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Malawi

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi

Who is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi and what are its ministries?

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi (ELCM), a member of the Lutheran World Federation, has 50,000 members.

The ELCM is establishing and strengthening congregations in rural and urban areas throughout Malawi. Training clergy, lay evangelists and congregational leaders is a major focus. The ELCM ministers to communities through evangelism to men, women and youth, through health care programs, through hunger programs, through HIV & AIDS projects, and through development work. ELCM also operates several primary schools and one girl’s boarding school. The development arm of the ELCM, Evangelical Lutheran Development Service (ELDS), is engaged in integrated rural development and educational projects.

How do the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America accompany one another in ministry?


Through the churchwide ELCA Global Mission unit, the ELCA relates to and is in bilateral relationship with over 80 companion churches and institutions. The ELCA Global Mission unit stewards a church-to-church relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi. This relationship is deepened and extended by the ELCM’s relationship, through the ELCA Companion Synods program, with the  Northwest Wisconsin Synod.

Churchwide funding through the ELCA Global Mission unit supports key priorities identified by the ELCM, including evangelism and outreach, scholarships for leadership training, primary school education and nutritional feeding programs for children, and HIV & AIDS projects.

The ELCA also supports the work of of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a global communion of 140 churches (including the ELCA) and 68 million people that is grounded in a common Lutheran faith.  The LWF provides space for Lutherans from around the world to share joys, challenges, and expertise as they seek the healing of the world. ELCA World Hunger funds help support the Department for World Service (DWS), the LWF’s relief and development arm, and the Department for Mission and Development (DMD), which focuses on holistic ministries through which the church participates in God’s mission to all creation.

In Malawi, the ELCA supports the Evangelical Lutheran Development Service, an associate program of the Lutheran World Federation Department for World Service, which is involved in numerous integrated rural development and educational projects in various parts of the country.

Malawi: the context where the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malawi serves

The Republic of Malawi became a fully independent member of the Commonwealth (formerly the British Commonwealth) in 1964. Its 10.7 million citizens recognize both English and Chichewa as their official languages, with other languages used regionally. About 55% of its citizens are Protestant, 20% are Roman Catholic, 20% are Muslim, and the remainder engaging in traditional indigenous customs.

The economy is largely dependent on tobacco production. Threatened for several years by severe famine, Malawi has recovered and is now providing maize, the main staple, to neighboring countries. About 6 million Malawians live below the poverty line, and between one-third and one-half of the working population of Malawi are thought to be infected by HIV/AIDS, with inevitable economic consequences.