Our relationship with Lisanjala Church in Malawi started in 2009. Since then, we've taken 12 different groups from our church to visit Malawi (and hosted members of Lisanjala Church on a visit here with us). Over 100 church members have had the privilege of seeing first hand the welcome, the hospitality, and the generosity of our friends in Malawi.

The theme verse for our Meet Malawi partnership is Romans 1:12. "That you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith." We don't go to Malawi to try to make everything better for them. We go knowing that when we are together, we are all mutually encouraged by each other's faith. We learn from them and they learn from us. Yes, we do try to help out but they also help us however they can. One of the first things we tackled together was to help our friends at Lisanjala Church finish construction on a new church building. That church now serves as a community hub at the center of several surrounding villages. Several years later, our friends from Lisanjala returned the favor. We were there when they took up an offering to help us build a church of our own here in Champaign. It was a beautiful example of the mutual encouragement at the heart of this relationship

Water-born illnesses infect many people throughout Malawi. We have partnered with Mulanje Mission Hospital near our sister church to try to help provide clean drinking water in as many places as possible. Through the hard work of the hospital, we've been able to dig new wells and rehabilitate old broken wells. Those clean water sources serve an area inhabited by over 50,000 people.

Beginning with high school aged kids, education is not free in Malawi. This means that many poor and vulnerable people are not able to send their children to school. We are committed to helping make education accessible to as many kids as possible in the villages surrounding Lisanjala Church. We provide scholarships to between 15 and 20 students to help pay the cost of attending high school. As some of those students graduate and express an interest in furthering their education, we have also begun offering college scholarships.

Several years ago, our friends at Lisanjala Church expressed a desire to start a nursery school for the youngest children in the area. Through our partnership, we've been able to help that nursery school get started and we continue to help offset the cost of that program.

In addition, we provide funding that helps buy porridge for students at the nursery school, as well as at the public elementary school that opened near by. For many students that porridge meal is the only hot meal they get each day. The porridge is vitamin fortified and helps kids grow stronger and healthier.

If you would like information about our next trip to Malawi, please fill out the form below.