Mission Team Activities - Mozambique

Jinny Earnshaw
Mission Team

“One Door, Many Directions”

2008 MISSION PROJECTS IN Tete Province, Mozambique, AFRICA

Using a HOLISTIC approach, this year’s projects focus on sharing Christ and serving the people of the Tete Province of Mozambique where the church and God’s kingdom is exploding.  These fellow Christians have much to teach us about dedication, outreach and the joy of being a Christian. 

Who are these our brothers and sisters?  Forty years ago, these people ran for their lives due to war.  They ran to Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  For 30 years they stayed in neighboring countries as refugees, did not send their children to school because they thought very soon they would be going home.  In general they subsisted only.  During the years of 1992-1994 they began returning home, to a place with no houses, no fields to cultivate, no other jobs, no schools, no churches and no infrastructures such as roads, water, or electricity.   In 1994 there were only two Presbyterian Church in the province; today there are 54!  They have only 2 ordained pastors.  The Presbyterian Church in Mozambique is Igreja Presbiteriana de Mozambique, headquartered in Maputo, the capital.

Nedson Zulu, an ordained Presbyterian pastor, and his wife Sara coordinate the Evangelism and Training outreach, and Sebber Banda coordinates the Community Health Program, including the Drama Team. 

OBJECTIVE

To share the Good News of Christ with persons in the Tete Province of Mozambique by assisting with church building, Bibles, evangelism and serving specific health, education and sanitation needs.

Supporting the holistic approach of outreach, eight specific projects have been identified by the visiting team from Central Florida as critical.

 Mozambique and Tete Province General Information)

 Mozambique is located on the south eastern coast of Africa, just south of Tanzania.  It is today a republic with a president and prime minister.  Portugal colonization and the fight for independence and various civil wars have dominated the political scene during the 20^th century. 

Mozambique has many religious influences today.  About 58 % are Christian, 22 % Traditional Ethnic and 18% Muslin

The Tete Province is inland in the north western area of the country.  Tete is 309,496 square miles in size which is just under the size of Texas and Louisiana combined.  This province has a population of 1.4 million people which is comparable to the population of Idaho. 

As a Portuguese colony tension was escalating from the 1920’s onward.  War for independence came to Tete in 1968 and ended in 1975 when Mozambique gained its independence.  However civil conflicts continued until 1992, leaving the countryside and economy in complete devastation.  Economic development has been very slow to come to this part of Africa.  There is a small agricultural influence, based largely around tribal communities.

This is the land and people that are ripe for the holistic approach of spreading the Good News of Christ and His love while serving local needs.  We see it is effective!  Elders are taking over leadership.  The dynamic leadership of Nedson Zulu and Sebber Banda coordinate this holistic approach.  We are fortunate to have them as our guests this week.  Do not miss their stories.

Our Keynote Speaker this year is Bill Bryant, prior Executive Director of the Outreach Foundation 1994 - 2002.  He will lead the region-wide worship event to be Saturday evening, Feb. 2, 2008, at 6:00 PM at Eastminister.

We are fortunate to have eight of the Team Members on the 2007 trip to Tete, Mozambique also with us this week.  Each has stories to share and pictures to show of this life changing association with the Christians in Tete.

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