ctmi christian testimonies

“Thank you to CTMI for the example which enabled us to become truly better servants!”

After 20 years in the ministry as pastor of a Charismatic Pentecostal Church, in Malawi I felt that I had it all. Yet, as time went by, I became frustrated because I couldn’t see change in the lives of the Christians. The harder I preached the worse the situation became. Our church in Blantyre went through 3 splits due to fighting between leaders, and the struggle for power. I was so tired and lonely, to the point that I was on the verge of quitting the ministry altogether.

It was at this time, in 2001, that God sent Miki Hardy and the CTMI team for the first of many visits to Malawi. For the first time, I heard the gospel of the Cross of Jesus Christ being preached in all its simplicity and in all its power.

Never before had I realised that I was an arrogant, proud, and legalistic man. What Christ meant when he said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me,” suddenly became clear to me. I knew right there and then that I had to lose my life and die to my selfish carnal sinful nature. I realised that this was the only way that I could attain the excellency of the life of Christ, which would enable me to experience His life of resurrection, and to live a victorious life through Him. I began to see that, as a Pastor, this was the only way I could minister and impart the life of Christ to the congregation. With regular follow-up visits by members of the CTMI Apostolic team, and 2 further National Conferences with Miki Hardy and other CTMI pastors, we were all encouraged to take, and to keep walking on, the road of the cross.

My wife used to be one of the most miserable of women. My heart was so full of law and principles that I insisted that she follow to the letter. I had a blueprint in my mind of what a Pastor’s wife ought to be as far as her behaviour, speech, dressing, etc., was concerned. She felt so bound, never free to serve the Lord as she was or to allow the Lord Himself to have his own way with her life. This situation was not helped by my being a husband in the African setting, where tradition makes you believe and act as though you are some kind of a chief in your home; where you demand to be obeyed and almost worshipped by the wife and children. But, it was this gospel preached and lived by the men of CTMI that led me to repent before my wife, as well as the leaders of the churches, and to the congregation.

Today, 9 years down the line, thanks to the power of the gospel of the Cross of Jesus Christ, and the example set by Miki Hardy and all his brother Elders at CTMI, my wife is free to be who she is and to serve the Lord; and so are my children. For a long time now, we have not experienced any divisions in the church like we did before. There is so much more unity in all the leaders of our churches. Today, we have much better working relationships under this gospel of grace with other churches of the CTMI Network in many countries, as well as with pastors in Malawi, with whom we would never have been able even to talk to previously! I have had the privilege of sharing my testimony as a Pastor, a husband, a father, in churches working with CTMI in Kenya, Mozambique, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, as well as all over Malawi.

The lives of our church members continue to be transformed. Young people, whom we have sent to attend the Youth Camps conducted by CTMI Teams, have returned completely on fire for Jesus, radically different from when they left. What an encouragement it has been for us to see them take their place in the church. My own daughter is presently studying medicine in the USA, I know that she is dying to get back to attend a CTMI youth camp either in Zimbabwe or Mauritius. My son is doing a law degree here in Malawi at the University of Blantyre. He will most certainly be attending the youth camp in Bulawayo in August, and in Mauritius in December; something he has been looking forward to for years! Honestly, I really can’t imagine where these stories about CTMI encouraging young people to leave their studies could possibly come from!

We can look back on all this and say ‘Thank you’ to the team, the family, at CTMI for the example that they have set us, which has enabled us to become truly better servants and followers of our God Almighty, and of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

To God be all the glory!

Pastor John Katimba – Blantyre, Malawi