during our first weekend of mission. 

In one way, God’s work is not about numbers … yet it is! Last year, the Presbyterian Church of Australia gave generously to our Bibles for Malawi Appeal with the result that we have 8,000 Bibles in store, ready to cast upon the waters. However now that we’re on the ground we see that even 8,000 is just the beginning. It’s like when we see a handful of stars in Melbourne’s night sky, but, once we move out of range of city lights, we are overwhelmed by tens of thousands of stars that are there – precisely where we were looking previously. To change the metaphor – it’s like the tip of an iceberg. To compete this mission, we need 800,000 Bibles. We’d like to flood southern Malawi with God’s Word. That’s right: our vision for God’s work has grown from 8,000 to 800,000 because that’s how many hungry souls there are here. WHO WILL HELP?

Sending or going?

Being there in person is everything to the recipient. One of the elders at the Milonde congregation (a centre where Bible distribution took place) looked me in the eye and said: “Wilson, we sometimes get relief sent up from church headquarters in Blantyre. We’ve heard of congregations receiving gifts sent from overseas. But YOU CAME. No one does that! You came with your gift – we cannot believe it.”

Time and again we’d hear expressions of gratitude like that. It wasn’t the plane trip from Australia in mind – any westerner can do that – they meant “HERE” in the rugged bushland along the wild tracks, beyond the electricity grid, where no white man travels. It was a delightful reminder that Christian faith is like that – it’s passed on from person to person, handshake to handshake, through conversation, listening and by exploring God’s word together.

It wasn’t easy to come. I commend my 15 companions for their faithfulness and fortitude, and for engaging in 3½ hrs of wonderful, God-honouring worship services. I commend my drivers who showed long-sighted concentration while traversing potholes and bumps and other perils along tracks barely used. In our AVIS 4-wheel drives, they pushed deeper and deeper into the bush, with pigeon-pea branches scraping the sides of the vehicle, to then suddenly reach a clearing where dozens and dozens of smartly dressed people were sitting on the ground waiting patiently for us.

To reach one congregation, the team left the tarmac road for a very difficult 40 minute drive along tracks and across streams to distribute Bibles. It was near the Mozambique border. Upon reaching these dear people, the reflection was offered: “We’ve not been visited here by anyone from Blantyre headquarters (let alone from overseas) since 2003.” By God’s help we are able to serve the forgotten people of Malawi.

Is it worth it?

It depends what we’re aiming at. We’re not trying to fix everything. We’re not pretending to meet the dire needs of the poor because poverty is endemic – it’s everywhere. For example, by visiting manses for Sunday lunch, it became obvious to us that ministers live in appallingly sub-standard homes – without electricity, an outdoor charcoal burner for a stove and their toilet a hole in the ground. Yet, we were not asked, nor did we offer, to improve Presbyterian manse standards. One congregation we worshipped in had cracks in the brick wall from ground to roof and the trusses were saved from collapse only by a flimsy upright pole – it was a death trap. The congregation is in peril. The next cyclone will do it in. Yet, we were not asked, nor did we offer, to repair church buildings.

The distribution of Bibles to those too poor to own a book brings smiles to faces, warmth to hearts and changed lives. That alone is worth it. God’s Word, read and studied, has been changing lives for two millennia now. It’s not the only method God uses to awaken the heart of sinners, but by far it’s the most common. Though we cannot stay to fix a leaking roof, or feed every starving child, we can leave them with God’s Word in their own tongue and let God’s word take root.

The meaning of “cast your bread upon the waters” (Ecclesiastes 11:1) is: Be generous and invest in the future, even when the results are not immediately apparent. It encourages a spirit of generosity and faith, trusting that good deeds and investments will eventually yield a return, though perhaps not in a way or time that is immediately obvious. This is what drives us – and the results are in God’s hands.

John P Wilson

Blantyre, Malawi