Empowerment of the laity at congregational level: a case study of the Nkhoma CCAP congregation

Abstract

This case study answers the question: What should be done in the Malawian Church to lead the laity and lay leadership towards a holistic ministry relevant to the contemporary situation in an effort to develop congregations into self-reliant, spiritually matured, all-participatory and social service-providing ones that strive to act as signs of the reign of God? The setting is the 6500 member CCAP Nkhoma congregation in Malawi where over a period of 18 months three successive rounds of meetings were held in the five zones of the congregation. Participatory action research methodology was used involving the 19 prayer houses and 76 wards in a process of grounded research focused on answering the research question. The outcome was simply amazing and proves that with the right leadership, theology and methodology poverty can be addressed.