CALLERY — The Crestview Community Church recently hosted the Rev. Alex Maulana, the general secretary of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian Synod in Blantyre, Malawi.

His visit was part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the partnership of the Pittsburgh Presbytery and the Blantyre Synod.

Maulana, who also serves as pastor at the Chitsime Presbyterian Church in Limbe, Malawi, stayed with Crestview’s pastor, the Rev. Bob Goossen at Goosen’s home in Harmony.

Crestview is one of several churches involved in the partnership between the synod in Malawi and the Pittsburgh Presbytery. Many of the congregations in each organization have connected as sister churches. Crestview has been involved in the partnership since 2007.

“We’re honored to have the general secretary visit with Crestview for three or four days,” said Mars Mayor Gregg Hartung, who is an elder at Crestview.

Maulana said the benefits of the partnership go beyond worshipping together and visiting one another’s countries.

He said a new water system which Crestview member Chuck Cahall helped construct allowed residents in one area of Malawi to get water from a nearby lake instead of unreliable “bore holes” in the ground.

Maulana said before the water system’s placement, women and girls pumped water from the bore holes and carried it home in buckets on their heads.

He said a family’s older daughters and mother would access the holes several times a day to get water for washing, drinking and cooking.

“But sometimes (the bore holes) would dry up and not produce water,” Maulana said.

The partnership also has provided schools, clinics and hunger relief for the African side.

Hartung said Crestview contributes funding to a Saturday feeding program that he observed last year on a trip to Malawi with Goossen.

More than 70 children enjoyed a meal cooked at Crestview’s sister church in Chiphoola by the community’s women.

“It was amazing,” Hartung said. “Programs like this help sustain people during tough times.”

Maulana said during one particularly difficult period of famine, the Pittsburgh Presbytery donated $60,000 for food. He said the donation fed 1,450 Malawi families for three months.

The main goal of Malawi pastors and church leaders visiting America, Maulana said, is to learn.

“What can we take back to Malawi?” he said.

He said one main difference between Malawi and America is the number of congregation members in the churches. While Crestview has about 100 members, some churches in Maulana’s synod have 4,000 to 5,000 members.

“Here, the memberships are small, but we see how committed the small number is to the work of God,” Maulana said.

Goossen said he and Hartung were impressed last year by the four-hour worship services in the Malawi church they visited. He said the joyful singing and the eagerness of congregation members to worship was uplifting.

“We were very moved by the spirit of worship in the African church,” Goossen said.

A video taken during the trip to Malawi was shared with the Crestview congregation upon the return of Hartung and Goossen.

That video was used at an event last month at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, where the 25th anniversary of the partnership was celebrated. The City of Pittsburgh also issued a proclamation at the event, and the U.S. Ambassador to Malawi gave a speech.

“For us, (the partnership) has lifted us up in our faith,” Maulana said.

He said his previous visits to the U.S. have resulted in spiritual counseling, the hiring of missionaries to help with health and education ministries in the Malawi synod, and the use of associate pastors there.

Regarding life in the U.S., Maulana said there are many cultural differences between his host and his homeland.

He said women prepare all meals in Malawi and men are never seen in the kitchen. He said bread is served at breakfast only, and pumpkin flesh and leaves, cassava and white corn meal eaten with the fingers are staples in his homeland.

Goossen said he was surprised at the way the church in Malawi cares for residents.

“We expect social services to handle the needs that arise,” Goossen said. “In Malawi, there is a really strong network of churches that respond to the needs of the people in the neighborhood.”