SK in Malawi

Kirkie March 31, 2011

I want to share with you a story about my friend Kirkie. If you remember, I wrote about my initial conversation with him in my January newsletter – he is the Chinese store owner who asked me about my faith, prompting me to talk to another missionary friend about starting a Bible study for the Chinese workers in Lilongwe. Since then, we have talked to a few leaders of a local church (where a Chinese worker heard the gospel for the first time and was recently baptized) and have begun compiling Bible study materials for our seeker’s group. A Malawian at this church had actually lead one of these Chinese men to Christ, and a few other people we have talked to are interested in participating in the group as leaders. My church in Mississauga also agreed to order Bibles and Bible study materials in Chinese and they are in the process of arriving in Malawi… :)

Just this past week, a friend of mine (another PIH missionary) and I were at the Chinese food store looking for ingredients to try out some new Vietnamese recipes. We bumped into Kirkie and began chatting. He had met both of us before and it was nice to catch up with him – he remembers us as “the missionaries who actually do something!” because we work at PIH. After paying, Elizabeth noticed a pamphlet under a table with a bunch of religious symbols on the cover. “Hey, what’s that?” she asked, picking it up. We looked through it briefly and noticed it was a WatchTower publication. Kirkie began telling us about conversations he had had with the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Lilongwe and we shared with him (again) that we were Christians and that what we believed was different from the Jehovah’s Witnesses. “They say that they don’t acknowledge the cross,” he told us.

An opportunity had opened up so clearly for us to explain to him the most central part of being a Christian and I was able to share the gospel with him right there in his store, explaining our need for reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ. We then were able to tell him about this seeker’s group that was forming where he might be able to have some of his questions answered and he seemed very interested! He took our contacts and when I got home, found an email from him waiting in my Inbox. I sent him an article about the gospel and linked him to an interactive presentation in Chinese explaining it in simpler terms.

I want to share this story with you as an encouragement to see the harvest around you. I was surprised at the opportunities to witness to Chinese people in Malawi when God first began prompting me to pray for Kirkie, but as I talked to other believers, God reminded me of the work He is doing in stirring people’s hearts to share His good news. Many other people I spoke to had felt similar convictions about reaching this interesting (and maybe unexpected) group of people in Lilongwe, but as we individually began sensing God’s nudging, we found support and a way to respond collectively, as a Body.

Please remember Kirkie and his family in your prayers. Please also pray for the missionaries in Lilongwe who are burdened with this population of people – the ex-pat community is large and there are many spiritual needs. Pray for wisdom and intentionality in their friendships, and opportunities to share the gospel. Pray also for the missionaries who are organizing this seeker’s group, for wisdom in planning and sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit, as well as for those individuals God is leading to join the group. Lastly, please pray for the Bible study materials which are being shipped from Canada! They should be arriving anytime now!

Thank you for your partnership in prayer.