Malaika moved to Ethiopia in 2017 as a German mission worker with DMG Interpersonal, a SIM partner, and now also serves with SIM Ethiopia. She works with a local NGO, the Child Development Training and Research Center (CDTRC), where she trains church leaders, Sunday school teachers, parents, and others involved in children’s ministry, and helps equip young people for a purpose-driven life. Her work there draws on her background in social work and theology, and also includes using her creative gifts to design educational activities, games for large-group training, and illustrations for the organisation. Alongside this, she is exploring how creativity and prophetic art can help people encounter God in fresh ways through her involvement in an international church community in Addis Ababa.
She and her husband are also members of Beza International Church in Addis Ababa, where they serve in voluntary capacities. Over the past few years, she has been given increasing space within the church to paint prophetically during worship services and prayer meetings, and in Christmas 2025 she held a one-month art exhibition at the church focused on the birth of Jesus, with testimonies of visitors being personally impacted by the paintings. This expression of “Holy Spirit art ministry” continues to grow as she explores how creativity can serve both church life and wider ministry in Ethiopia.
By SIM mission worker Malaika and her husband Halawi
We are part of a vibrant, international church in Addis Ababa. Believers from all over the world come together here to worship Jesus and build God’s kingdom together. In this wonderful diversity of cultures, languages, and ethnicities lies the freedom to encounter God anew and listen attentively to His voice.
Over the past few years, painting has increasingly become part of her worship and prayer life, and also a growing expression within her ministry and church context.
THE FIRST ARTIST
In recent years, I have been able to experience how God “speaks” through my acrylic paintings when I surrender the process to Him in prayer. It’s somewhat comparable to a musician who spontaneously composes a song for the Lord in prayer—except that in this case, a painting emerges on the canvas. Some viewers feel personally addressed and blessed by God through the artwork. It’s amazing how we can hear (or see) the wonderful words of the Bible in a new way through this process. God cannot be confined to letters, musical notes, or well-known methods. He is the first Artist and loves to speak, encourage, and comfort through creativity.
Some time ago, a large conference took place in our new community center with hundreds of participants from all over Africa. I was invited to paint live on stage during a large worship concert, something that has become an increasing part of my ministry expression in church gatherings and events.
I was given three hours to complete a huge painting. I prepared myself in prayer: “Lord, what do you want to say to us as a nation, as a continent? What can I paint to encourage your church?” I decided to paint two open hands, one reaching toward heaven (receiving blessings), the other pointing downward (passing on blessings).
WHO CAN DO THAT?
The hall was packed with over 600 people. But when it started, I got a shock: The technical team had set up a huge stage show for the high-energy concert, complete with flickering lights, fog machines, and shifting color spectra—an absolute nightmare for a nervous painter. In disbelief, I looked at my paint palettes and the canvas: every second, the colors shifted from orange to green, to blue, to neon pink, then to turquoise and brown.
I panicked. How was I supposed to paint an anatomically correct picture in this chaos, especially in such a short time and in front of an audience? And all this under the assumption that God Himself would speak?
I prayed silently: “Lord, I can’t do this! No one can!”
I felt His answer very clearly: “But I can! I am the only one who can. It’s not about your abilities, but about mine. Keep painting, even if the colors you’re seeing right now are confusing you. I know what I’m doing. Now we’ll see whether you trust in your own strength or in mine. I am the only one.”
Please pray
- For those serving in the international church in Addis Ababa, that God would continue to unite believers from many nations and cultures and deepen their sensitivity to His voice.
- That God would continue to use creative gifts such as painting, music, and other forms of worship to help people encounter Him in fresh and personal ways.
- For a growing spirit of trust and dependence on God, especially in moments of uncertainty.
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