Propagation of the Word of God – it was at the heart of men and women of God to preach the Gospel to their fellow natives. It is evident that many places were reached and evangelised by the same people. They had great zeal for Christ and did much of the evangelistic work (Laws, 1934:140). The missionaries only came to establish preaching points, baptise the people, ordain elders, induct deacons, and conduct Holy Communion. The planting of the Church
was in the hands of the Native Church. These African Church evangelists really won people for Christ and God used them mightily. As McIntosh (1993:153, 154) rightly puts it, the natives of Angoniland also awakened to their responsibilities for the tribes beyond. He adds that thirty-seven teachers undertook two months’ extension work in the Marambo, the area of the plain, which lies to the West of the hills bordering the lake. In another instance in 1906, twenty-two men volunteered for the extension work of the gospel in the Marambo towards the Luangwa valley (Johnston, 1908:115).
During vacation, the Livingstonia Institution also sent teachers firstly, to villages seven days on foot away and then to places fourteen days away. It was encouraging that, in some villages, people of all ages helped by offering free labour to build a Church, which would also be used as a school (McIntosh, 1993:153, 154). McIntosh (1993:154) observes that from as early as 1896, we hear of aggressive Christian development work by native Christians in villages from two to eight miles away as the crow flies and a group from the Institution goes out during the school vacation to bring the Gospel to the Poka peoples and others. McIntosh states (1993:154) that a few years later, there was also missionary work among the Senga of Marambo in Zambia. Among them, Angoni Christians headed twenty schools, and the Church at Bandawe sent twenty-two men to evangelise the Senga. They were away for five months, opened thirteen schools and brought back twelve Senga to the mission boarding school at Bandawe, all paid for by the native Church. An event of considerable significance was the native Church’s contribution towards the planting of the Church in the form of finances and personnel. There were local contributions to the growth of the Church, both in Nyasaland (Malawi) and Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) (McIntosh, 1993:154; Minutes: CCAPLiv Presbytery, 1947:1, 2).
By 1898, the Livingstonia Mission was well established in Central Africa. Laws (1934:140) states that “at the Presbytery meeting at which the proposal of having separate congregations with their Pastors was agreed to, my European fellow-workers joined me in the resolution that the decision of settling the question of the native salary should be made by the people themselves without the slightest hint of its amount being made by Europeans. We told the Presbytery they knew what their minister would need, what they were able to give. They must settle what the salary was to be (Laws, 1934:140).” The Native Church was composed of only the African Christians and ministers. This meant that African ministers struggled with the ministry for they lived in very terrible conditions at the time (McCracken, 2000:240).
Following the 1931 Presbytery meeting of Livingstonia North, the native ministers were to work in their districts, as allocated in 1930. They were also to receive their salaries from the Native Church. The Native Church had its own Allocation Committee. In 1930, the following elders and ministers formed this Committee: the Rvds. Andrew Mkochi, the convenor, Yesaya Chibambo, Yoram T.K. Mphande, Messrs, Samuel Nyasulu, Philemon Chirwa, W.M. Mkandawire, Simon Mkandawire, Thomas Nhlema and Timote Jere (from Chasefu), Moderator and Clerk (Laws, 1934:135, 145; Minutes: CCAPLiv North Presbytery, 1931:5)
The well-organised congregation and evangelistic fellowship meetings enhanced the spread of the Gospel and the conversion of many. A local member (Oral interview: Mvula, 03-11- 03) emphasized that it was due to the local people, both Zambians and Malawians, that the Gospel spread to their brothers and sisters. These Africans were very dedicated to the Word of God. They braved the wild animals, dense and fierce jungles and tsetse flies. They walked on bare feet for the sake of Christ. Every year, these men of God conducted Bible studies and evangelistic campaigns (called Chisokole) in almost every prayer house. Prominent Zambian evangelists at that time were Jeremiah Nq'umayo, Samson Mapala, Zebulon L. Ng’uni, Timoti Jere and Yonah Mbeye (Minutes: CCAPLiv Presbytery, 1946:1; 1947:1; 1948: 1; 1950:3; 1951:28; 1953:2).
5.3.4 The Presbytery
The Livingstonia Presbytery (1899) was part of the Free Church of Scotland - and after the re-union of 1929 part of the Church of Scotland. All administrative material came from the Scottish Church, e.g. the session minute books of the Chasefu congregations. According to the Presbyterian Church government, a Presbytery is one of the highest courts of the Church. Since Livingstonia Presbytery was a Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland, it had the serious responsibility of defining itself in its polity and to develop leadership in the Church (Oral interview: Thompson, 02-11-02; Oral interview: Nyirenda, 11-11-02). In view of this, the Presbytery had a major role of co-ordinating all the Church bodies existing at that time, such as the District Church Council, Mission Council and the Native Church, although the Mission Council seemed to have had more voice than that of other two in the Presbytery (Correspondence: Mzembe, P.C. Rev. 1952, 27th November; McIntosh, 1993:138, 139; Laws, 1934:143, 145).
5.3.4.1 The Rev. Dr. Donald Fraser of Loudon/Chasefu
Rev. Dr. Donald Fraser was born in 1870, at Argyllshire in Scotland. He was the fourth born in the family. In 1886 at the age of sixteen, he went to the University (Fraser, 1934:12). Before coming to Africa in 1896, he went for theological training in 1891 at the Free Church Theological Hall (Fraser, 1934:14). He came to Malawi in 1896, succeeding Dr. George Steele at Ekwendeni (Johnston, 1908:136; Thompson, 1995:78).
Having toured South Africa, Donald Fraser proceeded to Malawi where he was to serve with the Livingstonia Mission that was organised in 1874 (Laws, 1934:5). He was to work among the Tumbuka, Tonga, Ngoni, Senga and Bisa peoples of Malawi and Zambia (Fraser, 1934:54, 59, 136; Thompson, 1995:89). Fraser’s missionary strategy worked miracles. One notable approach was the sacramental convention introduced by him. People drawn from a wide area gathered to worship and hear the Word, followed by the celebration of Holy Communion. For example, in May 1898 at Ekwendeni, 4,000 people attended such a convention and 400 were baptised (Thompson, 1995:94). Temporary grass huts accommodated these large numbers of people (Misasa - Vithando, comparable to the Hebrew feast of the tabernacles) (Thompson, 1995:88). This reminded the Ngoni of their own feast of “N’cwala,” or feast of the first fruits (Fraser, 1934:31, 79; Johnston, 1908:136, 137).
Fraser had sympathy with African culture, urging that the Gospel was not to denationalise, but fulfil and incorporate what was not evil among the people to whom he preached (Thompson, 1995:151). He also encouraged indigenous music, since the Ngoni are very musical and rich in praise songs to their Chief (Thompson, 1995:147, 149, 150). They also have wedding, hunting and military songs. Some of the missionary colleagues opposed this as being inappropriate to the Christian faith, but William Koyi supplemented Fraser’s efforts, when he introduced Zulu hymns to the Ngoni (Oral interview: Thompson, 28-02-04; McCracken, 2000:237, 238, 239; Oral interview: Nyirenda, 11-07-02). As the process of Ngoni Christian hymn composition was already in progress, Fraser continued to encourage hymn-writing competitions every year. These Ngoni hymns were used locally and were translated into other languages.
He also promoted African leadership by giving leadership to women (Women eldership -
Balalakazi) and organised the system of sub-sessions (Thompson, 1995:161, 162, 163). By
1901, and owing to the large number of women, Fraser proposed the training of an order of deaconesses to the Presbytery. Seeing there was no reaction, he instituted the order of women “Balakazi” on his own in 1918. Women fulfilled the functions of elders in local congregations in line with similar Ngoni social groupings (Thompson, 1995:162, 163).
Fraser worked with the traditional values of the Ngoni people (Fraser, 1934:272; McCracken, 2000:237, 238; Oral interview: Nyirenda, 11-07-02). The system of hearers and catechumen classes was already established by the time Fraser arrived. The period between confession of faith and baptism lasted several years (2 - 4 years).
Fraser was more flexible than any of his colleagues. Fraser (1934:132) observes that “of course Fraser did lose his patience sometimes, but there was one thing he could do that a European seldom cares to do - he was willing to apologise if he felt he had lost his temper unjustly.” In general, Fraser was liked and trusted by the local communities more than any other missionary. He was nicknamed “Chisekeseke,” the one who smiles anyhow (Fraser, 1934:274). His main contribution to the Zambia church was in the area of the gospel, education, health and agriculture (Fraser, 1934:57, 58, 60; McCracken, 1977:224, 228). Fraser taught people a holistic approach to mission and evangelism.