“WIN SOULS OR CONSIDER YOURSELF A FAILURE".CHURCH ELDERS CHALLENGED.

Guest speaker at the ongoing elders’ congress, Pastor Dr. Passmore Mulambo, Ministerial Secretary for Southern Africa Indian Ocean Division (SID) of the Seventh- day Adventists, has called upon church elders in Malawi to prioritize soul winning or consider themselves as failures.

In his morning devotional presentation titled “The magnetic power of the cross”, Dr. Mulambo challenged church leaders to champion revival at church level with focus on Christ and not self.

He observed that elders were wasting their precious energies with infights especially in the run up to church elections instead of focusing on leading souls to the cross of Jesus.

“Jesus said, ‘And I when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to Myself.’” Mulambo said quoting John 12:32

Presenting on the roles of an elder later in the morning, Dr. Mulambo reminded leaders that “elders who direct the affairs of the church well, are worthy of double honour.”

Dr. Mulambo also advised church elders to be conscience to the spiritual needs of their congregation and evangelism, which is the core mission of the church.

“As shepherds of the flock of God, your duty is to care for the weak and the sick, not just the strong and healthy. There’s power in caring for your members that strangely attracts even outsiders to Jesus,” Mulambo said.

He warned church leaders to desist from competing amongst themselves but to discharge church business as coworkers with God.

“The church contains a cross section of people from varied backgrounds; political, tribal and educational. The elder must be sensitive of this and desist from favoritism, ego and competition.

People are looking for Jesus and the elder’s role is provide spiritual guidance and lead them to Christ,” he advised.

He also called upon elders to support all the church departments with interest to win souls for Christ.

Later in the day, several presenters took to the podium with discussions geared at empowering church leaders on church management and policy among others.

The SID Ministerial congress for elders currently running at Nalikule College in Lilongwe is the first of its kind in Malawi and is expected to reach its climax on Sabbath, 24 February.

(picture by Pastor Dingani Mfune)