July 22nd 2015
By Samuel Malasa Banda, Cornerstone Ministries
Three days of inspiration, learning and promise can best describe the UrbanPromise International (UPI) staff summit held at the Natural Resources College in Lilongwe from Thursday 16 July to Saturday 18 July 2015.
Speaking during the opening session, Reverend Dr. Bruce Main, Founder and President of UrbanPromise International, emphasised the importance of appreciating each and every person that the ministries work with.
Basing his remarks in Psalm 8, Dr. Main stated, “Every human being matters. It’s easy to say this but difficult to live it.” Dr. Main spiced his talk with educative anecdotes which helped the audience reflect upon themselves in relation to their work as servants of people.
Some of the topics covered in the sessions were Child Protection, facilitated by Mrs Monica Chang’anamuno; Sports and Youth Ministry led by parliamentarian Sam Kawale; Helping Youth Reach Their Full Potential led by Cindy Stallo, and Servant Leadership covered by the Student Christian Organisation of Malawi General Secretary Patrick Kaudzu.
In his presentation on servant leadership, Kaudzu bemoaned the tendency of the church in Malawi where it always blames the government of practising transactional leadership instead of transformational management of the country.
“Malawi has been a republic for only 51 years while the church has been there since time immemorial. So between the church and government who is supposed to take the blame for failing to produce development conscious leaders?” he asked the audience.
The conference brought together workers from six UPI-affiliate ministries: Cornerstone Ministries Malawi from the lakeshore district of Salima, YouthCare from Chitipi Lilongwe, ChristCares Ministries working in the Kanengo area of Lilongwe, RiseMalawi from Madisi Dowa, Rays of Hope from Chilomoni Blantyre, and ProjectTEACH which implements its activities in Luchenza, Thyolo.
Representing participants and their organisations, Board Chair for RiseMalawi Richard Chigwenembe commended UPI’s work which has helped young people and other vulnerable groups in Malawi reach their full potential through supporting its affiliated ministries.