The way we met Blessing Mkwate seems like a match made by heaven.

Pastor Blessing is a busy man, not only does he lead a local church, he is director of prison ministries for the Central Church of Africa Presbyterian (CCAP - Malawi’s oldest church) over the entire southern half of Malawi. All told, he regularly visits dozens of prisons and ministers to thousands of inmates. But given his hectic schedule he still made time for me, my family, and a few of our friends this summer.

The work of prison ministry is so important theologically because of the Christian faith’s roots in incarceration and criminality. Much of the Bible was written by people in prison or exile. Many of its key characters were punished for crimes they committed or locked up despite their innocence. And central to everything is the cross, where innocent God died a criminal’s death by state sanctioned capital punishment. The Bible, in fact, is a prison book and we will struggle to fully understand our faith if we are disconnected from these realities and communities.

We met Blessing in the parking lot of St. Michael’s, the oldest church in Malawi. I had brought the kids for a tour of this historic building and our driver asked him for directions not knowing who he was. A conversation was struck up that turned into an impromptu guided tour of St. Michael’s, that turned into a visit to the church Pastor Blessing leads in Magalasi, that led to a dinner at our apartment with his wife and some staff, and eventually an invitation to tag along on a prison visit.

St. Michael’s and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi
This church was built as a symbol of unity within the larger, global Church body. If you look carefully the builders chose architectural styles from different traditions in Christianity.
Some of the earliest locally ordained priests marveled at it being constructed by members of different tribes from within Malawi, a sign of not only religious but also ethnic unity.

He took a small group of us to Chichiri prison, which is located just a stone’s throw from the judiciary where Laurie was working this summer in Blantyre. It is one of the largest maximum security facilities in Malawi, similar in size to Zomba Prison where the group Laurie was with did their prison project in early July. Chichiri, much like Zomba and many other prisons in the developing world, has an overcrowding problem. Originally built to hold up to 1000 inmates, Chichiri is bursting at the seams with 3000 people currently incarcerated there. Needless to say, it is a very difficult environment.

A group of prisoners once gave a “performance” to demonstrate sleeping in such crowded conditions. They call it the “egg carton” and looking at the photo above you can see that inmates must sit and lean on one another to fall asleep in their crowded cells. There is no room to lay down and they sleep in shifts, taking turns to rest. Putting yourself in their place one can imagine the effect this would have on your physical and mental health.

This is the setting where Pastor Blessing leads the CCAP church community of Chichiri prison. They meet between the walls. On one side are the outer walls of the prison, on the other side the walls of a metal shed constructed in the prison courtyard. Above our heads is a perfectly blue Malawi winter sky and reels of barbed wire resembling a modern crown of thorns. Below our feet, they roll out a large tarp to sit on during the service. Everyone removes their sandals before getting on the tarp, ostensibly to keep it clean, but I imagine we are standing over very, very holy ground.

Blessing asked me to preach the sermon to the prison church that day and I did. He stood beside me translating my words into Chichewa, and when his translation goes much longer than my words I imagine he is also translating it into Presbyterian theology. (I say this half-jokingly.)

It is a great honor to preach to these men, but it is also very humbling. Today I play the role of foolish Nicodemus, a man who had plenty of experience with religion but was still a spiritual baby. To witness the service at Chichiri is to feel as if you’re coming to church for the very first time. The brothers of this community are not pretentious, they have no illusions about grace and guilt. Among the congregants are murderers, thieves, liars, and of course those not guilty of breaking any law at all. There’s no need for a church door greeter to ask “how’s your day going?”

The worship is simple and heartfelt: reading aloud from the book of Yohannes (John), gorgeous acapella singing from the prison choir, and a sermon every week from a different member of the community. Pastor Blessing is teaching them to preach, and some even receive leave to go out and preach at local churches. Even though I was “preaching” to them that day, they were the ones ministering to me.

Jesus said “I was in prison and you visited me”. In the first century visiting a prisoner was an act of moral courage. There was a high chance you’d be locked up with the person you were visiting. In the absence of justice, the law was guilt by association.

The members of this congregation defy expectations. There is more smiling and joy than I expected. One person even cracked a joke in perfect English as we were leaving, “We know you’ve got to go, but feel free to stay as long as you’d like.” Fortunately in the modern era there is no risk of us being unable to walk out when church is over. But perhaps as a Church body we would do well to stay a little longer with our brothers and sisters around the world who will spend tonight locked up in prison. To remember who we are, we must visit them often in body, mind, and spirit.

Chichiri Prison is not a place to romanticize, but visit this church and you will see the face of Jesus. For only God could reveal a vision of heaven in the midst of hell on earth.

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Though taking pictures at the prison is not allowed, a couple of videos online show the environment inside:

This is the “Come To Jesus” Choir which is the CCAP choir of inmates at Chichiri prison. They are given weekend leave at times to go visit local churches where the choir will perform and one of the inmates delivers a sermon.
This is a mental health event I found online that happened recently at Chichiri prison. This event happened in the courtyard of the prison where the service we attended was. It gives you a sense of what the inside of the prison looks like.

Between the Walls

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