Common Life

Ephesians 3:19-21; “…and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
It is with great pleasure that I’m able to come and serve here at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit in Lilongwe, Malawi. I haven’t been to the heart of Africa for over 7 years now, and I miss it! It felt really good to arrive at the airport and come out smelling Africa! The ground is Africa Brown. You could see the color of it everywhere! Malawi is a country in southern Africa, surrounded by Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania.

On our way from the airport, we passed by a gas (petrol) station, and there was a line on the street about 20-25 cars long! There’s shortage in diesel, and people have to wait in line forever to get a fill-up!

I met some wonderful people here in Lilongwe. People who are passionate about their calling to serve Africa. Stella, who’s on staff at Willow Creek, lives here and she’s the one who brought the Summit to Malawi. I met Ernest, who is on the committee that organized the summit, he was the do it all person, the man who knows how to get things done in Malawi. He and his wife are heroes, when we had no power on Saturday, his wife found 10 litres of diesel for the generator to power the GLS for us. She reminded me of the women who poured all her fragrance on Jesus’ feet; with Malawi’s shortage on fuel these days, it was a wonderful gesture to give diesel for the Summit! Funwayo is a pastor from a city 4 hours away! He came and helped with powerpoint and other technical help. Grace was the glue! She has a wonderful smile, great attitude and a final exam on Monday! She was waking up at 2AM everyday this week to study, then she goes on to work on GLS work during the day.

I saw the love that surpasses knowledge this week in all of them. They obeyed God’s calling for them, and He delivered His message using them. So, while we couldn’t imagine a video and audio signal that is professionally displayed for the conference audience. While we couldn’t imagine power coming out of the generator on Saturday. While we couldn’t imaging even powering the generator itself with diesel that requires drivers to spend the night in front of gas stations, just to get their cars filled up. God did “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

There’s a common life between all of God’s people, bringing Hope to the world. I’m inspired to keep focus!