We praise God for a very profitable Bible Conference. Over 50 of our literature distribution volunteers came for a week of teaching – some from as far as Mozambique. Many more would have come, but we were constrained by lack of accommodation, and the need to help almost all with their travel expenses.
Many of the brothers who attended commented how they had been so greatly helped by the teaching from 1 Corinthians. Many had never had the opportunity to listen to consecutive Bible teaching before.
Please pray for lasting benefit in the lives of those who came.
We praise the Lord for a very enjoyable and profitable week of teaching at our 2024 Bible Conference.
After an unavoidable hiatus due to Covid and cyclones, it was wonderful to host over 50 of our volunteer literature distributors for a week in the Word of God.
We took the entire letter of 1Corinthians as our subject for the week. This ensured that we focussed on the major themes and really important lessons of the book. It also helped the brothers see how a complete Bible book is a consistent whole.
We had to restrict the number of attendees due to our current space limitations. Nevertheless, some brothers came from Mulanje and Nsanje in the South, and a few from Lilongwe in the Central Region. At least one brother even came from neighbouring Mozambique! Many commented that they had never had the privilege to attend such a Bible Conference before. Based upon the written feedback they gave, many were learning fundamental Bible truth and principles for Christian living and Church life, for the first time. It was thrilling to see their rapt attention during the teaching sessions, and their engagement during the group study workshops. As usual, the Q & A sessions provided abundant teaching opportunities too!
During one of the breaks near the end of the conference, Anna gave a short presentation to introduce Nthawi Ya Baibulo, the children’s Bible study curriculum which we are translating. I was encouraged to see a healthy interest among a number of the brothers already engaged in children’s work. Hopefully, this will be a real help to them in reaching the young people in their areas.
Next Bible Conference, God willing?
We have already begun to think about when our next Bible Conference will be. We have only been able to reach a small percentage (less than 1/5) of the volunteers we regularly supply with literature. It is impractical to reach them all in their own areas, and impossible for us to host them all at Saidi, at present. So, we have a real dilemma. Do we invite a fresh cohort of 50 so that we reach more individuals? Or, do we invite the same group back in order to build upon what they have just learned? Please pray that we will have wisdom to make that decision.
Please also pray that, if it is His will, the Lord will enable us to build suitable accommodation to facilitate more conferences, and to host more people. This would truly be an enormous blessing for the work.
Teaching SessionBoys will be boys!Workshop SessionHand-washing before lunchScreeWorkshop in one of the Summer HutsnshotQ & ATeaching SessionSome of the BrothersGroup PhotoWorkshop Group
Brother Stephen will value your prayers as he begins to make plans for his next Malawi trip in February.
The fuel crisis seems to have abated for the time being, making a further visit viable. There are a lot of practical matters to take care of in connection with the ongoing development at Saidi, and plans to be made regarding our Bible Teaching Conference which we hope to resume in May, Lord willing.
God willing, Stephen hopes to be able to help with any Calendar distribution that remains outstanding, and have some Gospel meetings at Saidi.
We are very excited about the possibility in May (DV) of resuming our annual Bible Teaching Conference which have not taken place for 4 years now, most recently due to Covid, and for 2 years prior to that due to the Presidential election in May 2018 and re-run in 2019. In the past these have proved invaluable.
We plan to change the format slightly and to have a single 4 or 5 day conference at the new facility at Saidi, rather than two 2-day conferences at rented locations in Blantyre and Lilongwe as we did before. We hope the new format will allow us to get to know the attendees better, and to take more time to work through and discuss the topics under consideration.
For now, please pray about the practicalities of providing food and accommodation for those who come. As we don’t yet have any dormitory accommodation, we plan to try to finish the vehicle workshop currently under construction, for temporary use as a dormitory along with the block-making workshop built earlier this year.
We hope that with sufficient notice (almost 4 months) many of our literature distributors will be able to save the £8 / $10 or so they will need for public transport costs from neighbouring cities. As the Lord enables, we will try to assist those coming longer distances with the cost of their fare home if they can make it to Saidi.
On the morning after the fire, Brother Harold sent this message of encouragement. We searched out some photos and video from the conference he refers to.
It’s so encouraging to know that the Lord has been working in people’s lives.
