A Malawi Church History 1860 2020

This is the first attempt to comprehend the whole of Malawi's church history in a single volume. The focus of this book is about documenting the religious experience which was at the centre of founding the new nation of Malawi as we have come to know it. The book strikes a balance in covering issues pertaining to both mission activities and African agency. In many instances interesting pieces of evidence have been marshalled to corroborate or emphasize some of the conclusions reached.

The Malawi Birmingham Partnership dating back to 1966 was one of the earliest 'companion links' between an English and an overseas diocese and has been one of the most dynamic. With the help of a chapter by Professor James Tengatenga, a distinguished scholar of global Anglicanism and former Bishop of Southern Malawi, Richard Tucker traces the partnership's origins in the church histories of Malawi and Birmingham. He recounts its development as it has responded to the splitting of one diocese in Malawi into four, the Africanisation of the church leadership, and challenges including the final stages of the Banda dictatorship, famine and the AIDS pandemic, alongside growing secularisation in the UK.

No sooner had northern Malawians started to become Christians in the late 19th century, than they began to compose hymns. Rather than attempting rational discourse or literary production, their first instinct was to sing and dance their faith. In this book Augustine Musopole offers us the first comprehensive analysis of the theology found in the hymns - a ground-breaking contribution to our understanding of African Christianity.

The first four essays in Mission in Malawi reassess the meaning, nature and place of mission in a postmodern world. Subsequent essays examine various issues that missionaries and the Church in Malawi have and continue to struggle with. These range from the problem of administering church discipline, the challenge of Bible translation, the question of how to deal with corruption in the corridors of power to the challenges of dealing with initiation rites, HIV/AIDS, patriarchy, gender inequality, the exercise of the Church's prophetic role, lack of contextualized theology, and the difficult task of creating an inclusive church and society. The last three essays are an attempt to describe a contextual theology appropriate for the African church, construct a theology for Malawi and project a future for mission in Malawi in the context of a changing world. These essays offer a rare window into the life and struggles of the Malawian Church even as it faces the postmodern future. The essays are not only informative but also challenging and thought-provoking. Scholars, students and other readers who share an interest in mission and the life of the Church in Malawi will find this collection of essays indispensable in the many years to come.

Baptists are keen to go directly to the New Testament in all major issues of faith. If the Bible is the first argument, then history (and therefore tradition) is another line of argument, that both promoters and opponents of women's ordination can and do use. This book is largely concerned with not just the history of women's ordination, or even of Baptists and women's ordination, but offers perspectives from history that may be useful for the discussion of this issue. The thrust of the arguments are aimed at highlighting that differing biblical interpretations are possible, and it must be admitted that Baptists have their own history, over which, much diversity has developed.

"I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in issues of church unity, justice, liberation, biblical transformation, dignity, hope, joy, resilience, peace, prayer and reconciliation. The best Malawian scholars have drawn from their academic expertise and personal experience to give the reader a thick picture of the journey of unity among the Synods of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This publication is a must-have for all who have the unity of the CCAP at heart." Prof Isabel Apawo Phiri, Former Deputy General Secretary, World Council of Churches and Vice Chancellor, University of Blantyre Synod

Africa was not evangelized by the European (and American) churches, but by the European (and American) mission societies, a process that thoroughly changed the religious geography of Africa. This book traces the origin of this change to William Carey, who proposed in 1792 to make the mission society as a voluntary association the "Means" to propagate the Gospel. The mission societies did what the churches could not have done. In this seminal paper Andrew Walls explores this often forgotten feature of missionary history.

Malawi's first two Presbyterian ministers, Harry Kambwiri Matecheta and Stephen Kundecha, were ordained in March 1911. Ecclesiastically, this made them fully equal with their European fellow-ministers. There were, however, subtle and not-so-subtle racial codes that reminded them that they were expected to occupy a subordinate position. This Occasional Paper explores how they discovered their identity and vocation in a challenging context.