October Update

 

Thank you so much for those of you who prayed into our teaching with the pastors tackling the prevalent issue of witchcraft. We spent three weeks on this topic & we had a great time (& the pastors did too!) Culturally Malawians are not very open about this topic but the pastors appeared very open and contributed a lot, sharing their own personal testimonies of how God has protected them where witchcraft has been directed their way and also their challenges as family members of theirs still take part in witchcraft. Thankfully the bible is very clear on God’s view of witchcraft so there’s no room biblically for any acceptance of this issue. We encouraged all of them to continue teaching into this area in their churches as they all shared that some members of their churches continue to use witchcraft in their lives.   

 

New & exciting development!

During our time in the UK we had received some prophetic words about serving in church leadership in Malawi. We said to God if this is you, then open up the door. Upon our return from our UK trip the leadership team of our church here in Blantyre asked us to meet with them one evening, and….they invited us to join the leadership team.

We spent a few weeks praying it through and we both felt very clearly that Father was saying Yes, this was a door He had opened & that He would teach us in this role, that we should serve out of ‘being’ & out of our identity as children of God, not out of ‘doing’ mentality. We had a time of commissioning in our Sunday service on the 22^nd October & received some exciting prophecies. We are very excited about serving our church here in this new role and all that Father will teach us personally in this too. We love our church in Blantyre, it’s very unique…..it’s an International Church, about 60% of the church is Malawian, and unusually for an International Church the Malawians who are part of the church are very uneducated and very poor Malawians. Then thrown into the mix are a whole host of other nationalities from a wide range of church backgrounds ranging from religious traditional churches right through to the likes of us at the other end of the spectrum and it makes for an interesting church mix! The church leadership team are all totally Kingdom minded & supernatural ministry minded and consequently we feel very free to just be ourselves and who Father has made us which is very liberating.   

We continue to carry on with our other ministry here, training the Miqlat staff in Kingdom ministry, delivering discipleship to the older teenagers at Miqlat, delivering Sozo sessions & mentoring our Malawian pastor. 

 

We wanted to share a message from Gareth Russell, Senior Pastor of Grand Union Vineyard Church, our UK home church:

“Dear friends,

It is my privilege to write to you on behalf of Mark and Laura. The work they are doing is incredibly important as they teach, train, and disciple key leaders. Not only that, they are seeing some incredible breakthrough in the lives of individual people throughout the region as they offer ministry and healing and deliverance through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The calling this couple have is absolutely vital in seeing the church grow regionally and nationally and it has to be sustainable.

I have absolutely no problem in encouraging you to invest in their work. Recently, I have experienced a number of life events that have once again reminded me to invest in that which has eternal value. Life is short and people need Jesus. How we invest our money can have value so great, it brings salvation to those who have never heard the good news and being given freedom from those things that have held them back from experiencing life in its fullest.

One-off gifts are always welcome, but to help this amazing couple create a truly sustainable framework from which to release their ministry, I would like to encourage you today to consider investing monthly. They have ongoing costs, like administration,  fuel costs to reach remote rural communities and vehicle upkeep. But it is these administrative costs that allow the ministry to happen.  It doesn’t need to be a huge amount - maybe £10/month (three Starbucks coffees), maybe £50/month, maybe £100/month. Whatever you can afford; what if today you decided to invest in a kingdom project, that God is already using to bring life in a country so desperately in need?

Please would you consider giving today? To set up your monthly giving or give a one-off amount, please go to https://www.give.net/20189271

I want to say in advance a huge thank you to everyone who reads this and decides to act. Your investment will have a direct impact, not only on Mark and Laura, but on many, many people throughout those communities.”