MALAWITHE WARMHEART OF

AFRICA

MALAWI CHRISTIAN MISSIONMISSIONARIES- STEPHEN AND VONNIE SKAGGS

FIELD ADDRESSPC Box 2500

Blaniyre. MalawAfrica

Phone 635691

forwarding agentsJames and BeverlySMts

SS80 McLarnan RoadGambler. Ohio 43022

(6141668-2581

January/February 1990 Newsletter

TRUCK NOW HOME IN MALAWI

Yes, we do indeed now have the long-awaited-for ToyotaHilux and we have been very pleased with it thus far. In lateNovember, we were able to go down to Johannesburg, SouthAfrica to pick up the truck and drive it back to Malawi. Thedrive back was long, tiring, and, at some times, very tension-Filed. Jeff Kennedy, a fellow missionary in Mzuzu, Malawi,and I drove our trucks about 2,500 kilometers (about 1500miles) in about two and one half days through Zimbabwe andZambia before we arrived back safely in Malawi. All in all thetrip went very well. Everything went smoothly goingthrough Zimbabwe, as expected. We expected Zambia,however, to be a different story. Surprisingly, though, thingswent pretty smoothly. The Zambian roads had, it seemed, justbeen patched, so there weren't quite as many massive potholesas we were expecting. In addition, the hastle at the Zambianborders wasn't very bad either. What was most surprising,though, was that we didn't encounter as many police/armyroadblocks as we expected. This was truly a blessing, since itis a very uncomfortable feeling having a soldier with amachine gun stop you and want to search through yourvehicle. Certainly, we could feel the Lord protecting us.. . .especially when Jeff Kennedy, who was driving in front ofme, had a blow-out in one of his back tires when we were onlyabout 20 minutes from getting out of Zambia! To say the least,it wasn't comfortable at all to have to stop to repair a flat tireat night in the middle of nowhere in a country that is well-known for its high rate of crime. The exact feeling is hard toexplain, but when Jeff and I crossed the Malawian border, Ireally felt like I was home. I really do feel that the reasonthat our trip went so well was the prayers of so many people

for our journey! A special thank you to all of you that werepraying for us!!!

THE BABY IS COMING!

As I am sure all of you know, we're expecting our firstchild in early April. After much prayer and consideration,Vonnie and I have decided that it would be wise for Vonnie tohave the baby in Johannesburg, South Africa. Probably thebiggest factor in this decision is the quality of medical careand facilities in Johannesburg as opposed to Malawi. Themedical care here just does not seem to be equipped to dealwith any complications if they arise.

IN THE WHAT'S HAPPENING DEPARTMENT. . .

Steve began a language course at Chancellor Collegein Zomba, about one hour's drive from Blantyre, on January17ih. The course in Chichewa is an intensive course lasting 6hours/day, five days/week for two months. We are stilllooking for housing in Blantyre. Houses to rent are veryscarce and rather expensive. We are hoping to find a house torent for one year while we make more permanent plans. Therains are here in Malawi, and from all indications, thecrops are coming along well here! Because of the rains, wehave mostly been visiting churches close to Blantyre.Even though these churches are close, we still often travel abit on dirt roads, but so far we have had no trouble reachingthe churches. Our missionaries here are continuing toreach out to the refugees from Mozambique in Malawithrough the money provided by International Disaster andEmergency Services (IDES). The money is being channeledthrough Bill Brant. Since he is away on furlough, Steve hasbeen organizing the providing of some clothing, medicines,food, and Bibles for these refugees. The needs of the refugeescontinue to be great, but the relief provided by the ChristianChurches/Churches of Christ through IDES, as well as relieffrom many other Christian and non-Christian relieforganizations, is certainly helping the situation here.

VONNIE'S CORNER

We had a special first Christmas here in Malawi. Forthe most part, our Christmas Day was a very warm, sunny, andbrilliantly beautiful summer day. Except for family andfriends, who we missed very much. . . and snow, our daylacked nothing. We were richly blessed through phone callsfrom our friends and family in the States. We ate a delicioustraditional Christmas dinner (with turkey and the works!)with fellow missionaries Gordon and Estelle Nelson, as well asJohn and Gail Douglas (from Chipata, Zambia). Our day was sofull and blessed. It was toward evening, though, when Ireceived a very special gift. One of our Malawian Christianbrothers showed up at our door. In his hand he held a lovelybunch of bananas. . . a gift for Mrs. Skaggs from his wife!Although it has been common for us to receive similar giftsfrom churches we have visited, this was the first time anywornan had given me anything. I was so pleased and honored.Trying to start a ministry among the women has been veryslow for me! My youth holds me back, as well as my lack ofknowledge of the culture here. Trying to find ways to sharethe Lord with them isn't easy. This act from this woman wentbeyond the gift of bananas. It was her acknowledgement ofme as one who has come to share Christ with the Malawianwomen. Steve has been accepted so well by the churches hereas another missionary who has come to help them grow in theLord. But to many of the people here, I am just themissionary's wife, without a real purpose in the work. Steveand I know we came as a team to work with the Malawianpeople. Although keeping our household together andpreparing for motherhood does not allow me the time 1 wouldlike in the work, I have a desire to reach out to these womenand share the greatest gift ever given to us-Christ! 1 felt thegift of the bananas from this dear Malawian woman was apositive sign. Please pray for me, that despite the newresponsibilities of motherhood, this year God will use me toshare His love and Word with these women.

1989 FINANCIAL STATEMENT AVAILABLE SOON BYREQUEST

We are currently putting together a financialstatement for 1989. As soon as the stateside figures forDecember come in the mail from our forwarding agents, wewill complete the 1989 financial report and it will be available

upon request byaddresses above).

writing the Sivits or the Skaggs (see

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM VONNIE AND STEVE

We want to thank all of you who sent us cards andletters over the Christmas Season!! We were overwhelmed at

the many kind and encouraging words sent from so many! Wecannot find words to tell you how much your words andprayers uplift us and push us on in our work! We thank Godfor you daily and we pray for you all. While reading throughRomans, I came across this verse, and it says what I want toshare with you all in this new year: "May the God of hope fillyou all with joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you mayoverflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans15:13) May God bless the year of 1990 greatly for each of you!!

PRAYER ITEMS

Please join us in praying for the following needs:

• Vonnie's Work With the

Women and Children

•Housing for Steve andVonnie

•Steve's Chichewa Class •Praise for Safe Trip fromS.A. with Truck

•Good Crops for theMalawians This Year

•Refugees from Mozambique

•Continued Growth of the

Church in Malawi

MALAWITHE WARMHEART OF

AFRICA

MALAWI CHRISTIAN MISSIONMISSIONARIES; STEPHEN AND VONNIE SKAGGS

FIELD ADDRESSPC Box 2500

Sianiyfe MatevsiAll tea

P>vjne 53569'

FORWARDING AGENTSJames and BevertySivits

5S80 McLaman RoadGamtyer. Oho 43022

16141668-2581

MARCH/APRIL 1990 NEWSLETTER

STEVE FINISHES LANGOAGE SCHOOI. I

Language school is quickly coming to aclose. I have enjoyed the class, but am gettinga bit weary of driving two hours each day as Icarpool back and forth from Zomba. As I havegone through the class, I have picked up somevery interesting expressions! As you know,every culture and language has it's "sayings."For instance, if someone does me a big favor andI wanted to express my gratitude, I might tellhim, "Mudzigona kutali ndi moto," which means,"Sleep far away from the fire." The idea hereis that I want this nice fellow who has done methe favor to keep himself safe. Also I guesseveryone has their version of "two heads arebetter than one." In Chichewa, they say, "Ichinchiyani nkulinga muli awiri." Literally, thismeans, "What this thing is depends on you beingtwo." The idea is "how is one person going tounderstand this problem on his own ... it willtake two people to figure this out." Anotheridiom that expresses the same idea is "mutuumodzi susensa denga." That is "one head can'tcarry a roof." They are referring herespecifically to the roof of a storage bin wherethey store maize. And the verb they are usingfor "carry" refers to carrying things on one'shead. So here in a very literal way, they aresaying that two heads really are better than

one, for one can't carry all the materials tobuild a roof on just one head!I

Although I have been learning a lot inclass, I still have a very long way to go! Istill know only a portion of the language. Soafter class is over, I will just keep pluggingaway at it, and hopefully, with the Lord's help,one day I will be able to speak Chichewafluently!!

I THE BABY IS ON THE WAY I

Yes, can you believe it . . . the longawaited addition to the Skaggs family is aboutto arrive! The baby is due around April 8th.And yes, we are getting very eager for itsarrival. Please be praying for us as we traveldown to South Africa for the birth of our child.Also, we want to add a special thank you to allof you who have already done so much for thislittle baby . . . all of the good wishes, thebeautiful gifts, all of your prayers, etc.Thanks!!

STILL HOUSE HUNTING

Finally, we have a little progress toreport to you concerning our housing situation.We do have a house that we can rent for aeasonable price for about three months

beginning in mid-April. Past that point,lowever, we are unsure what we will do. We are;till not coming up with anything to rent forless than K2,000/month . . . That's $800!! Evenchose houses are rare. Just recently, we talkedto a couple from the U.S. that had recently beentransferred to Malawi on a short-term contract.They have been living in a hotel for 5 weeksbecause they simply cannot find anything torent!! So certainly, we are not alone in ourhousing problems! We keep looking for somethingreasonable, but nothing comes up. At thispoint, we are looking around to see if there isany way we can buy a cheap plot or house. At

K2,000 per month, one could own or build a housefor the equivalent of two or three years rent!Currently, we are staying with fellowmissionaries Bill and Jackie Brant, whoreturned to Malawi in early March. We so verymuch appreciate their hospitality and kindness.Please be praying for us that the Lord willprovide us with an affordable place by July!!

ESTABLISHING BIBLICAL PATTERNS OF

LEADERSHIP

In our November/December 1989 Newsletter Iwrote an article entitled "Evangelists Seminar."In this article I described training seminar fora group of church planters and leaders from theChristian Churches here in Malawi. In thatarticle I wrote, "This group of about 15 men areknown as evangelists. These men are hardworking church planters, but are beginning toassume more power than is proper and are much inneed of being held more accountable to the localcongregations whom they serve for theiractivities."

As time goes on, I am realizing more andmore that these men are, indeed, becoming lessservants to the churches they have helped tostart and more the "bwana, " the big man, theboss. Although the missionaries who have beenhere in Malawi have tried to encourage thechurches to ordain elders in each localcongregation (and some churches have) and makethese evangelists accountable to the localchurches to whom they are teaching and in whosearea they are attempting to plant churches, manychurches have been dragging their feet inestablishing their own local leadership and theevangelists have been all too eager to remain apowerful voice in the local congregations ratherthan encourage the local congregations to relyupon their own local leadership.

Certainly we feel that this situation needsto be corrected. So we earnestly ask foryour prayers as we struggle with (1) how to

guide the churches here to a Biblical pattern oflocal leadership with a plurality of elders without setting ourselves up as the "bwana," or bossof the church . . . only Jesus is the head ofthe church! (2) how to effectively reach thelocal church leadership with training, so thatthe evangelists are not the only ones who arereceiving most of the leadership training.Since knowledge means power, the evangelistshave been doing a poor job of sharing what theyhave learned with others. We need to develop amethod of extending adequate training to thegrass roots level!

I PRAYER ITEmFI

Please join us in praising God for:

*Providing a place forus to stay with theBrants while we look

for housing

"Providing a house forus to rent until July—at a reasonable price

*Safe return of Bill

and Jackie Brant to the

field

Also please jointhese needs:

as in praying about

*Finding Housing •Leadership in theMalawian churches

*Continued diligence inlearning Chichewa andMalawian Culture

'•Healthy Baby

^62-

MAUWI CHRISTIAN MISSIONMISSIONARIES: STEPHEN AND VONNIE SKAGGS

MALAWITKEWAFM

AFRICA

FELO ADDRESSP.QBOX2S00

Blantyre,MalawiAfrica

Ptione 635691

PORMARDCMGAC^iTSJames and BeweftySMts

5980 McLaman RoadGambier, Ohio43022

{614)668-2581

JUNE/JULY 1990 NEWSLETTER

GOING SOLO

At the end of July, together to some extent.Since the Brants are

moving, they have offered torent their house to us.Although we are certainly sadto see the Brants leaveBlantyre, we praise God that

he is providing forour housing needsand opening the wayfor a new work inthe Central Region!The other familythat was working inBlantyre, theNelsons, left Malawiin March for afurlough in the U.S.

but will not be returning towork in Malawi. They willbe joining the work inCape Town, South Africa.*

Bill and Jackie Brant will bemoving from Blantyre up toKasungu, a small town in thecentral region of Malawiabout a five hour drive northof Blantyre. Currently thereare only two smallChristian Churchesin the Kasungu area.

After July,then, there will beone ChristianChurch/Church ofChrist family ineach of Malawi'sthree regions: theKennedys in theNorth, the Brants in theCentral, and the Skaggs in theSouth. Of course all threefamilies will continue to havefellowship and will work

As of the end

of July we will bethe only family inthe south workingwith the approximately 250churches that are

here.

IN THIS MONTH'S NEWSLETTER

Going Solo 1 Slow Mail 6 Teaching 7Evangelists 2 Family News 6 Prayer Needs 8Work Evaluation...5 Independence 7

1

EVANGELISTS

In recent newsletters, attitude is "these are niychurches." And the evangelist takes the responsibility of travelling amongthese churches to preach andteach. If the man is a sincereman, he will try to help thechurches to grow and mature.But in almost every case, itseems, whether the man issincere or not, it is generallyunderstood that the man is ina position of authority over

the churches,rather thanallowing thechurches tostand on theirown.

Duringthe course of the80's several ofthese evangelists who hadbeen plantingchurches on

their own camein contact withour mission

aries here in Blantyre. Theylearned about the RestorationMovement and our desire tobe New Testament Christians,and several became veryeager to become part of ourfellowship. They recognizedthat their churches needed tobe part of a larger fellowshipand that they really neededmore advanced teaching,since their knowledge of theBible was very small. Inhindsight it seems that some

we have been sharing information with you concerning some of ourleadership problems here inMalawi, especially with oneparticular group of men whoare known as evangelists. Ireally feel the need at thispoint to share with you amore complete picture of whothese men are and what theiractivities have been. Theevangelists are agroup of menwho have beenresponsible formuch of theplanting ofchurches in ourfellowship herein southernMalawi. WhenBill Brant came

to Malawi in1979, therewas a smallnumber of thesemen workingwith the approximately 10Christian Churches/Churches of Christ here inMalawi.

It seems to be a verycommon pattern in this partof Africa that men will raisethemselves up as churchplanters, calling themselvesevangelists, and begin topreach and plant churches,but as they do so, theydevelop a sense of ownershipover those churches. The

It seems to be a

very common patternIn this part of Africathat men will raisethemselves up aschurch planters,calling themselvesevangelists, and beginto preach and plantchurches, but as theydo so, they develop asense of ownershipover those churches.

of these men were just asinterested in attempting totap into missionary funds asthey were interested in justbeing New Testament Christians. At the time, however,each of these men seemed

sincere, and so the churchesthat were planted by thesemen began to refer tothemselves as simply Christian churches and began toconsider themselves part ofour fellowship. Our missionaries alsopreach and teachin these con

gregations.So as a

result of theseevangelists andthe churchesthey wereplanting andoverseeing becoming a part ofthe fellowship ofChristian Churches, as well asthe efforts ofmany local churches andchurch leaders in thefellowship planting newchurches, the number ofchurches in the fellowshipsteadily grew from just 10in 1979 to approximately250 today, according to asurvey report done bymissionary Gordon Nelson.

As the churches in thefellowship grew, the constantbattle of the missionarieswas that of teaching andequipping the churches so

began to

that the growth here wouldnot be shallow growth, but ^growth of true indigenousBible churches. This provedto be an increasingly difficulttask as the number of

churches grew.Despite the teaching

of the missionaries about theNew Testament church, manyof the evangelists continuedto set themselves in aposition of authority over"their" churches, and some ofthese men began to feel that

the missionariesshould be providing them financial assistancebecause of theirwork. The feeling of the missionaries, however, is that ifthe churcheshere wish to set

someone apartfor the work ofbeing an evangelist (pro

claiming the gospel andplanting churches), it iscertainly Biblical as long ashe is working under theoversight of the elders of thelocal church. And if theevangelist needs assistance sothat he may devote himselffully to that ministry, it isthe responsibility of the localchurch(es) who called him todo that work to provide himwith that assistance. Unfortunately, most of the menwho are evangelists are still

As the churchesIn the fellowshipgrew, the constantbattle of themissionaries was that

of teaching andequipping the churchesso that the growth herewould not be shallowgrowth, but growth oftrue Indigenous Biblechurches.

considered "self-appointed"and are not yet serving underthe oversight of iocai churcheiders.

When Bill and JackieBrant returned to Malawi inMarch from their furlough,about 10 of the evangelistsasked for a meeting with Billand myself, the tworemaining missionaries inBlantyre. At that meetingthey demanded that the missionaries pay them a smallmonthly salary. Feeling that(1) paying these men wouldsignal to them and thechurches that we acceptedthem as being in aposition over thechurches, something which we feelis unbiblical, and(2) financial assistance to full-time nationallaborers in thechurch should be and can bedone by the churches themselves so that they mighttruly be indigenouschurches, we refused theirdemands. The day after themeeting these men began aprocess of making a caseagainst us before thegovernment, hoping that thegovernment would eitherforce us to pay the monthlysalary or ask us to leave thecountry. It took severalweeks before the group ofevangelists got to presenttheir grievance, but thedecision of the government

came quickly. Because of thegovernment's general policyof religious freedom andgovernment noninvoivementin religious affairs, theevangelists were not onlyturned away, but were reprimanded for their actions.

It is at this point thatwe presently stand. Exactlywhat action these evangelistswill take at this point isuncertain. It is certainlypossible that some of theseevangelists may take thechurches that will followthem (or be bullied by them)away from our fellowship in

search of financialassistance fromsome denomination.Others may seetheir error and stepdown from theirposition of authority over thechurches, or more

likely, the more stable localchurches will let theirevangelist take "his"churches in search of moneywhile they remain faithful toGod's Word. In fact, we haveseen this happening to someextent already. Thosechurches that are seriousabout simply following theBible and being N.T.Christians will remain.Those interested in financialgain will probably lookelsewhere. One thing seemscertain: if one is only interested in numbers, he islikely to be disappointed

One thingseems certain: Ifone Is onlyInterested Innumbers, he Islikely to bedlsaoDolnted.

during this time of winnowing in the church here.We hope you wiil join us inpraying about this situation.It is a constant encouragement to us who are serving asmissionaries here to knowthat we are not here buildingour church, but we are

simply laborers in Jesus'schurch. It is His church, andHe is in control. We praythat we will always remainfaithful to Him and His Word,so that we may nevercompromise for the sake ofimpressive numbersi*

One thing that hasbeen occupying much of ourthoughts and time lately isreevaluating the currentstate of the work here insouthern Malawi. I have beenhaving many discussionsrecently with Bill Brant,along with Alfred Kachipeso,and Boniface Lapukeni (twoMalawians who have beenworking with Bill and I intranslation and teaching). Aswe have been discussing thestate of the work here, wehave identified several of themore urgent needs that existin the churches here:

(1) There Is alack of Bible knowledge.This seems to be not only alack of knowledge of Biblefacts, but the lack of insightinto applying the things thatare known to daily life.

(2) There Is atendency to followdenominational ratherthan Biblical leadershippatterns. This is true notonly because of the greatstrength of the Catholic andPresbyterian churches, but

FVALUATING THE WORKalso because these denominational patterns seem moreculturally appealing. Thesituation described abovewith the evangelists is anexample of this problem.

(3) Tithing/giving Is extremelypoor. Certainly, God is fair.Any Christian, no matter howrich or poor, can tithe. Forthe rich, such as those of usin the U.S., the tithe for anyone individual may amount toa lot of money. For the poor,such as the most of theChristians here, the tithe forany one individual mayamount to very little money.Regardless of the actualamount of money, all God'speople should know the joy ofgiving.

(4) There Islittle or no teaching forthe children. The childrenare traditionally seen ashaving little importance,especially at young ages, sovery few churches have anytype of program in placeto teach the children.*

SLOW MAIL

We want to thank allof you who send letters,cards, packages, etc. to encourage usi It means to muchto us to hear from you. Andwe try to respond as quicklyas possible to every letterthat We receive. But recentlywe have been having someproblems with the post officehere. The mail has becomequite unpredictable for us.Some things are taking a longtime to get to us, and some

things, which we knew werebeing sent to us, have yet toarrive. An exampie of this isseveral small packets ofChristmas gifts sent byairmail late last year thathave never arrived. So weask for your patience andunderstanding, if you sent apackage or letter a long timeago and have never received areply, maybe it has beendelayed or even lost.*

FAMILY NEWS

Well, Graham isreally growing these days.He developed a double chinrecently, and he seems to beworking on his fourth orfifth nowll But soon we are

sure he will shed some of thatbaby fat and begin to grow"up" as well as "out."

He is such a joy totake care of. Recently he hasbegun to smile a lot. Ouronly regret is that we cannotbe home to share all of thelittle day to day joys with ourfamily and friends. It seemswe have been fighting a smallbout of homesickness as wehave longed to share Grahamwith so many of you.

Vonnie is doing verywell, but has been kept verybusy taking care of Graham I

Although Vonnie's activitiesin the work had to be greatlydecreased during the last partof her pregnancy and duringGraham's first months, shewill be taking on a newproject soon of conducting aweekly Bible study for thewomen at an area villagechurch.

As for Steve, he hasbeen enjoying his time out inthe villages. He's also beenenjoying an occasional gameof squash (a game verysimilar to raquetball). Allof us, however, are gearingup to move again in late Julyl

We just want to say aspecial thank you to all of youwho have sent cards andvarious "goodies" forGrahamll*

INDEPENDENCE DAYS!

MALAWI'S 26th

UNITED STATES's 214th

July 4th

It is time for Independence Day here In Malawi, just as In America. TheMalawi Independence Day isJuly 6, just two days afterthe U.S.'s. (The U.S. andMalawi also have in commonthat both were ruled byBritain before independence.) So it is a veryfestive time here. TheMalawians go all out for theirIndependence celebrations.There are decorationsEVERYWHEREI The colors ofthe Malawian flag (red,green, and black) are oneverything. There are manylights, banners, etc. Alsothere are some specialfunctions honoring this 26thanniversary of Malawian

WEEKEND

As I am sure most ofyou know, one of theactivities that we have beenInvolved in is getting out tothe churches to preach andteach on Sundays. Butrecently we have begun torecognize that just driving^out to preach at a churchservice seems inadequate.

July 6th

Independence. And, of course,there are visiting dignitariesand tourists here for thecelebrations.

But for those of us

here who are Americans,there are also a couple ofspecial activities to celebrateour independence. On July 4,the NAWA (North AmericanWomen's Association) willsponsor a picnic for all of theAmericans in the Blantyrearea. One of the prominentfeatures of this yearly picnicis always a Softball game.Also later in the month ofJuly, all of the Americans inMalawi are invited to attend apicnic at the house of the U.S.Ambassador to Malawi inLilongwe, the capitol city.*

TEACHINGAlthough the churches areencouraged by our presenceand appreciate some teaching,it just seemed that we weredriving a long way (sometimes up to three hours eachway) and spending a lot ofmoney on petrol just todeliver a sermon.

So I have begun to gohold classes for the leaders ofarea churches on Saturdaybefore i am scheduled topreach at a church the nextday. I have begun to travelout to the churches earlySaturday morning and haveclasses with church leadersthat will gather fromchurches all over that area.Usually there is also plentyof time before churchon Sunday morning tohave a couple of hoursof teaching.

In late June,we were at a churchin the very southernpart of Malawi andseveral churchleaders came from great distances. One group of leaderswalked two days fromMozambique just to be therefor teaching I

But, as you can seefrom the article on the needsof the churches here (page5), much teaching needs to bedone. Especially at this time,there is a need for teachingon the New Testament pattern

for the church. Currently iam teaching on this topicevery weekend. Our goal is tohold these weekend seminarsfor church leaders in everyarea by the end of the dryseason late this year. Rightnow we are scheduled for

every weekend throughSeptember.

A side benefit of all ofthis for me is that it allows

me an opportunity tolearn more about thepeople. The onlyproblem is that, as aspecial guest, i amgiven a special placeto eat and a special

. place to sleep. So" even though I am out

with the people in thevillage, I am still separatedfrom them in a way. But asthe people come to know me, Iam sure that they will beginto open up more. Since thereare so many churcheshere, each week when I goout, there are stili manypeople who are seeing mefor the first time.*

One group ofleaders walkedtwo days fromMozambiquejust to bethere forteachingl

PRAYER ITEMS

Pray for: (1) theover 250 churches we areworking with here and theirmany needs (see page 5),(2) Steve and Vonnie as theybecome the oniy missionariesworking in the SouthernRegion, and (3) the Brantsin Kasungu and Kennedys in

8

Mzuzu as they work toestablish the church in theseareas.

Praise God (1)that he has provided us with ahouse to rent and (2) forseeing us through the casewith the evangeiists.*

MALAWI CHRISTIAN MISSIONMISSIONARIES: STEPHEN AND VONNIE SKAGGS

MALAWITHE WARMHEART OF

AFRICA

FIELD ADDRESSPO. Box 2500

Stantyre. MalawiAfrica

Pfione 635691

FORWARDING AGENTSJames and BeverlySivits

5980 McLarnan RoadGamOief. Otiio 43022

(614)668-2581

AU6UST/SEPTEMBER 1990 NEWSLETTER

rtOTORCYCLE ACQUIRFHIn August,we were able to reach places that even the

to buy a Honda XL 185 truck won't go! Most churchesmotcrcy^le. We bought the bike are easily accessible, but somefrom fellow missionary Jeff can only be reached with theKennedy from Mzuzu.had been wornterlng whenwe might be ^le toafford a bike. We wereneeding one, but a newbike costs about $5,000.Then Jeff Informed methat he would sell me hisbike for $ 1500(1 The bike wasalmost new and In ^eat shape,except for a few minor problemsfrom en accident A^ln, Oodprovided In a way that we neverexfMctedl

Having a bike availableoffers several advantages.

Again,provided

necledl

bike. The bike alsoenables me to send outBoniface Lapukeni, whoworks with me as anInterpreter/secretary.Especially now, as weare seeking to makecontact with every

church, Boniface will be makingmany trips out to the churches.With fuel costing about$3.00/gallon. It Is also nice tohave something fuel-efficientavailable! It would also bevaluable If there were fuelshortages here, as there have

First, It gives me the cap^lllty been In the past.

IN THIS MONTH S NEWSLETTER

Motorcycle 1 Yen's BibleStudy..5 Family Update.Update 2 An Added Bl6ss1ng..5 Prayer Nteeds...Teaching 4 Focus of Work 6

.7

.8

GENERAL UPDATE

In our last newsletter,we Informed you of thedifficulties we were having Inthe church here concerning agroup of evangelists. We want toupdate you now on what Ishappening with that situation.In our last newsletter, wementioned that It was certainlypossible that some of theseevangelists would leave thefellowship and take as manychurches as would follow themalong with them. Indeed, thishas happened to acertain extent. Although we have heardvery little directlyfrom these men, wehave heard about theiractivities. Weundw'-stand that they havebeen seeking to joinanother fellowship.We also understandthat some of these menhave been attemptingto mislead the churches In thefellowship Into thinking that allthe missionaries are leaving (orthey have chased the missionaries away) or that themissionaries do not want to haveanything to do with them.Unfortunately»8s I will mentionlater, the ties of communicationwithin the fellowship are verypoor, so It seems It Is very easyfor people to be mislead.

So wilore do we stwidIn the fellowship? We arecurrently assessing the

situation by trying to makecontact with all of the churchesto make sure that they are stillactive and still considerthemselves part of thefellowship of ChristianChurches. There are 97churches that we have hadcontact with thus f^ that wecertain are still with thefellowship here. There are 64churct»s that, to ourunderstanding, have either leftthe fellowship or are no Itmger

existing. This fl^reIs based on acomparison with tlwchurches that werelisted In a surveyreport done In 1989by missionary CordonNelson. Many of these64 churches wereprmhing points crsmall churches thatwere Included In thesurvey which died out.

We have not had contact as of yetwith 115 churches that arelisted In the 1989 surveyreport. It should be pointed outthat the Information for the1989 survey was supplied bythe evangelists. We are findingthat th^ Included preachingpoints In their reports as If theywere established churches, thusmaking iheir Information lookmore Impressive. Therefore,we are expecting to find thatmany of these reported 115

We ore currently assessingthe situation bytrying to makecontact with all ofthe churches tomake sure that theyare still activeand still considerthemselves part ofthe fellowship.

churches are not in existencetoday.

So wlMt do we dofrom here? Well, we try tolearn from our mistakes by 11)continuing to ottompt tolead tlio churclies toward amore Biblical organizational pattern, while beingless accepting of their followingnon-Biblical patterns. AlthoughI recognize that one must accepta person as Is and help himprogress from that point, atsome point there must bepositive change. (2) focusingon streniKhening localleadership. It seems that toomuch emphasis In the past fewyears has been put on trainingthe evangelists rather then localleaders. The greater knowledgeof these men served to Increasetheir power and prestige overlocal churches. Of course, themissionaries were seeking toteach these men so that they. Inturn, would pass on what theyhad learned. But this turned outnot to be the case. For theevangelists, to teach andencourage the churches to followwhat they were learning,especially concerning the N.T.pattern for the church, wouldonly diminish their own power.Unfortunately, the emphasis ontraining the evangelists seemed

to send a message to thechurches here that themissionaries supported theevangelists as being over thechurches. (3) increasingties of communicationwithin the fellowship here.It had become the commonpractice for the missionariesand churches to communicatethrough the evangelists. Overthe course of time, theevangelists came to be seen asthe mediators between thechurches and the missionaries.Although this began as aconvenience. It has served toreinforce the Idea of theevangelists being over thechurches. Unfortunately, It alsocreated a situation where theevangelists could distort thefacts so that they could tell thechurches and/or the missionaries what they wanted tohear. I am seeking now tocommunicate more directly withlocal churches. It seems thatperhaps a newsletter/journalmight be the best way todisseminate lessons, Information, etc. among the churches.Although Increasing communication will be much moredifficult here than It would be Inthe U.S., It will be worth theeffort. •

WEEKEND TEACHINGIn the last newsletter, I

shared with you that I have b^nholding olasses for leaders onthe weekends. As I sharedbefore, the topio I am teachingabout now Is the New Testamentpattern for the church. My goalhas been to reach each area withthese lessons on the N.T. churchbefore the rains begin at the endof this year. I am progressing well towardthis goal, as I havetaught In many areas.

Our desire Isthat the churches herewill move away fromdenominational pat- ___terns of leadershiptoward a more Biblical model.But It is ^Ing to be a long roadfrom where we are to where weshould be. Just to give you anIdea of what needs to be done ...as I begin the lesson each week, Iusually ask the men what th^feel Is the right way for thechurch to be cruized. Withvery few exceptions, they givethe following descendingorder ofauthority: Jesus Christ (head ofthe church)-M1ss1onar1es/theMission (head of all theChristian Churches In Malawi )-Evan^llst (head of t1^ churchesIn an area)-Shepherd/Pastor(head of a local church)-Preacher-Elder( s)-Deacon( s) -Church Committee Chairman-Church Commlttee-Secretary-Treasurer-Chrlstlans.

Unfortunately, not onlyIs the organizational patternunblbllcal, but the leadershipstyle In the churches Isunblbllcal as well. Leadershippositions are typically seenmore as positions of powerrather than positions of service.Even those assigned the job ofsecretary or treasurer would

consider themselvesmore to have beengiven a big position Inthe church rather thansimply having beengiven a task to do. Alsomost churches wouldbelieve that onlycertain upper-level

leaders can baptize or lead In theLord's Supper. (This, Inessartce, makes those leaders themediators of the grace of God! I)

I are trying to encouragethe churches to follow a muchsimpler organizational plan, thepattern which Is seen In the NewTestament. There one finds thatJesus Is the head of the churchat large goid each local church.Each local church Is shepherdedby a group of elders. Thed^cons, who oversee thephysical work of the church, ^eunder the elders' oversl^t.Those given special tasks In thechurch, such as preaching,teaching, etc. are also under theoversight of the elders.

But simply following theappropriate organizational pattern Is Insufficient. I m also

Leaiferstifppositions oretypically seenmore as positionsof power ratherthan positions ofservice.

stressing the need to redefinethe leader In terms of servicerather than authority (Mt.20:25-28). In order to be

truly following the N.T. patternfor leadership, every leactermust be a servant-leader! •

VONNIE LEADING BIBLE STUDYAbout eight weeks ago .

(Vonnle) met for the first timewith the ladles of ChlrlmbaChristian Church about 10miles from Blantyre. I wasvery anxious and nervous aboutour first meeting, I was afraidthat they would see me asbeing too young to be ableto share with them.What a pleasant surpriseI had!! There werebetween 10-15 ladleswho greeted me sowarmly.

Our first lessonwas on Josh. 24:15, and Istressed the Importance ofourselves and our familiesserving the Lord. The ladleslistened so attentively andresponded so well. After thelesson I took time to get to knowthe ladles' names and told them abit about myself and my family.During this time i asked theladles If they wanted to studyanything In particular. Theladles shared with me that theyknew very little about the Bible.They wanted to learn as much as

possible, so we decided to startin Genesis. So we have beenstudying Genesis, and we are alllearning new things. After eachlesson they ask questions andhave proven to be deep thinkingwomen by their questions—they

certainly keep me on mytoes.

My real heartache for these women Isthat only a few of themknow how to read. Yet Itamazes me how muchthey grasp from justlistening. Each week I

grow closer to these ladles as Iget to know them and about theirfamilies. They have shown mesuch a warm welcome and such adeep desire to learn all I canteach. I often feel so Inadequate,yet so thankful to te used by God.Please be praying for these dearladles that thisy will be able tounderstand what I am teaching,and pray for me that God willguide my words so that theseladles will come to have a betterunderstanding of Him. •

The ladleslistened soattentively cmdrespomted sowell.

AN ADDED BI ESSINfiBecause of Steve's I (Vonnle) have rarely been able

weekendtrlpstothe village, and to get out to the vlll^because Graham Is still so little, recently. I was becoming a bit

concerned as I wasn't getting anychance to teach the children inthese areas. Being Graham'smom and providing for his needshas become my main Job, and Ilove it. Yet I carry a realburden for these chilc^en inMalawi.

God has a wonderful way of openingdoors. Every week whenI go to teach the ladies atChirimba, I usually waitabout thirty minutes forall the ladies to arrive.About the third week I noticedwe had a group of 20-30children sitting in the back ofthe church while I taught thelesson to the ladies. The forthw^ the ladies were slow to

doors.

arrive, and we already hadattracted ^ut 20 children.Our lesson that day was not aneasy one for the children tounderst^d, and I wanted to teachthe ladies without thedistraction of the chil(fr^en, so Iasked the children if they wanted

to hear a story. We cameto an a^eement that Iwould tell them a Biblestory, but that after thestory they would leavewhile I taught the ladies.Our first story wasin the lion's Pen Now

every week I go early to teachthe children of Chirimba village.It is an opportunity I hadn'tanticipated. What a blessing! •

opmiing

As I consider the bestways in which I can be ofassistance to the churches tore,I keep coming back to two majorareas that I feel I should focusmy work. Although thereare many areas of need,two ffi^eas seempredominant.

1. The firstarea that needsattention Is leadership developnent. Wedesperately need to equip leadersin the local church. To the bestof my knowledge, there arealmost no church leaders in ourfellowship who have experiencedany kind of systematic teaching/equipping program. Most have

FOCUS OF THF WORK

received only occasional teaching from missionaries as theyhave visited their area. Thechurch here very much needs anequipping program for its

elders, preachers,teachers, deacons, etc.Please be praying for usas we consider what typeof program(s) would helpto meet this need.

2. The secondarea Is that of

Christian llterature/pub-llcatlons/fp'owth materials. We in the U.S. areaccustomed to being bombardedwith Christian literatureJournals, lessons, books, etc.But in the fellowship here.

We desperately needte equipleaders In thelocal church.

there Is almost nothing. Wedesperately need to makeChristian literature available tothe people in the church at anaffordable price. Bill Brant inKasungu has been laying the

groundwork in the ^ea, mi hasalready begun printing somethings, but we are really justbeginning. We very much needyour prayers in this area aswell. •

FAMILY UPDATFYes, we have moved!! At

the beginning of August, webegan renting the Brants' househere in Blantyre. !t is such anice house with plenty of room.Hopefully, this will be the lasttime we will have to movebefore our first term ends.What a blessing it is to berenting a house from fellowmissionaries, as it is almostimpossible to find a house torent in Blantyre for maffordable price. We areoverjoyed to be really settledinto a house for the first timesince we started raising supportto come to Malawi.

Braham is continuing togrow. It seems that he is morefun every day. He is rolling allover the place, and loves to hearhimself "talk." He has beeneating solids for a little while.We are able to buy baby cerealhere, and we brought up a fewjars of b^y food from SouthAfrica when we were there forCraham's birth. But mostly we^e just making our own babyfood from the vegetables that weget here.

Steva is also growing—unfortunately. He seems to be

having to fight to keep hisweight in check. Since there isvery little entertainment Iwe,it is a very common occurrenceto invite friends over for dinner(or be invited). That meansnice meals. Combine that with alack of will-power, and youhave trouble! But he is tryir^to get some exercise by plar^ngsquash often. And yes, Yonnietries to keep him in line!

Vonnie has, of course,been keeping busy with Graham.One of Vonnie's activities thatallows !wr to get out a bit Isattending a "baby group." ThisIs a small group of women,mostly British, who have smallbabies who get together weeklyto sha^e ideas and encourage oneanother. Vonnie had a verydiscouraging time, however, inmid-September as MelanieAnderson, one of Vonnie's closefriends from her school dayshere in Malawi, was killed in asmall plane accident. We had allcome to enjoy Melanie'soccasional visits at our home.We will miss her.

Thanks so much to thoseof you who have sent notes oferxxiuragement. What a blessing

it Is to be part of the family of who have been keeping the work6odl! Also thanks to all of you here in your prayers!I •

PRAYER MEEDSPray for: (1) (5) Yonnie and the ladies Bible

churches to begin moving toward study group at Chirimbaa more Biblical pattern of Christian Church,leadership (2) church leaders.that they may truly practice Praise for: (1) niceservant-leadership (3) dev- house to rent until furlot^elopment of a leadership train- (2) good health! (pray it willing program (4) producing of continue). •printed materials for the church

8

-2^^.

MALAWI CHRISTIAN MISSIONMISSIONARIES: STEPHEN AND VONNIE SKAGGS

MALAWITHE WARMHEART OF

AFRICA

FIELD ADDRESSPC Box 2500

Blaniyre, MalawiAlfica

P'xjoe 635691

FORWARDING AGENTSJames and BeverlySwts

5980 McLarnan RoadGamiyef. Oho 43022

1614) 668-2581

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1990 NEWSLETTER

We pray that all ofyou had a fantasticThanksgiving!!! Althoughwe are certainly missingfamily in the States, wedo have so much to be

thankful for

this year. Somany goodthings havehappened,especially Graham'sbirth. We are also

blessed this year to bewith Vonnie's parents forThanksgiving! We pray

that you will take sometime this year to givethanks for all of the

blessings that we havethrough our knowledge ofJesus Christ. What

would your lifebe like if youdidn't know

Him? What if

you only knewof Him? Take some time

to pray for the many whoneed to know Him and the

many who need to knowHim more fully! f

RAIN3 C0MIN6We are fast approaching

summer and the rainy seasonhere in Malawi. Most of Octoberand November have been veryhot, windy, and extremely dusty.This is the season when manypeople have burned off andplowed their fields and haveplanted or are planting maize.

Because of all the fires, the airhas been full, not only withdust, but with soot. One couldliterally dust several times aday and not keep up with all thedust that seems to fly throughthe windows!

Up to this point there hasbeen no rain. There should have

been at least some. Many arebeginning to think that thisrainy season may bring lessrain than usual. Certainly thiswould be bad news for many ofthe peoplg here. Unfortunately,in some areas, the last rainyseason was inadequate. A fewchurches have already beenrequesting assistance

Please join us in praying thatthis year's rainy season willbring sufficient rain for goodcrops!

STOP THE PRESSES.Just after writing this article,we had a couple of very nicerains. Pray it will continue! •

AMBICAN CHURCHES UPDATE

stari

contiiat til

As mdhy of you know,part of Jme work here insouthern Malawi is reaching outto Mozambicans who arerefuge^ here in Malawi. Thereare currently several churchesin various refugee camps in thesoutn. Besides this, theChr|stians here have beenreaqhing out to plant churchesin Mozambique itself. Justrecently we received a report ofa few churches that were being

in Mozambique.The internal strife still

les in Mozambique. This}s hits home to us as

Christians in Mozambiquesometim^ find themselves insome ver\ difficult situations.Just recently we were informedthat some of the Christians whocame over intoN^lalawi for aweekend of teachIn^N^h Steveencountered rebel somtecs ontheir way back to their viTlIn Mozambique. Although wewere not Informed of anyonebeing harmed, we do know thatmany of their things, Includingtheir Bibles, were taken.

One weekend when I wasgoing out to teach at a churchnear the Mozambique Nborder,there were some church \eaderswho were to be coming\overfrom Mozambique who die notarrive. The Christians at\thechurch told me that peopleWeoften stopped by the rroelsoldiers and they are made\ tocarry the soldiers things rarmiles, then they will be releasedto go home. Sometimes,however, they never make litback home—they get lost, haveno food, or something happenjB tothem. The Christians fear^hishad happened to their frienfls.

We ask that you ^i 11 bepraying for the work ajpnong theMozamblcan people.yrray forthose churches hepe in Malawiin the refugee capftps that as theyeventuallyscartter back to theirhom§54frHozambique, they willisketheir faith with them. Andpray for those churches inMozambique that the Christianswill grow strong in the Spiritand that god will protect them

during this seemingly never- ending civil war.#

MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENTIn the last newsletter we

informed you that we hadacquired a Honda XL 185. Well,in this newsletter we regret toinform you that the bike hasseen its first accident under newownership! Boniface Lapukeni,who works with me as aninterpreter/secretary, had anaccident on the bike in Octoberas he was travelling to a churchnorth of Blantyre. While trying

to slow down to avoid a child,Boniface lost control of the bikeon a sandy patch of the dirt road.Neither the bike nor Bonifacewere hurt very much. Bonifacehad one stitch and lots ofbruises. He seems all healednow! The bike needs a newheadlight, speedometer andtachometer. All in all, however,it was certainly not as bad as itcould have been.#

PETROL PRICES RAISEDBecause of the situation ($3.18 per

in the Persian 6ulf, itseems higher petrol priceshave hit everyone aroundthe world. Malawi is noexception. Although we hadno shortages of petrolhere, as they did in some otherAfrican countries, prices did

gallon at thecurrent exchange rate).The new price is K2.20per liter ($3.52 pergallon). As you mightguess, this has certainlyhad its impact on us as

vehicle and petrol costs havealways been our greatest

Petrol is

now $3.52per gallon!!

rise here recently. The oldprice was K1.99 per liter

expense by far. •

FAMILY UPDATE6rahani has continued to

do well. He is growing, as usual,and seems to be doing new thingsevery day. Graham has finallymastered crawling, so it is timeto move everything of value oneshelf higher!

October and Novemberhave been marked by illness forSteve and Vonnle. It seems itwas just a matter of time as wewere both slowly but surely

beginning to wear down. Steve,and Yonnie as well, had to missseveral meetings and/or Biblestudies because of illnesses. Weseem to have picked up whatevervirus was going throughBlantyre at the time. We areplanning to take some time awayin late November to rest andrecuperate. Be praying for usthat we will be able to get goingstrong again!! •

^Turrp.jKom.K^Tmi^.As i sif here the

rain is pouring downoufside. if is jusfbeaafiful, and i'm lovingevery minute of if. Ifhas been 7 months sinceour last rains, and we'rehoping that despite thelateness of the rains,we'il have a good rainyseason this year. Theiadies in my Bible studygroup are going to lookat rain and the rainbowsthat follow (we get somelovely ones here) in a newlight this year.

In our last

newsletter we sharedwith you about the groupof ladies I beganteaching. They continueto be attentive listenersand have shown manytimes that they arelearning and absorbingthe lessons we learn.One of our lessons (sincewe are studying Genesis)was on the flood.Somewhere along the line

they'd heard that whenthey saw the rainbow itmeant that God woulddestroy them with fire. Inever got a goodexplanation as to wherethis myth came from.What a delight it was toexplain to these ladiesthe true sign of therainbow, and to replacefear with hope.

Once again I sawhow very much I take forgranted. I'd not thoughtabout rainbows andGod's promise in a longtime. As we (the ladlesand I) discussed thisstory we once againtalked of the evengreater gift and promiseGod sent through His son.How blessed I am withthe knowledge I have ofHis Word. Pray He willuse me effectively tobring His Word andmessage of hope to theseladies.

PRAYER NEEPSPlease pray for: (1) camps and In Mozambique (3)

Mozambican refugees (2) Skaggs health (4) Good rainyMozambican churches in refugee season and healthy crops. •