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Report #2 from Malawi

6/6/2015

 
Since Alan is currently in Malawi, we are providing excerpts from his weekly report as soon as available in lieu of his normal articles we publish on Saturdays …
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Sunday morning we arrived at the church in Lumbadzi. It is a larger congregation that is located by the airport. I was told to preach an hour and a half before the Lord’s supper, then two sessions of one hour each in the afternoon, which surprisingly enough in Malawi is exactly what occurred. They were very interested in various problems in the family and wanted me to take the entire day on it. ...

I have been addressing another serious problem in the churches of Malawi as often as I can. They have never been taught to practice church discipline. Most congregations speak of their members in one of two ways. First, the number of people they still have on the “role.” This is a list of every person who has obeyed the gospel in that village. The second list is the number of members who actually regularly attend the assembly. Often these numbers are 50 to 100 members apart.

I developed a lesson to help them help them understand that it is just as important to tell brethren they are lost and no longer in fellowship with God as it was welcome them into fellowship with God when they obeyed the gospel. It is just as important to try to save them after they sin and return to the world as it was to preach the gospel in the first place to get them out of the world.  ...

Paul was deeply concerned because the church at Corinth did not have this attitude toward a sinner in their midst (1 Cor. 5:2-5). ... How can any church, filled with people who love God tolerate sin in their midst? The obvious answer: They can’t. Such a thing cannot be done and the church in Corinth must deal with it. The sinner must be shown his wickedness and be forced to repent. They must make every effort to help him destroy his fleshly desires so his spirit can be saved. When a brother sins and we ignore that sin, we are proving we would not receive the mark, are not like Lot, and do not truly love our brother since that sin will cost him his soul..
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For more, 

1) click on Malawi_2015_Report_2 (pdf) to display the full report
2) select the "more…  >  Malawi" menu item to see the report, associated pictures, a map showing the congregations visited so far, and previous reports.  See also "F" for "Family" and "Fellowship".

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    Alan Hitchen

    Alan is a preacher for the Holly Street church of Christ in Denver, CO. He has preached in various other locations in his +35 year career.  He is also active in spreading the Gospel to Malawi, Africa.

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