Meeting the Area Preachers
9:00 is the official meeting time of most meetings. This morning we met with the area preachers and found out even more history of the church of Christ in this area as well as the work each man is doing.
The Start of the Tombolombo Church
In 1968 the Tombolombo Church of Christ was started with Mr. Chirwa, now deceased it’s first preacher. He helped train ten men in the Bible and preaching who went out into the surrounding area. This congregation has a great connection with the surrounding area and even into Zambia because of the gospel of Christ and Mr. Chirwa’s work. Many of these men are still living and preaching the word in area churches. These preachers rotate each Sunday to provide preaching and instruction to many churches. Much like circuit riding preachers in our history. There are now over 50 area churches as a result of their work. Churches are more localized in the villages because of the lack of transportation. They still go on foot but not as far if their is a church in the community.
Lawrence asked them if there was still. need for more workers and work to be done teaching the gospel and they answered with a resounding voice. They said this is what Tombolombo church has always been about.
Centrally Located
The Tombolombo church is centrally located at the heart of the community. This provides a great place to reach out to neighboring villages. Tombolombo Church is serving their community through a Famer’s cooperative, the Mtendere Bakery, a health clinic, and a nursery school.
Mzimba School of Preaching
After Mr. Chirwa passed away they realized the need for a preacher training school in their area so that people did not have to leave the country for more training. Hence, Mzimba School of Preaching was begun.
HIV Educational Task Force
In the afternoon we met with the task force for HIV which is hosted at the Consip Cooperative. This group was started by a local church. It is an inter-denominational group of young professionals, teachers, medical people, etc.
The goal is to educate youth about the cause and prevention of HIV as well as to provide resources for those already infected. Soccer, drama, and music are used as teaching tools to dispel myths and teach facts. They are allowed to travel all over the district and provide these educational programs. We were able to gift them with two soccer balls and a pump to use in their program because of some generous donors.
