Last year 400,000 missionaries were sent around the world; 127,000, or less than one-third, came from the United States. Brazil has now become the second largest missionary sending country; they sent 34,000 missionaries last year, many of them going to the U.S.

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says, “May you live in interesting times.” This is certainly an interesting time to be a missionary. I recently read in the Christian Post that two-thirds of the Christians in the world today live in countries that were receiving missionaries from the West a hundred years ago.

Last year 400,000 missionaries were sent around the world; 127,000, or less than one-third, came from the United States. Brazil has now become the second largest missionary sending country; they sent 34,000 missionaries last year, many of them going to the U.S. Another major supplier of missionaries is South Korea; I’ve seen a number of them here in Malawi.

God is doing a new thing on the earth and it’s exciting. It’s called the Two-Thirds World or Majority World Missionary Movement. God is raising up Asian, African, and Latin American Christians who are the next wave of long term missionaries. They are the ones that will continue the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20). This is where African Bible College (ABC) and institutions like it come in; they are training the leaders of this Majority World Missionary Movement.

Recently, I spoke with Davie Salomoni, an ABC graduate who has been working as a missionary in Mozambique. The reason I’m here is that because of the poverty here, people can barely support pastors, let alone Bible college professors. Expatriates like me can raise support in the States and supply the need that exists here.

Malawi is going through a difficult time. The country has run out of forex (foreign exchange, hard currency) with which to pay for imports, and just about everything that’s not a banana or a pineapple is imported. The cost of living was already high (in the US you pay about half of what we pay for gasoline and groceries), and now inflation is making life even more difficult for Malawians. We are desperately short of gasoline and diesel fuel. They say there are two things on earth visible from space: the Great Wall of China and the long lines of cars at filling stations in Malawi.

The core of the Malawian economy is tobacco, and world prices have dropped. The other pillar of the economy has been outside nation donors, and they have over the last year pulled out over concerns about the government. The head of state has told them where they can go. Last year he expelled the British “High Commissioner” (ambassador) and the British government retaliated by expelling the Malawian High Commissioner and cutting aid to Malawi; this has been a large chunk of the Malawian government’s budget.

Last July there were demonstrations. The police used live ammunition on the crowds, and 19 demonstrators were killed. The day before yesterday PAC (Public Affairs Committee, an amalgamation of Christian denominations and NGOs – non-government organizations) gave the head of state 60 days in which to address political/economic problems, or else resign or call for a national referendum. If this is not met, then PAC says it will call for “civil disobedience” (whatever that means). So far the government’s response has been to increase police patrols in the streets of the urban areas. I’m praying that there will not be a repeat of last July.

Life on the campus of African Bible College, Lilongwe, has been fairly normal. While I keep busy teaching and weekly outreach to the community continues, I’ve been unable to get out into the villages and do evangelism because of the fuel shortage.

Pray for missionaries in similar circumstances that they will all remain faithful.

Larry Brown is a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a member of Central South Presbytery, and serves as Professor of church history, world history, hermeneutics and missions at the African Bible College in Lilongwe, Malawi.
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