Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 35:1 (Apr 2023)
Article: Reimagining The Role Of The Pastor As A Teaching Elder In The Twenty-First-Century Church Of Central Africa Presbyterian Nkhoma Synod Context: A Situational Audit Of Lilongwe City Congregations
Author: Maxwell Banda Chiwoko

Conspectus 35:1 (April 2023) p. 74

Reimagining The Role Of The Pastor As A Teaching Elder In The Twenty-First-Century Church Of Central Africa Presbyterian Nkhoma Synod Context: A Situational Audit Of Lilongwe City Congregations

Maxwell Banda Chiwoko

Nkhoma University

About The Author

Rev. Maxwell Banda Chiwoko was born on the 18th of January 1992. He was ordained as a pastor in the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Nkhoma Synod in 2016. From 2016 to date, he has been teaching Biblical Hebrew language, Old Testament Studies, and Research Methods at Nkhoma University, Malawi. He has a Licentiate in Theology from Zomba Theological College, Malawi (2014); a Bachelor of Divinity Degree from the University of Malawi (2016), Postgraduate Certificate in the Translation of the Hebrew Bible from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (2018); Master of Theology majoring in Biblical Hebrew Linguistics from South African Theological Seminary (2021). He is currently completing his Ph.D. at SATS. From 2013–2017 he served as Biblical Languages Reviewer and Editor of the Mau a Mulungu mu Chichewa cha Lero Bible translation project with the Biblica International. He is married to Alice and has two children: Hillel Theophilus and La’el Maralise. [email protected]

This article: https://www.sats.ac.za/conspectus/reimagining-role-pastor-teaching https://doi.org/10.54725/conspectus.2023.1.5

Abstract

In the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, Nkhoma Synod, a pastor has various responsibilities. Crucial to the pastoral calling is the ministry of teaching. They therefore define the pastor as a teaching elder. One important way a pastor fulfills the teaching responsibility is through preaching, but this study found that, because of various factors, most of the preaching is done by laypeople. In this research, I argue that there is a need to reimagine how pastors can fulfill their teaching responsibilities in the twenty-first-century context.

Keywords

CCAP Nkhoma Synod, teaching elder, Reformed tradition, lay empowerment

1. Introduction

One of the principal duties of a pastor in the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, Nkhoma Synod (CCAP NS, from hereon) is preaching the Word. The pastor is considered to be a teaching elder. While the common understanding has been that a pastor must do all the preaching himself, the situational audit of the current practices in the church reveals that laypeople preach the most. Yet the laity is not empowered to effectively carry out the responsibility of preaching. This research paper calls for the role of the pastor as a teaching elder

Conspectus 35:1 (April 2023) p. 75

to be rei...