FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

5. CHILANGIZO: A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO CHINAMWALI
5.1 INTRODUCTION
In chapter three we looked at the emergence and growth of the Baptist work in Malawi
and saw that the work grew more rapidly in Lilongwe than elsewhere. We also saw that
the Southern Baptists came at a time when many Chewa had already joined the DRC,
the Roman Catholics, the Anglicans, and a growing indigenous church (APIM). A brief
study of the attitudes and responses of the earlier missionaries, especially by the DRC
and Nkhoma Synod, will help us to understand some factors that led to the Baptist chi­
langizo which is the focus ofdiscussion in this chapter.60
5.2 EARLIER MISSIONARIES' (DRC) RESPONSES TO INITIATION RITES
Nkhoma Mission in Central Malawi was founded by the Dutch Reformed Church Mis­
sion of South Africa in 1889 (Pauw 1980:63). This church was the first to come into
contact with the Chewa society in Central Malawi. Writing from a woman's perspec­
tive, Phiri (1998:129-145) gives a systematic examination of the attitude and response
of the Dutch Reformed Church Mission (DRCM) to initiation rites, and African tradi­
tional culture in general. Because the focus of this study is on the interaction of the
Gospel and Chewa society, this section will analyse stage by stage the position of the
Church as it struggled with the customs ofthe Chewa people, particularly with regard to
female initiation rites.
Initially the DRCM showed a condemnatory attitude towards those members who were
still practising the traditional rituals. Phiri (1998:132) reports that in 1903, fourteen
years after the beginning of Nkhoma Synod, 'the DRCM told its members that those
wishing to join the baptismal class should not attend the initiation ceremony - china­
mwali.' Although reasons for such a ban were not clearly stated then, an extract from
one missionary, Mrs. Stegmann, twenty years later showed that:
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