* Preached from 1 Kings 2:1-4 and Acts of Apostles 20:17-35 where he drew two instructions from the last words of King David and Apostle Paul
* The church must always be rooted in the word of God and the church must keep the Commandments of God which Jesus summarised as loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself
By Duncan Mlanjira
In his sermon, Jesus Christ summarised the 10 Commandments Yahweh gave to Moses that the faithful should love God with all their heart and love their neighbour as themselves.
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This is the message that Rev. Duncan Kananji leaves behind as he bade farewell at the completion of his tour of duty for Church of Central African Presbyterian (CCAP)-Blantyre Synod’s South Africa Presbytery held today.
The farewell service was held at Du Noon CCAP-Sophakama Hall and attended by over 400 faithful from more than eight congregations — including from Blantyre, Nkhoma and Livingstonia Synods.
Rev. Kananji preached from 1 Kings 2:1-4 and Acts 20:17-35 where he drew two instructions from the last words of King David and Apostle Paul — that the church must always be rooted in the Word of God and that the church must keep the Commandments of God which Jesus summarised as loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself.
This is the take away message that Rev. Kananji expounded during his two-year tour of duty (2023-2025), which was attested to by Rev. Danie Murray, who performed the decommissioning on behalf of the Presbytery Moderator.
Rev. Murray, who is a Dutch Reformed Church minister serving as liaison officer in the Reformed Church of Mozambique from 1994, thanked Rev. Kananji and his family for accepting the “huge responsibility of raising the army of God in a foreign land”.
He was happy to hear all the success that the CCAP-Blantyre Synod achieved under Rev. Kananji’s watch, that culminated into the commissioning of a full Presbytery of South Africa on June 29, 2025 — become Blantyre Synod’s No. 21 presbytery.
Rev. Kananji, who leaves after serving as Presbytery Clerk, first went to South Africa in 2022 with his wife, Rev. Janepher Kananji for his PhD studies at the University of Fort Hare while she pursued Master of Arts in Women and Gender at the University of Western Cape and both will graduate next year.
The reverends family accepted the challenge to be studying while also entrusted with huge responsibility of managing all Pastoral care services to the members of Cape Town Congregation; administering Word and Sacraments; leading worship services; and Christian counseling to those passing through difficult times.
Among the achievements in his tour of duty, include overseeing the registration of Cape Town CCAP Congregation with the South African government in 2024 and when they arrived, there were only seven Blantyre Synod congregations in entire South Africa, but now they are leaving 15 congregations.
Foreign churches in South Africa have difficulties in accessing land or church buildings — however, Rev. Kananji was allowed by CCAP Blantyre Synod to use funds collected in that country for expanding the church in provinces like Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape.
Before relocating to South Africa, Rev. Kananji was the Education Coordinator for Blantyre City Presbytery and the Moderator for Chigodi CCAP Church; and his wife, being a Reverend was stationed at Chigodi Women Training Centre as it’s Executive Director from 2018 to 2022.
The first Presbytery outside Malawi in the history of the church meets the spiritual needs of Malawians in diaspora including locals and other foreign nationals living in that country.
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