Find a mission worker — Malawi
Nancy Collins, regional liaison for East Africa (Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia) Learn more about the work of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Malawi. |
Malawi is a relatively small landlocked country in southeastern Africa. It has a long history with roots in the Church of Scotland, the Free Church of Scotland, and the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa. In Malawi unsafe drinking water is a severe and multifaceted problem. In addition, fewer than 1 percent of the population have access to a university education, one of the lowest rates in the world. Malawi is poor and has suffered from drought and floods as well as the spread of HIV/AIDS.
In spite of the many challenges and hardships Malawi faces, the faith of its people remains strong. There are several vibrant churches in Malawi, but there is a great need of trained ministers serving many congregations. In 2003 a survey reported there was just one ordained minister for every 7,000 catechized members of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP), which was formed in the late 1940s. The Synod of Livingstonia, one of four synods of the CCAP, grew out of a mission station founded in 1875 and named in honor of David Livingstone, the famed Scottish Presbyterian missionary. The Synod is one of the oldest and biggest churches in Malawi, with 170 congregations and more than 1,000 prayer houses throughout the northern region of Malawi. With about 200,000 adult members, the church reaches about 25 percent of the adult population in this region. In its ministry it not only reaches out to communities with spiritual care but is also involved in development projects for education, health care, HIV and AIDS, water and sanitation, food security, and civic education. Since beginning its involvement in Malawi in the 1950s, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has sent many long-term and short-term mission personnel to serve in the country.
Nancy Collins
regional liaison for East Central Africa (Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Zambia)
As regional liaison for East Central Africa, Nancy facilitates PC(USA) relationships with partner churches and institutions in Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, and Zambia. Her special focus is on partners’ work related to evangelism, leadership development, and church growth. Nancy also provides support for other mission personnel in the region and assists PC(USA) congregations and presbyteries that are in or that want to be in a relationship with partners in East Central Africa. Home presbytery: Southern New England/Des Moines; Learn more
Jeremy and Luta Garbat-Welch
Luta serves as a community health facilitator in Malawi, where she is based, and in four other African countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Zambia. She helps African partners develop sustainable community health programs. Jeremy, a clinically trained hospital chaplain, shares his expertise with Presbyterian clergy in Malawi. “We are called to serve God by living holistic lives of faith and health and sharing God’s message of wholeness to others,” they write. “We hope that through our lives and work that we will help others live lives of wholeness and healing for others and the world.” Home presbytery/ ecclesiastical body: Mid-Kentucky/Hurstbourne Christian Church; Learn more
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Janet Guyer
Janet is serving as a regional facilitator for women’s and children’s ministries to strengthen the work of the PC(USA) partners in Africa and to connect US constituents to this work. Janet’s work focuses on the countries of Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and the Republic of Sudan. Janet has been under mission appointment since 1989. Home presbytery: Pittsburgh; Learn more
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Rochelle and Tyler Holm
Tyler teaches theology at the University of Livingstonia, one of the synod’s institutions. The Faculty of Theology on the Ekwendeni campus is training future pastors for the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. Tyler’s skills in teaching theology are built on an unwavering passion to follow Christ’s call. Rochelle manages the Mzuzu University Water and Sanitation Centres, which are committed to increasing the availability and sustainable of clean water and improved sanitation in northern Malawi and beyond. Home ecclesiastical body: West Side Church, Richland, WA; Learn more
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James and Jodi McGill
Jim coordinates the clean water and sanitation work of the Synod of Livingstonia, a regional body of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. He also assists PC(USA) church partners with water and sanitation development in South Sudan and Congo. Jodi is the synod’s coordinator for primary health care, working with a congregation-based malaria prevention program, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and other public health programs. She also works as a clinical instructor at the Ekwendeni College of Nursing. Home presbytery: Greater Atlanta; Learn more
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Barbara Nagy
Barbara, a board-certified physician in both pediatrics and internal medicine, serves at Nkhoma Hospital, an institution of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian’s Nkhoma Synod and has become increasingly engaged in public health “I feel God has called me to live out the gospel of his love for everyone by working in a healing ministry in central Malawi, where death and disease limit the lives of fellow Christians and keep them from attaining all God intended for them,” Barbara says. Home presbytery: Western North Carolina; Learn more
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