On Tuesday this week, the Southern Indian Division (SID) currently in a year-end session in South Africa promoted South and North Malawi field [missions] to conference status. The two now joins the ranks of their central counterpart which reached the status some few years ago.

On the sidelines of the session, FATSANI GUNYA engaged Pastor FRACKSON KUYAMA who heads the church in Malawi on what this means, and related issues.

-EXCERPTS-

As a president of the [Malawi] Union, what does this mean to you personally and the church as a whole?

First of all, I need to confirm that it is indeed true that the South and North Malawi Filed missions have attained conference status. They were confirmed this [Tuesday] afternoon at the on-going session here in South Africa. The move can only be a good sign of administrative growth. I am personally happy that our church is growing and we give God glory.

What qualifies a region (in this case, a field mission) reach this status?

For a field to reach this status, several areas are considered. They consider the way you manage your finances. In this case, both [field] missions are managing their finances within the acceptable financial management policies. They also consider unity among members which both fields have displayed beyond reasonable doubts. Isolated differences may pop-up here and there among the church members but the overriding fact remain that harmony reigns; and that’s something to praise God for. They also consider self supporting; coming up with own initiatives to achieve self-sustainability. I can now declare without fear of contradiction that both the South and North Malawi fields have also displayed over the recent past that they can run on self-support and have made some great strides in as far as consolidating the church’s mission is concerned with little or no financial support from elsewhere. Above all, we praise God that in both fields, Pastors, church ministers and even what can be called ordinary members remain committed to preach the Gospel which, as usually emphasized, is the core mandate of the church at large. This is one key element that is considered in deciding the fate of a mission as regards growth and that is infrastructural development. Our members were able to construct churches, offices and pastors’ houses without waiting for donor support. What more could we have waited for to grant the two such a status. We can only praise God for all this.

Apart from administrative wise, how else are the changes going to affect the local church (congregation) on the ground? This is a positive development. The local church will benefit in that sessions (the time the church meet for plans and election of leaders) will be held right there in their conferences. As such, the local congregations will now have some closer say when it comes to mapping the way forward for the church. We also see this as an empowering tool for the local church. Furthermore, the development now provides the conference secretariats 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.

What are some of the crucial elements/ areas is the end-year meeting in South Africa scrutinizing on that can enhance the physical presence and spiritual growth of the global church?

It is nothing new. We [the church leadership] always meet annually for such year- end meetings every November to plan for the other year's work, and also making some analysis of work in the current year which about to end. As a church, we believe the commission of Jesus Christ compels us to lead others to accept Jesus as their personal savior and to unite with His church, and nurture them in preparation for His soon return. That's at the heart of the church's mission and is accomplished through preaching, teaching and healing ministries. This just 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.

Did you envision such 'drastic' growth administratively when you first entered office as union president?

These are the results of our strategic plan. It is not one man show. For your information, I personally believe in team work. Therefore, I believe God has helped our team to reach this far and we Praise him for that. One may also appreciate to learn that during our term of office, we have collectively experienced growth in our finances, membership, unity (peace) among members. Also, the Malawi Union Mission was organized into a Conference, and we managed to relocate the Union offices to Lilongwe for easy operation and we also enhance our human resource development by sponsoring our workers for further studies; among many other notable achievements. I am therefore not sure if it will be fair to nail all these achievements to one leader; we all have played a part –others just through prayers all along! This is why I keep on praising God for helping us work as a team; in unity. -end-