Doing LIFE Together
The Baptist Theological Seminary of Malawi (BTSM) is a locally-led Bible College for believers
from Malawi and surrounding countries. These local leaders are built up and equipped to
return to their communities and lead their own people. Gary and Shirley have been invited to
serve through the BTSM as the Seminary works towards becoming increasingly self-sufficient.
This is an exciting and different context for our ministry in Malawi and Mozambique.
Here, Gary and Shirley share about their next adventure together...
Gary Shirley
In 2016, after sixteen years of ministry at Wellington
Baptist Church, NSW, we were given four months off as
a Sabbatical. We spent eight weeks of it at the Baptist
Theological Seminary of Malawi. We were struck by the
lack of resources of the seminary… even getting a white
board marker was sometimes difficult! However, we were
also struck by the hospitality, friendship and oneness
in Christ that we experienced with the students and
teachers. When we headed back to Australia, there was
more than a small part of us that remained there.
In coming home, we were asked to consider returning
to BTSM fulltime with Global Interaction. We had good
paying jobs and family in Australia. However, God had been
challenging me for many years about the great need for
development of pastors and church leaders in developing
countries. I had received good Bible training in Australia and
served as a pastor for nearly thirty years and the question
kept coming back to me… “How could I be so selfish as to
stay in comfort here and not pass the training on?”
Probably for me the confirmation of God’s calling came
through the words of one of our Malawian students.
He pleaded with me to come back
because the needs are so great.
I felt humbled and challenged
about my own selfishness. I
have received so much and
now it is my time to share
that with others.
After the experience of living in three different countries,
extensive travel and three short term mission trips to
Myanmar (Burma) – surely I was well prepared for a
mission trip to East Africa!? However, after 46 hours
travelling to Lusaka, Zambia, I was tired and sore from
sitting and extremely relieved to catch up with Gary at
the airport. The next day our vehicle broke down twice on
the two hour trip to the church… And the service went for
three hours! All I wanted to do was go home and cry.
But then we met some of the students we would be
teaching. Their love for God, desire to know Him more
and share this with others challenged me to put things
in perspective.
In 2016 we went on our first trip to teach at the Baptist
Theological Seminary of Malawi. We were there for eight
weeks. Power was only available about 40% of the time,
so preparation was often done by candlelight. It was hot,
noisy and hard to get a good night’s sleep. Plus our house
was in the Seminary compound so it felt like we were
living in a fish bowl!
So why are we planning to return to BTSM fulltime? Gary
and I have a strong sense of God calling us together.
When we look back, we can see how He has prepared us
for this. We know that it won’t be easy, but we also know
that we can trust in God’s leading and the different but
complimentary gifts He has given us for this unique task.
MALAWI