An Update from Rev. W.M. Mulder

During the past summer break, I was asked by the board of Building Stones Ministry, a small mission organization here in Oxford County, to speak at two conferences in Malawi. The main mission of Building Stones Ministry is to train missionaries, churches, organizations, and church leaders in Christian Leadership. There are a lot of problems in mission work because of unbiblical leadership. It is Mr. Bernie Pennings from Norwich in particular who is performing this mission by speaking at conferences all over the world. The conferences in Malawi were organized in company with a local organization in Lilongwe, called Logos Ministries. Logos asked me to speak specifically about the topic of “Transgenderism”. I will give you a brief report of our stay in Malawi and the work I was able to do.

In August of 2023 I flew via Amsterdam, Johannesburg, and Blantyre to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. During that flight, I had a nice conversation with a Muslim lady beside me. After I had prayed for my food, she apologized that she forgot to pray. It was the starting point to speak with her about a personal relationship with God as Father in Jesus Christ. Also, to explain to her that God’s mercy is not in contradiction with His justice, because of the work of Jesus Christ.

After a stay in Lilongwe, together with Bernie Pennings and Manuel Kamnkhani (director of Logos Ministry Malawi) I traveled to Mzuzu, the biggest city in Northern Malawi, the next day. A trip by car
which took about 6 hours. We passed large round rocks I had never seen before. Everywhere we saw long line ups of cars in front of gas stations. Because of a lack of fuel, people had to wait more than a day to get gas.

The next day we had our first conference in Mzuzu. During this conference about 70 people showed up. There were pastors but also layman present. Our contributions were translated form English into the local language of Chichewa. I opened the conference with the first part of a Bible study from Philippians 2:1-11 about leadership and humility. During those two days Bernie Pennings spoke about “The Common Path and the Kingdom Path” in Christian leadership. How easily we as churches and mission organizations adopt the way of (business-) thinking of the secular world instead of the biblical principles of leadership. I spoke about the topic of transgenderism. I informed them about the actual situation in the Western World, gave them an overview of historical events that have led to the acceptance of the sinful ideas of this movement. In particular, I asked their attention for the so called ‘New Hermeneutics’ by which lots of Christian churches accept homosexual and transgender practices. The last part of my lecture was about the pastoral approach we need to have in those circumstances. After my lecture I had several talks with pastors who told me that this message came at the right time for them. The whole transgender discussion is already part of the African churches as well of those in the West. In particular because Western Aid organizations are pushing their whole LGBTQ+ agenda on these vulnerable countries when they ask for humanitarian help. I closed the conference with the second part of the Bible study about Philippians 2.

During this conference I was asked to speak on Saturday morning about the topic of transgender before a local radio station. That Friday night I did put everything together in one speech. But because of some miscommunication we were not able to address this topic that morning. After that we traveled back to Lilongwe and on the way we bought vegetables at several places for Manuel’s family. On the Lord’s Day I had to preach in a CCAP church in Lilongwe. The English service started at 6 am. Because I’m part of the mission board of the HHK, I am more familiar with the RPC churches of Malawi, which, when it comes to the performance of the worship service, are more like the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. This church was quite different with choirs and drums in church. But I was able to preach the Word of God about the breastplate of righteousness. We also met pastor A.T. Vergunst from New Zealand, who was there because of the Goat for Girls program.

On Monday we visited the office of the Logos Ministry in Lilongwe and were present during their week opening. Traveling to our next conference place Dedza, we first visited one of the oldest mission posts of the CCAP in Nkhoma including a church, a hospital, and a book press. This post was established in 1889 by South African Dutch Reformed missionaries in a landscape with beautiful mountains. We arrived in the second half of the afternoon, and joined the opening session of the conference. Ten minutes before the conference started, I was asked to do the opening meditation (which I hadn’t prepared, because another local pastor was supposed to do it). In these unexpected moments I often experience the truth of the promise of Christ that He would give the words in my mouth. I meditated about Ephesians 6 verse 10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might”.

The next two days were a repetition of the first conference. Two times I spoke about Philippians 2 and two times about the topic of Transgenderism. The attenders of this conference were all CCAP pastors, who were able to understand and speak English. So, I could speak without an interpreter, which saved time. The Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) is one of the major protestant churches of Malawi. During the meals and coffee breaks I had nice conversations with these pastors.
It was a very intensive trip with lots of traveling. But also a blessed trip. To teach others also means to
teach yourself. I am thankful that the Lord still gives me a task in his Worldwide Kingdom to serve Him. It is such a blessing to meet Christians from around the world who by the work of the same Holy Spirit only can rely on Christ Jesus for their justification and sanctification. Please pray for the mission work, also from our Church. ‘And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled’ (Luke 14:23).

– Rev. W.M. Mulder