My Story: Herb Mather
Malawi 2000-2008, Herb Mather, Belmont UMC
Involvement with Malawi began in 2000 when I went to Malawi as part of a GBOD three-person team to conduct a week-long seminar with Malawi lay and clergy leaders. A second team returned in 2001. I was also a part of that team. A GBOD team went in 2002 but I did not participate due to my wife’s illness.
After my retirement from the Board in 2003, the Outreach Committee at Belmont asked me to organize a VIM team to Malawi for 2004.
In June 2003 I traveled to Malawi to meet with the United Methodist Church leaders and set up the first United Methodist VIM team to that country.
June 2004 we took a VIM team of 22 persons to Malawi for 12 days. 17 of the group came from Belmont. 5 were from Broadway UMC in Indianapolis where my oldest son is senior pastor.
Four persons from Belmont went to Malawi as a group but on their own to follow up on boreholes we had paid for during the past year and to renew friendships.
January, 2006 I went to Malawi to attend the “Annual Conference” session at the invitation of Bishop Nhiwatiwa.
June, 2006 a team of six persons (4 from Belmont, 1 from Indianapolis, 1 from Milwaukee) were the second official Malawi VIM team.
The Belmont UMW declared the Malawi UMW their primary outreach project for the next two years. We are not sure what all of this will mean yet, but it has great possibilities.
The first Sunday in October (this year) Bishop Nhiwatiwa visited Belmont and personally thanked the people for their involvement in Malawi.
Some data about Malawi and the Malawi UMC that you may find interesting:
a) Malawi is an extremely poor land-locked country in southeastern Africa that prides itself in being “the warm heart of Africa.”
b) The nation was a colony of England until 1964. They became a democracy in 1994.
c) The United Methodist Church began in Malawi around 20 years ago when two Nazarene pastors went to Zimbabwe to receive theological education and liked what they saw in the United Methodist Church. When they returned to Malawi and started congregations, they contacted the Zimbabwe bishop to ask if they could be accepted as UM churches.
d) Today there are over 100 congregations of United Methodists in Malawi. Technically, they are a district of the Zimbabwe UMC. Most congregations are in rural areas where the poverty is at its greatest.
Now for the future …
Belmont United Methodist Church pledged $50,000 to Malawi as part of its Legacy Campaign to begin building a “Conference Center.”
Belmont plans to take another VIM team to Malawi in 2008. We expect to leave around July 26 and be away from Nashville for from 12 to 14 days. Details are to be worked out. The trip will be tiring but we are not likely to do any physical labor. They want us there to be involved in a “ministry of encouragemen” (their language) which will mean many trips on dusty roads to rural villages to meet the people. We hope to have a medical component as part of the team effort.
We would be delighted to have participants on the VIM team from other UM churches in the Nashville area, in fact, from anywhere in the conference or beyond.
If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me by email or telephone … or Susan Utley, the chair of Outreach at Belmont. She has been there on both VIM teams and is a very enthusiastic and excellent leader. You will note that I am copying this email to her so you can see her email address. Let’s keep in touch.
Grace and peace to you.
Herb Mather
2608 Woodlawn Drive
Nashville, TN 37212-5222
615-385-5789 (cell)