PASTOR JOHN A.G. PHIRI
President: Central Malawi confrence
of the Seventh Day Adventist Church
The Bible in Proverbs 29:18 warns that “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (KJV). This shows that vision is very pivotal in the success of any living organization. Failure to plan is planning to fail and the planning for the future must be based on assessment of current situation including achievements and shortcomings. Such an approach ensures that an organization is able to build on its achievements and develop strategies that effectively tackle its shortcomings, as well as other emerging issues. The development of this Strategic Plan for the Central Malawi Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventists (CMC) is, therefore, most welcome.
The Strategic Plan provides the CMC Secretariat with a framework for initiating and implementing its mandate of proclaiming the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angel’s messages of Revelation 14:6-12 to all peoples within its territory, leading them to accept Jesus as personal Saviour and to unite with His church, and nurturing them in preparation for His soon return in a more effective and cohesive manner.
Over the years, CMC has grown and as at December 2014 it had 70,000 members meeting in 791 church meeting points across the Central Region in Malawi. The achievements of CMC have not been without challenges, the most critical ones being large un-entered territories, weak youth evangelism, inadequate financial resources, inadequate infrastructure and weak human capital development. It is clear that in addressing these challenges, CMC requires a change in the mind set leading to a change in the manner CMC has done its business over the years.
The Strategic Plan provides the CMC Secretariat with a framework for initiating and implementing its mandate of proclaiming the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angel’s messages of Revelation 14:6-12 to all peoples within its territory, leading them to accept Jesus as personal Saviour and to unite with His church, and nurturing them in preparation for His soon return in a more effective and cohesive manner.
Over the years, CMC has grown and as at December 2014 it had 70,000 members meeting in 791 church meeting points across the Central Region in Malawi. The achievements of CMC have not been without challenges, the most critical ones being large un-entered territories, weak youth evangelism, inadequate financial resources, inadequate infrastructure and weak human capital development. It is clear that in addressing these challenges, CMC requires a change in the mind set leading to a change in the manner CMC has done its business over the years.
CMC is a part of the Malawi Union Conference Mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which in turn is a part of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division of the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, a global organization. This Conference pursues the mission of the church in harmony with the doctrines, programs, and initiatives approved by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist in its quinquennial sessions and it is a fact that resources are never adequate in order to do so. Therefore, I wish to pledge CMC’s commitment to principles of transparency and accountability amongst many other things.
The process of formulating the Strategic Plan (2015-2020) required wide consultations with a representative sample of key stakeholders so as to come up with a plan that is relevant and responsive to the needs of the church in the central region of Malawi. CMC would like to express its profound gratitude to the many stakeholders that have contributed time and ideas in the formulation of this Strategic Plan. The stakeholders include: CMC employees, church members, Malawi Union Conference Mission leadership, Pastors and management of CMC. This document would not have been a reality without your participation.
Teamwork was paramount in ensuring that progress was made, given the time and resource constraints. The facilitation of the Plan by Consultants, John Mataya, Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, Smart Chokotho and James Ntupanyama is gratefully acknowledged and so is the work of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee of CMC that provided hands on guidance to the Consultants.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude for the guidance and advice given to the strategic development process by the President of the Malawi Union Conference Mission and other members of the Union for their valuable inputs. God bless you all as we together stand up to reach up to Him for guidance and reach in to nurture the flock He has given us charge over and reach out with Him to the other sheep which is of this flock but is still out in the wilderness of Babylon.