Night of Prayer

A night of prayer is a relatively common event of the churches in Malawi. I have nothing to compare to it in the church in the States. These nights usually are called for to seek God’s guidance for major events coming in the life of the church. I have had the blessing of participating in two such nights in the last two weeks.

The first was New Year’s Eve. This is a relatively common practice. Instead of a wild party or a calm social gathering in someone’s home, the church sponsors a night of praise and prayer for the congregation and especially for the youth. Much of the program is designed to appeal to the youth. This year at Limbe congregation the sanctuary was packed, mostly with youth. There were over 1,000 people who came for the night to pray and sing and hear powerful preaching. The event began about 8 p.m. with the church choirs leading in music. Special musicians and guest preachers had been invited to lead the celebration. One of the groups invited was the orphans’ choir from Likhubula House, a youth retreat center of the Synod that works with orphans from the area. This choir has traveled throughout Malawi and has been to Scotland to sing. The youngest of the group is 6 and sings with gusto. They delighted the congregation with their drumming and dancing as well as their singing. One of the benefits of living in a large city in a small country is the easy access to “media stars.” Radio and television in Malawi has produced “stars,” local gospel singers who have a great following. Three of those stars sang and lead praise during the night’s events. The crowd came to life when they stepped up to the chancel to sing their popular songs. The preaching was powerful and well received. But the highlight of the night’s event came at the stroke of midnight. The pastor led in prayer just before the time, thanking God for 2010 and then he led the countdown to 2011. There was great jumping and cheering as the hour struck. Just as in Time Square, people hugged and kissed and cheered. All this joy was followed by prayer again, committing 2011 to God. Then the singing and preaching resumed, going on until 5 a.m.  A few of the younger youth found pews for sleeping, but most made it through the night. It was a joyful time.

Likhubula Orphans' Choir

This past Friday night, I joined the elders and deacons of Limbe congregation for a night of prayer again. This, however, was different from the loud celebration of New Year’s Eve. This was prayer for God’s direction for the new leadership of the church. The new session clerks and other church officials were dedicated to their offices on January 2. The evangelism committee of the church (which does much more that just evangelism as we define it in the North) felt that the proper way to induct the new team was through prayer. So the leaders and supportive church members were invited to a time of prayer and commitment. About 250 came for the night. The praise team and band were present to assist with music. The focus of the night was commitment to Godly leadership. The committee had invited a number of elders to preach on 8 topics that included confession and repentance, spiritual disciplines, integrity, servant leadership, unity and anointed leading. Each presentation led into a time of concentrated prayer, followed by singing and praise. This was an 8 hour program of prayer that, in the end, seemed like an hour or two. It was a powerful time of God’s building up the leadership of the congregation. We left with an overwhelming sense of God’s leading and of unity among the leadership.

The church here is not perfect but one thing it understands and practices is the power and presence of prayer in the life of the congregation. This is one of the things that I treasure about the church in Malawi.