Malawi Anglicans asked to accelerate missionary work

The Anglican faithful have been asked to uphold the undertaking the pioneer Missionaries brought in the country in the eighteenth century so that their efforts are not in vain.

Chikwawa Police officer in charge Mac Millan Nyirongo made the call on Sunday during the Church’s celebration of the Universities Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) settlement in Chikhwawa.

The Church organises the event at Julius village near Kamuzu Bridge in Chikhwawa where Reverend Henry Carter Scadamore and Dr. John Dickson died in January and March 1863, respectively, along the banks of the Shire River. The Missionaries had settled in the area from April 28, 1862.

Nyirongo, who was guest of honour at the event, observed that it did not make any sense to remember the Missionaries work when nothing is done to sustain their laid down foundation.

“The Church should look beyond the commemoration. It should rather look at the mission and services the Missionaries brought and then build on that.

“The Missionaries did not only abolish the slave trade but also brought development and we should strive to carry on with that,” he said.

Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi, the Right Reverend Alinafe Kalemba said the Church was committed to pursuing the mission through its humanitarian and development works.

Initially the church planned to bring an irrigation scheme which is along Shire river banks but the proposal faced ownership problem hitches.

Rev. Scadamore and Dr. John Dickson came to Malawi in 1861 in the company of Dr. Charles Mackenzie following a request by Dr. David Livingstone to liberate Malawi then Nyasaland from a roving slave trade.

They first settled in Magomero, Chiradzulu but moved on to Chikwawa after Mackenzie died of malaria in 1862.

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