Chiwala, Nixon Constance

Nixon Chiwala was an influential church leader who pioneered cross-cultural missionary and championed ecumenism in Malawi. He was born on January 17, 1962, in Zammimba village, Balaka District, southern Malawi. He was the eighth-born of the eleven children of Absalom Chiwala (from Kapalamula) and Elidah (from Mambeya), both in the same District. His siblings were Patrick, Besy, Yuse, Oloson, Khalani, Martin, Elina, Judith, Rosemary, and Clement. The family depended on farming for their livelihood. Nixon was happily married to Faliness Mauwa and together they had five children: Snoliya, Linda, Prisca, Loyce, and Elidah. He belonged to the Ngoni tribe, and his mother tongue was Chichewa, though he also became fluent in English and Setswana. [1]

He attended the nearby Zammimba Primary School in 1968 before moving to Lakeview Primary School where he sat for Primary Leaving Certificate of Education in 1975. He then proceeded to Gowa Mission Secondary School in Ntcheu District, a Churches of Christ institution, before transferring to Blantyre Secondary School where he completed his Malawi School Certificate of Education in 1979. At Blantyre, he became involved with the Student Christian Organization of Malawi (SCOM). [2]

Chiwala’s spiritual journey took a significant turn in 1988 when he attended a crusade at Zammimba ground, Balaka, featuring Evangelist McDonald Botomani, who focused on the theme of “The Cost of Discipleship” (Mark 8:34-38). This inspired Chiwala to take on various church roles, including secretary and later session clerk. He was called to ministry in 1988 and graduated with a Diploma in Theology at Zomba Theological College where he deepened his faith. He was one of the first two theological students at Zomba Theological College to be sponsored by the Council for World Mission (CWM). Following ordination in 1993, he went on to serve at Gowa Mission Church, as well as Biwi, Kasane, Serowe and Selibephikwe in Botswana. [3]

On graduating from Zomba Theological College, Chiwala was elected General Secretary of the Churches of Christ in Malawi (CCM), a post that he held for the next ten years. It was during his tenure that CCM participated fully in CWM activities like the following:

Mission Support Programme One (MSP1): CCM planned to carry-out the following sub-programmes: training and development, evangelism and church planting, women’s economic empowerment, development of church literature, electricity and water supply, newsletter, ministers’ mobility, orphan care and support, and an archival library. A lesson learnt was that when the financial resources are thinly shared among many programmes and projects, there is minimal impact on the church and society. [4]

Self-Sustaining Programme: The CCM constructed a multi-million two-storey building known as Gowa House (see photo gallery below) at Lilongwe City Centre to be used for generating income to support church activities. The house was officially opened by State President Bakili Muluzi in 2000. This currently provides CCM’s main source of income as it is rented out to CDH Investment Bank.

Theological Education: Many students were admitted to Zomba Theological College for the licentiate certificate programme and later for the Bachelor of Divinity programme.

Missionary Service: Chiwala enabled Goodwin Zainga to become the first overseas missionary of the CCM when he served with the Congregational Federation in the UK from 1999 to 2001.

He also made sure that CCM participated in a variety of CWM programmes, including training in mission for youth, encouraging the partnership of men and women in mission, and exchange of ideas among theological students.

As an active ecumenist, he was a member of the Malawi Council of Churches (MCC), Christian Service Committee (CSC), Association of Christian Educators in Malawi (ACEM), and Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM). CCM became a member of the Chilema Lay Training Centre and three pastors served there as programme directors (Goodwin Zainga, Bictone Masiye, and Patrick Uttah).

Historically the General Secretary’s office had been located at Gowa Mission in the rural Ntcheu District. In April 1997, Chiwala moved the office from Gowa Mission to Lilongwe for easier communication with the outside world. His ability to build positive relationships with other churches was demonstrated by the willingness of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian to provide temporary accommodation for the office until it moved to Gowa House after its completion in 2000. [5]

Following the conclusion of his term as CCM General Secretary, he was appointed as a CCM missionary to serve in the Synod of Botswana of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA). His wife Faliness and their children went to Botswana with him. He was posted to Kasane Congregational Church, almost 1,000km from Gabarone, the capital city. One of the immediate challenges when they arrived was housing for the family. At first, they stayed in a house that belonged to a church member for two months while the Mission house was under construction. This was a two-bedroom house with only one bed. Since the children had no bed in their room, Nixon and Faliness gave them theirs while they slept on the base of the bed without a mattress. However, a week later, a bed was brought for the children and Nixon and Faliness got their bed back. And two months later, they moved to an uncompleted manse. The children had a difficult time adjusting to the housing situation, but Chiwala always encouraged them, saying, “God has a purpose and one day everything will be alright.” While the local church was not proactive on the housing issue, Chiwala took the initiative. He mobilized the people and formed a Project Committee. They raised funds for the manse and by the end of the year, they managed to complete the house and the family was comfortably settled. [5]

During his two terms of missionary service, he took up different portfolios. In his first term (2003-08), he served at Kasane Congregational Church. In 2008, Chiwala was invited by the Botswana Synod of UCCSA to serve for a further term and work as a Moderator of the region and also as a Minister-in-charge of Sorowe Congregational Church. He served the region and the church until 2011. While he was at Serowe, he led in the organization of the centenary celebration of the church building that was built in 1912 by King Khama III and the Bangwato community.

Beyond his pastoral responsibilities, Chiwala was actively involved in community life. He belonged to the Serowe Ministers Fraternal and served as chairman of the Patients’ Social Welfare Committee at Sekgoma Memorial Hospital, which sought to help admitted patients who were in need and to provide some of the necessities that the hospital could not supply. Chiwala reflected that: “As a minister in the community, I am asked to offer prayers in different government offices and institutions in the morning before they report for work. I like this programme because one is able to move from the church set-up and meet with different people outside the church.” [6]

The church grounds at Serowe were extensive and bare without trees since the area is semi-desert and does not have adequate rainfall. However, in 2012, Rev. Chiwala started a programme of planting trees so as to improve the environment and to provide shade. On the day set aside for this tree planting exercise, church members were joined by civic leaders and a village headman. The 100 trees that were planted that day are still flourishing today.

Later, he continued to serve in Botswana under a special arrangement with the UCCSA until his life was suddenly cut short by a hypertension headache on August 24, 2022 at Nyangabwe Hospital, Francistown, Botswana. His body was transferred to Malawi and laid to rest in his home village of Zammimba on September 2, 2022.

Maxwell Matabwa

Notes:

1. Faith Banda, interview by author, August 15, 2024.
2. Clement Chiwala, interview by author, August 22, 2024.
3. Franciscico Kamdzumen, interview by author, September 3, 2024.
4. Goodwin Zainga, interview by author, August 13, 2024.
5. Goodwin Zainga, interview by author, August 13, 2024.
6. Council for World Mission, Prayer Book: Praying without Ceasing, 2014, 76.

Bibliography

Banda, Faith. Interview by author, August 15, 2024. Chiwala, Clement. Interview by author, August 22, 2024. Council for World Mission, Prayer Book: Praying without Ceasing, 2014. Kamdzumen, Francisco. Interview by author, September 3, 2024. Zainga, Goodwin. Interview by author, August 13, 2024.

This article, submitted in December 2024, was researched and written by Maxwell Matabwa, minister of Phalombe congregation of the Churches of Christ in Malawi, under the supervision of Professor Kenneth R. Ross as one of the requirements of the Church History course on the MTh in Contextual Theology at Zomba Theological University.

Photo Gallery

Gowa House