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

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