by Janice Peters, Mozambique
4 December 2007

Leading the SIM Mozambique team keeps me busy enough, but some time ago I began to pray that God would also give me a direct ministry with Mozambicans. As I was praying, Omar, one of my watchmen, came to me with a request. He wanted to go to his childhood village to share the Gospel. I made a quick mental review of all the evangelists, and I realized that none of them was available to go with Omar. Should I go? Was I ready to make a regular commitment? How far was it? How much would it cost to drive out there? I said, “Let’s go together.” So we drove to the village called Caia, a place with neither church nor Christians.

Omar is a relatively new Christian; but since it was his idea, I said he’d be the leader and I’d be his assistant. When we reached the village, some men gathered, including the village headman. Omar simply said, “We are Christians and we would like you to know about Christ. May we come and have a Bible study with you?” To my surprise, they said, “Yes, we would like to learn more.”

So began our weekly trips to Caia, 45 kilometers (about 28 miles) from Lichinga. Our approach was very simple: one of the village men would read from the Bible in Portuguese, and then Omar translated it into Yao. After a few verses, I’d summarize the teaching and answer any questions that arose. Usually we’d have 20 to 30 men sitting around listening, sometimes a few women and young people. We did several lessons from Genesis before they asked to see the JESUS film. After showing the film, we studied the life of Christ.

Then one day, after I had closed the study time with prayer, two of the men who had been most faithful in meeting with us lingered behind and asked for a piece of paper. I offered the back of a calendar page and one wrote, “We have 11 people in the needed group.” I asked what he meant. He explained that 11 people had decided they wanted to follow Jesus.

A Church Is Born

One of them has now taken a public stand as a believer in Jesus. The others appear close to that decision, and they continue to study with us. They want to construct a church building and have selected the land. In the process of church planting, the usual order is first the spiritual body of Christ—the redeemed people—then the physical place where they meet. The people God is calling in the village of Caia may be reversing the order, but we are praying that soon there will be a spiritual, growing church there. Satan has long held the lives of these people captive to traditional beliefs. We hope that soon the Word of God will break through that bondage and set them free to follow Christ.

Pray

• that the people of Caia will boldly listen to and believe the truth about Jesus.
• that a pure, Christ-following church will soon play a central role in Caia.