Moderator comes full circle as he shares stories of Malawi with Scottish Borders church

The Moderator of the General Assembly worshipped at a Scottish Borders church twinned with a congregation he visited in Malawi.

Rt Rev Dr Shaw Paterson said it was a pleasure to share his experiences with members of Innerleithen, Traquair and Walkerburn Parish Church on Sunday.

The congregation has been twinned with Thondwe Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) for 20 years.

Building on the original link, Thondwe Community Partnership was created in 2016 with the objective of promoting mutual learning, friendship and development.

It works to create a two-way relationship between the twinned congregations and communities, supporting a wide range of projects.

Innerleithen, Traquair and Walkerburn Parish Church's commitment to journeying alongside their brothers and sisters in Christ is based on five pillars – reducing food poverty, economic development, improving health outcomes, quality of learning and mission.

As a result of the link, St Ronan's Primary School in Innerleithen is twinned with the school in Thondwe, a rural village near Zomba in southern Malawi.

Moderator's Challenge

Last August, Dr Paterson, his wife Christine, Church of Scotland congregational engagement officer Carol Finlay and Denis Robson, Innerleithen, Traquair and Walkerburn Parish Church partnership leader, visited the region, known as the Shire Highlands.

Addressing the congregation, Dr Paterson said: "It's good to be with you this morning and to bring the good wishes of the General Assembly and to congratulate you for the twinning you have in Malawi.

"As you know, Christine and I were in Malawi last August, accompanied by Carol Finlay and one of the people she introduced us to was Denis who does a tremendous amount to encourage and enhance your twinning.

"What impressed me the most was that he took no credit and he spoke about the contribution and support from the congregation and the community.

"He commented about the two-way process of a twinning - it's not just about giving, it's about receiving from Thondwe."

Dr Paterson recalled visiting a school where class sizes were on average 115 pupils and it had no lighting due to the lack of electricity.

"Denis showed me one of these solar powered lights, costing approximately £10, allowing children to do their homework at night," he said.

"So simple, but life-changing and I thank the good people of the village for bringing me down from the lofty heights of being Moderator, bringing me down from the mountain and recognising that God has a job for me to do."

Dr Paterson was so inspired by what he witnessed that he dedicated the Moderator's Challenge to fund solar-powered lights that children can borrow from their school.

It was launched in December and so far £22,019 has been raised.

The funds - donate here - will also be used to help PhD students at Zomba Theological University to study during the hours of darkness.

Love shared

Dr Paterson continued: "I thank Thondwe, I thank your twinning for that's what took me to the village and enabled me to hear God's message.

"God was saying to me ‘you've seen how lives can be enriched and opportunities opened up - you are the Moderator, use your position to make a practical difference in education'.

"Let me assure you, you have made real not a mountain top vision but you have made real when Jesus says: "I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took care of me."

Dr Paterson said he was "honoured" when villagers presented him with a gift of a live chicken.

"A chicken which I had to name and I called it love," he added.

"I was honoured that the village was willing to give the Moderator's chicken to a neighbouring village, giving love quite literally to a neighbouring village.

"Sharing is at the heart of the gospel."

One of the highlights of the Moderator's visit to Malawi was taking part in the blessing of a new bridge connecting the Thondwe community with the school.

The original structure was washed away by Cyclone Freddy, a powerful and deadly storm which hit between 5 February-14 March 2023.

Addressing the congregation, Dr Paterson said: "I was given the honour of officially opening the bridge over the gulley and river separating the two halves of the village.

"By way of background, when Moderators travel we have a tracker - a small electronic device that locates our exact position.

"Well, I started to walk back and forth over this bridge and at one-point Carol asked what I was doing and I said that people in (Scotland) will see me moving back and forth, but the bridge is new so they don't know it's here and think this Moderator can walk on water.

A miracle? I haven't told them otherwise, but no.

"What you have enabled, what my challenge has raised, cannot really be regarded as a miracle but the difference it makes to God's children, our neighbours in Malawi, is miraculous.

"May God bless you as you continue to grow and develop your twinning."

Rev Fraser Edwards, minister of Innerleithen, Traquair and Walkerburn Parish Church, said the congregation was delighted that the Moderator shared worship with them on Sunday.

He said he planned to visit Thondwe for the first time in June and see for himself the impact of the community partnership.

Last year, it enjoyed a wide range of achievements including re-building two bridges to enable children to get to school safely, provided uniforms and desks and developed the school garden and light library.

A total of 150 Girls received menstrual hygiene kits and health education and 20 pairs of spectacles were provided to teachers and church members.

Some thirty 50kg bags of maize were harvested from the church garden for vulnerable families and seed and fertiliser was produced for the 2025 growing season.

Strong partnership

This year the partnership hopes to provide 10 corrugated iron - wrinkly - roofs for houses, diversify crops in the church garden, supply banana and mango trees for church member's gardens, deliver a school feeding programme and repair the school borehole and rain water drainage system.

The Scottish church sent Good News bibles to Thondwe and provided finance to Chichewa bibles locally from the Bible Society of Malawi.

Mr Edwards said: "The partnership has really grown over the years, partly because Denis is committed to visiting the village a couple of times a year.

"It is a strong partnership between the two churches and the two village schools have a strong partnership too with life in Malawi being the subject of assemblies in Innerleithen.

"The congregation was really pleased that when the Moderator visited Malawi to take part in celebrations marking 100 years of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian he took the time to go and meet our friends in Thondwe.

"For our friends there, it was a great honour for them to have the Moderator come to see them.

"I am in regular contact with Rev James Chigoli and we share hymns and prayers - our partnership is about learning from each other and we lend support where we can.

"It expands our faith because it reminds us that we are part of a church that is bigger than the Church of Scotland."