A Report on one year

I feel I ought to report. Sort of. But then, I wonder how many will be sincerely interested in this report? And how many, having read my concerns, will be spurred to try to be sincerely interested in my report, where no previous interest existed? Or how many, having happened perchance upon my report, will discover that where they had been unaware of an interest, one nevertheless lurked and was coaxed from hiding by reading this report…?

It’s been very nearly a year now since our delayed Ethiopian Airlines flight deposited me on Malawian soil to begin a voluntary job encouraging, supporting, training and getting to know the music/worship team here at City Pentecostal Church. I’d never been a Pentecostal before…I’m not sure I’m strictly one now, though I’ve really enjoyed and grown with a church who experience the gifts of the Spirit so freely. Come to think of it, I hardly knew anyone in the church when I came, but I soon grew out of that. As Pastor Tom Lupiya taught me pretty soon, ‘there are no strangers in the house of God, only family and friends.’ And I have been a part of the family. Why else would they have put up with my loud shirts and bad renditions of Chichewa worship songs?

But 9 to 5 you don’t tend to spend a lot of time thinking about how wonderful it is to be a part of God’s family in Malawi. It’s much more usual to take that for granted and focus on the work at hand, particularly its problems. When I arrived, the chief problem with the worship team was the lack thereof. There were 5 members, one of whom was dying to get out of it so she could focus on other ministries, and another of whom was racked with guilt because his lifestyle didn’t quite match his role in the worship team. So within a few weeks we were down to 3. But I was in the mood for a challenge, so I began recruiting with a vengeance. Soon enough 2 more drummers has appeared out of the woodwork, 2 violinists had returned from holiday abroad, and several of the young people in the church had signed up for lessons in music with a view to join the worship team. IN fact, within a few weeks it seemed that all of Blantyre had been waiting for me to arrive so that they could realise their lifetime ambitions to become great music stars. They soon realised that I was not entirely capable of handing them that blessing on a plate – the time commitments were too heavy for some, others had no money either for lessons, or, when I offered a few free lessons, even the transport money to get to and from lessons. In fact, attendance at lessons was seldom above 50%, which, when I was charging about 70p an hour, was somewhat frustrating. We solved that problem by starting to charge people through the nose after Christmas ;) Actually, I’m still the cheapest teacher in Blantyre, but the prices are now designed to induce people to attend more regularly if they don’t want to waste their money.

Tell you what, teaching privately helps you meet the community. I’ve had students of African, European and Asian extraction, from all different churches and mosques, aged 8-50yrs. Most have only lasted about 3 months, several have stayed for 6 and a precious few have been with me from the beginning til now, 10 months. In that time I’ve seen so many musical talents blossom that it’s blown me away and converted me forever to music teaching.

But worship is so much more than teaching. Because I lead the congregation as well as the music team on Sundays, I;ve had ample opportunity to speak (albeit in 1 minute intervals) on worship. I’ve also been blessed by people in the Uk and here donating me an enormous resource of worship teaching. I’ve gleaned even more from the internet, and the learning experience has been one of the chief joys of my year. I look forward to getting plugged in to Woodhouse Eaves Evangelical Baptist church worship team when I return there in August, and continuing my studies through that.

But one of the biggest parts of my year has been the vision God has given me to stay and work full-time in Malawi as a luthier and dealer in musical instruments. I’ve spent the last 6 months studying and sourcing good hardwoods within the country and various items of hardware externally. In September I hope to begin an apprenticeship with a luthier in Leicester, Mark Finney. We’ll see where we go from there.

I’ve also had the privilege of running a 30min radio show of music looking at Christian themes on Capital FM here in Blantyre this last 6 months. I’m writing this in their studio, having just had a power cut in the middle of mixing down my show, so I’m praying the autosave has preserved my work! It’s been a great ministry, although, as so often with radio ministry, I’m never quite sure who was listening and how they’ve responded. Still, we pray and are assured that God uses these things to his adulation.

And then the unquantifiables – the friends I’ve made here, the good times over braais, on wildlife safaris, just spending time together over meals in the market, playing jazz music with the team in Naperi… the various places I’ve visited and still hope to visit. The various minor culture shocks, thefts, and disappointments on the road. The irrational fears of new situations, irrelevance, loss of faith…the equally unpredictable joys of being alive, celebrating faith, meeting new people and seeing God in them…

This is not the official report, by the way. This is a blog. If you want things more neat and orderly, please subscribe to my newsletter by emailing me. If you don’t know my email and don’t know anyone who does, put a post on here and we’ll see what we can do.

God bless you all loads. Why don’t you guys write me reports of your year, eh? Why am I the only one ‘missionary’ enough that people around the world might benefit from my experience?