Pastors challenged to improve people’s lives

Pastors have been challenged to improve the economic conditions of their people by implementing skills they gain from Bible schools.

Registrar of Evangelical Bible College of Malawi (Ebcom), Jacob Katani, made the call during presentation of findings of research titled ‘Towards sustainable rural development’ which he conducted during his studies in South Africa.

“As pastors, you need to teach your members to be self-reliant. You should not always rely on the church. You have to develop yourselves and the people you serve.

“Pastors have to change the mindset of the rural people on community development that urbanisation is not the solution to avert poverty,” said Katani who is studying for a masters in theology.

“Urbanisation has become a big challenge in developing countries such as Malawi, leading people to flock to cities hoping to find easy life, where they instead find it difficult. Many people who have migrated to cities find it difficult to meet their daily basic needs, due to lack of access to income,” he said.

Ebcom principal, Pastor Michael Phiri, said God was the community developer and friend of the poor, so the role of the church was to sustain development. n