Malawi Faith conversations

People from the churches in Tetbury recently held four Skype-linked conversations with christians in the town of Blantyre, in Malawi, southern Africa.

"It was a fascinating time" said Noel Sharp, Minister for Tetbury Christ Church. "The internet connection was not always great, but the human connection made up for it. We prayed together. We introduced ourselves. The people from Blantyre sang to us. We in Tetbury sang to them. We read Exodus 16 and discussed God's provision of manna from heaven. We read Joel 2 about the blessings of God's spirit on the church. We said the Lord's Prayer together. In all this we began to see and feel a little of what our brothers and sisters in christ see and feel. We heard about the success of their harvest and we told them about ours. We heard about the effects of the climate change and vast wealth inequality and about Christian Aid's work with pigeon pea farmers in Malawi, who helping them to work together in farmers groups to get a better price for their produce.

We often sing the words 'I will weep when you are weeping; when you laugh I'll laugh with you; I will share your joy and sorrow till we've seen this journey through'.

In Blantyre and in Tetbury we felt a little more what this really means as christian people in the world today. We really are one Body in Christ."