River Church Marlow – Church Connect with Seeds of Promise

River Church Marlow (RCM) recently sent their second Church Connect team to Malawi to partner with Seeds of Promise. Andy Read, former CEO of Links, together with his wife Lina, returned for the first time since 2019 to lead the visit. This is just one of the growing number of church communities connecting with our partners around the globe.

‍Training and Development

Seeds’ leader Luwani was eager to build on the October 2025 training. Andy alongside their church members led leadership development sessions with Seeds’ younger community leaders, using the HeartStyles method to encourage character-focused leadership. Lina alongside her very experienced team members guided our MED training, equipping department and community business leaders to establish a new loan committee in Mbingu community. This committee will complement Seeds’ thriving women’s savings groups, which have grown steadily over the past two years, adding available capital and business coaching to empower livelihoods.

Other sessions included vision casting and team building with department leads, encouraging a mission mindset. The team also joined farm tours, visited community businesses, and participated in a youth fashion show, local church service and their kids' feeding programme. They were also able to see how the income revenue streams they are supporting are impacting the sustainability of Seeds.  

Growing Partnership

Seeds expressed deep gratitude for the ongoing connection with RCM. Luwani reflected:  

“This is timely support which is boosting our training programme. I appreciate River Church and the team—it is a need met at the right moment.”  

Looking Ahead

RCM plans another visit later this year to continue building on the training, support the new MED committee, and deepen this growing Church Connect relationship.

Does your church want to partner with communities around the world? Not sure how or where to start? Get in touch with us at hello@links.charity or watch this Church Connect explainer https://youtu.be/ScdtZz5p7no?si=rrWaTPvH-akP38mk

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