SIM Malawi

We long to see a witness to Christ’s love where He is least known in Malawi and beyond, disciples of Jesus expressing God’s love in their communities and Christ-centred churches among all peoples.

Baptism of a young woman in Malawi. Pic SIM photographer

Key Ministries

  • Bring the gospel to the Yao, Indian, and Asian communities in Malawi by making disciples and facilitating the formation of Christ-exalting churches.
  • Prepare church leaders to become disciple-makers with a passion for reaching those living and dying without Jesus.
  • Equip the church to help young people become disciples of Christ, and we train Malawian churches to use sport as an evangelism tool.
  • Disciple leaders to care holistically for the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of Malawi’s most vulnerable people, and we equip leaders to care for those who have experienced major emotional trauma.
  • Mobilise and equip the Malawian churches to send workers into communities where Christ is least known to share the good news of Christ.

Spiritual Landscape in Malawi

Around half the population would say they were Christian but Islam is making a big effort to draw people and mosques are being built in all the major population centres. There is still significant animism in rural areas.

Communities Where Christ is Least Known

The Yao

The approximately 1.7 million Yao who live in Malawi are 99 per cent Muslim. They combine their Muslim beliefs with traditional African religion, seeking to please their deceased ancestors and living in fear of curses.

SIM has been working among the Yao since the late 1980s, finding this people group resistant to Christian influence. In 2014, SIM, in partnership with the Bible Society, published the complete Bible in the Yao language.

SIM currently has two mission worker families church-planting among the Yao and a third couple preparing to join. The Namwera Yao Evangelical Church opened in 2019, and another church plant is in the village of Kazembe Mataka. Bible study groups meet regularly in 11 other villages. Yao believers are being discipled to reach their families and friends with the gospel. A Yao couple graduated from Bible college in October, 2023 and are leading the church in Namwera.

Land was purchased and is being developed for the church in Namwera to use as a mission base and for other outreach activities.

Contact SIM Malawi

Email: Connect@sim.org

Please pray

  • For God to penetrate the hearts of the Yao people and the Indian and Chinese diaspora peoples, and for the new believers to become courageous witnesses in their communities
  • For students and church leaders to live out the gospel and for the church to share the gospel with others in Malawi and beyond
  • For more young people to become disciples of Christ; that Sports Friends will enable more young people to hear the good news of the gospel
  • For workers and resources to care for the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of Malawi’s most vulnerable populations and for the training of leaders to help those suffering from emotional trauma
  • For more Malawian mission workers to be sent out among the least-reached to declare the good news of Jesus

Latest stories from around SIM

Story/Testimony
15 December 2025

Raised Muslim in South Asia, Joel* longed to know who God truly was. Through SIM programmes, Christ brought light, joy and deep faith into his life.

Read more
Story/Testimony
13 December 2025

How do you hold on to God’s word when you can’t hold it in your hands?

Read more
Story/Testimony
12 December 2025

When Kamal and Sunita first came to Shalom Clinic, a Hope for Life ministry in South Asia, they were emotionally and spiritually exhausted. Poverty, addic...

Read more
Story/Testimony
08 December 2025

After forty years of faithful mission service in Africa, a mission worker couple, based in the rural village of Nanjoka, Malawi, have now been called back ...

Read more
Story/Testimony
08 December 2025

How do you hold on to God’s word when you can’t hold it in your hands?

Read more
Story/Testimony
01 December 2025

How do you hold on to God’s word when you can’t hold it in your hands?

Read more
28 November 2025

Read and share stories from SIM mission workers who are seeing Christ’s light shine in places that once seemed dark.

Read more
Story/Testimony
25 November 2025

SIM has been involved in church planting among the Wolof—one of the world’s least-reached people groups—right in the heart of the city since 2021. Re...

Read more
Story/Testimony
21 November 2025

American mission worker Tia builds friendships through English lessons and Bible study, sharing God’s love with women seeking faith in Japan. Click to re...

Read more
Story/Testimony
11 November 2025

Mission worker Lane shares the gospel with Mexican migrant workers in Canada, planting a seed of faith that ripples from Alberta’s farms to families in M...

Read more
Story/Testimony
04 November 2025

In Chad, where following Christ as a Muslim can mean losing everything. This is the reality in which Michel and his family serve, discipling others and sha...

Read more
Story/Testimony
30 October 2025

The Bible has been fully translated into Borgu Fulfulde, the heart language of over 750,000 Fulani in Benin. Discover how this milestone brings gospel hope...

Read more