Adventist Church global leader to visit Malawi

President of the General Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church Pastor Ted Wilson is expected to visit Malawi next month.

The 69-year-old is expected to jet in the country on February 7 through Kamuzu International Airport for the pastoral visit.

SDA Malawi Union president Pastor Frackson Kuyama in an interview yesterday said Wilson is expected to have various engagements in the country before flying out on February 10.

He said: “We are very excited as a church for his scheduled visit. This is something we cannot take for granted, even as a nation, owing to the ever-tight schedule of his office. The church eagerly waits for the visit,” he said.

Kuyama, who said the church will soon release a detailed statement on Wilson’s itinerary in the country, said the global leader’s visit will consolidate the church further.

He said: “It is a manifestation that SDA is indeed a global church. The fact that he has included Malawi on his tours this year means a lot to us as a church. We can only be grateful to God for the grace bestowed on us.”

Sketchy details indicate that the global leader will tour a few African countries on this trip, including Angola and South Africa, before moving on to Papua New Guinea later in March.

This will not be Wilson’s first visit to Africa. He was in Uganda in 2018 before visiting Rwanda in August last year where he baptised 100 000 Christians.

Known for his passion for advocating for religious liberty, Wilson is reported to have “commended the spirit of camaraderie he observed as [Rwanda] continues to heal after genocide claimed the lives of as many as 800 000 people in 1994”.

Wilson is currently in his second five-year-term as head of the church’s General Conference, after succeeding Jan Paulsen in 2010.

According to the SDA official website https://www.adventist.org, the church had over 20.7 million members worldwide as of 2017. The church operates in 202 out of 230 countries and areas recognised by the United Nations, making it “probably the most widespread Protestant denomination” globally.