The Gospel to Malawi

The story of Christian mission in Malawi, Africa, is a story of receptivity and growth. Malawians take their name from the Maravi, an ancient people group of the region. The nation’s preindependence name was Nyasaland. Today the small nation is appropriately called “The Warm Heart of Africa.” Malawi had a population of about 2.9 million in 1950; today’s population exceeds 20 million.¹ The traditional religion of Malawi was a variation of African traditional religion. Today about 80 percent of Malawians self-identify as Christian.

David Livingstone trekked through Malawi in 1859, and the first Christian missionaries arrived in 1861. George James, a Battle Creek College attendee from England, went to Malawi in 1893 as an independent Adventist missionary. He itinerated in the villages, playing his violin, singing, and preaching. Unable to sustain mission work alone, he departed, intending to join missionaries at Solusi Mission in Zimbabwe. Sadly, he died along the way and rests in an unknown grave.²

Malawi followed South Africa and Zimbabwe as the third recipient of Adventist mission initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa. In 1902 the General Conference purchased Plainfield Mission from the Seventh Day Baptists. The mission was renamed Malamulo (Commandments) Mission. The first official Adventist missionaries were Thomas Branch,³ with his family, and Joseph Booth.⁴ 

Growth factors

At the 1905 General Conference Session, President A. G. Daniells singled out Malawi by calling for the church to “materially strengthen our missions in Nyassaland [sic], Rhodesia, China, Korea, Ceylon, Turkey, and Egypt.”⁵ As time passed, Malamulo Mission became widely known among Adventists, partly through the writing of Josephine Cunnington Edwards. Mission work gradually expanded to other mission stations that functioned as hubs for church planting. In 1958 the territory was reorganized into fields, which later became conferences. By 2023 the Malawi Union claimed 712,000 members.⁶

What can account for the outstanding progress of Adventist mission in Malawi? A major part of the answer is in the committed and effective Malawian leaders who worked alongside early missionaries and eventually assumed full leadership responsibilities. This article focuses on factors in the early phases of Adventist mission in Malawi that can be seen elsewhere when patterns were established that are still bearing fruit. What are those factors?

First, the Holy Spirit was active in the work of missionaries, local workers and in the hearts of the people who responded to the gospel invitation. Without the Spirit, the very best methods would have been ineffective.

Second, the traditional religious belief in a Creator God (called Mulungu or Chiuta) was enhanced by the Bible’s teaching about God. God had been at work in the hearts of local people to create an attitude of receptivity. The unique life, teaching, and saving work of Jesus Christ was a new factor that was highly attractive and broadened their religious experience.

Third, Bible translation into local languages began very quickly. When people had the Word of God in their original language, they had a sense of personal ownership of the gospel. Thus, Malawian culture was affirmed because local languages were considered valid vehicles for the Word of God. Becoming a Christian did not require knowing the missionaries’ foreign language. Adventists relied on the work of multidenominational Bible societies for Bible translation, but they also wrote and translated other materials. A printing press went into operation at Malamulo Mission in 1926. Literature sales and distribution have been an enduring part of the mission strategy in Malawi.

Fourth, starting within a very few years, people were evangelized by fellow Malawians who used the vernacular Bible, understood the Bible from their cultural perspective, and contextualized the message to the local culture. Local evangelists and pastors fanned out from the mission station hubs into the villages, where churches were planted.

Fifth, schools that taught basic literacy were established, using the Bible as a major textbook. A school was started at Malamulo, with Thomas Branch’s daughter, Mabel, as the first Adventist schoolteacher in Malawi. In 1905 a group of seven boys from the school were baptized. As time passed, the school system expanded to become a significant part of mission.

Sixth, pastors, teachers, medical workers, masons, and carpenters were trained. One of the early converts was Morrison Malinki, who was Thomas Branch’s translator. Malinki became a teacher and then a pastor, and his sons, James and Joseph, followed in his footsteps. James Malinki went on to become a cross-cultural missionary, planting churches in surrounding nations. Schools to train teachers and pastors were established at Malamulo Mission. Carpenters and masons were trained at Matandani Mission.

Seventh, a discipleship model of mission was used. Evangelism typically occurred at camp meetings, which drew attendees from surrounding churches to a central location. Calls were made, and people who responded were enrolled in a one-year “Bible class” that met during Sabbath School in their home churches. At the next camp meeting they graduated to a “baptismal class” that met for another year. They were baptized as full church members when the next camp meeting arrived. This in-depth approach provided an excellent grounding in a preliterate, pre-Christian society.

Eighth, modern health care was provided in a setting in which tropical disease took many lives. A medical clinic was opened in 1915 by nurse Irene Fourie. Carl Birkenstock became the first physician to work at Malamulo in 1925. Specialized work for leprosy patients started in 1926. As time passed, medical clinics were established at the other mission stations and in some isolated areas. Medical and dental offices and hospitals were opened in Blantyre, Limbe, and Lilongwe. From its humble beginnings Adventist medical ministry has become a significant provider of Malawi’s national health-care services. Those services include some medical specialties, dental care, and training nurses, medical assistants, and laboratory technicians. Adventist Health International, based at Loma Linda University, now has a highly valued partnership with Malamulo Hospital for providing the only Adventist surgical residency training for physicians in Africa.

Finally, beginning slowly but steadily gaining momentum, a pattern was set for replacing expatriate leaders with Malawians. The first ordination of five pastors occurred in 1929. Malawian teachers and pastors carried heavy responsibilities from the earliest years. Malawians pioneered the opening of Luwazi Mission and Lunkija Mission. B. B. Nkosi became the first Malawian field president in the 1960s. The process of nationalizing administrators culminated when F. A. Botomani became the first Malawian union president in 1980.

Into the future

As the Malawi Union looks forward into the twenty-first century, its effectiveness within its own territory and capacity for service in the world field are excellent. God has indeed blessed the “Warm Heart of Africa,” and Malawian Adventists can share His blessings with the world.

¹ General population and demographic statistics are from Internet sources.

² Gorden Doss, “George James: Pioneer in the Malawi Work,” Adventist Review, Nov. 11, 1993, pp. 17, 18.

³ See https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/search-results?term=
thomas+branch.

⁴ Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1996),vol. 11, pp. 12-17.

⁵ A. G. Daniells, “The President’s Address,” Review and Herald, May 11, 1905, p. 9.

⁶ Annual Statistical Report, 2024.