Report from BHW Partnership Facilitator Following Visit

BHW's Zambia partnership facilitator recently caught up with Craig* in Kalulushi, Zambia, which is about one hour from where Craig and Sharon* have a plot of land in Lufanyama. 

Recent Events

Family

Craig and Sharon have been back in Zambia since May 2025. They are staying at their 15-ha farm in Lufanyama. They also own a residential house plot in the “city” there.

They currently do not really have a house at the farm, just what Craig calls “a structure”. At the residential plot they have just made a small start on the foundations.

Craig and Sharon are not from the Lufanyama area but have decided that is where they want to move after their work in Mozambique finishes. Craig was saying that his younger brother advised him not to move home to his original area, as the rest of the family will then become very dependent on him. He is aware that moving to a place he is not from, people will be suspicious of them. “Where is your father from?” is a question the community is asking their son. Already the people have seen a couple of “funny” things happen such as the good green crop of maize in the 2023/2024 drought, and some people who came onto the farm started some kind of “demon manifestation”. However, Craig has already been proactive in going to the chief and community leaders to establish a relationship.

One of their sons sounds like he has a very good farming ability. In the drought season of 2023 to 2024, they managed to harvest 168 x 50kg bags from 2.5 ha. That is 3.5 ton per ha which is still an average yield but in the drought that’s pretty amazing. I am guessing it was the use of compost and mulch, but Craig doesn’t really know anything about that. This year they have planted 4 ha of maize. They use locals to do the labour, so must have some access to funds for that.

Mozambique

Mozambique has become a dangerous place. Craig says there are two issues. One is the terrorist groups who are trying to take over various parts of the country. If they find you are a foreigner, they will capture you and demand for ransom. The other issue is the government, who is suspicious of everything as being a terrorist group, so they have to be very careful. Craig was taken by some government soldiers for a day, who accused him of training terrorist groups when he was out delivering bibles and mentoring church planters. Finally, he was released when the local community were contacted to vouch for him being a pastor.

It has become very difficult even to receive funds through the bank accounts.  

Church

The plan for Craig and Sharon in Mozambique was to establish and pastor the church there and then establish some local church planters and evangelists to reach the wider community.

The church has grown to a membership of around 200, with 80 attending most Sundays. They have a leadership group for the church consisting of six people, of which Craig has been with four of them for a very long time. Lydia*, an orphan that lived with them in the early days, is part of that leadership group. They think the growth is due to some of the well-known miracle healings that have happened. With the leadership team there, the church programmes are carrying on while Craig isn’t present.

The church building is getting to be run down and too small, so he is wanting to find funding to help with repairs.

The church planter evangelists are managed by a committee that includes some of the leadership team from the church. Craig's role has been to co-ordinate the programmes through the committee. There are currently 12 church planter evangelists with seven of them being active and dive still in training or learning. The seven are being funded, not by a monthly allowance, but by giving them loans to help boost their current businesses. The committee decided to go to each place and see what they were already doing. The loans are between US$220 to US$330. The businesses are restaurants, shops, carpentry and farming. The loans that were given out in September 2024 were to have a 6-month grace period and then be paid back. They have written agreements for the loans with the church planters.

Church Planter Trainings

They have run two trainings:
• Pemba where they had 30 participants - the 12 church planters plus 18 other local leaders came.
• Niasa district where 18 people came.

Then they completed two visitations, to follow up on the church planters.

The trainings focused on:
• The Holy Spirit and missions
• Islam evangelism
• Church and culture

People were very grateful for the trainings and say, “we need them more”. Craig thinks that training local people to reach their own community is the best way to go, especially now with all of the unrest, so the more people they can train, the better. They would like to add an agricultural component to the trainings.

The current situation in Mozambique has made it more difficult to run trainings, but they have learnt now what to do.
• The locals can travel with much less risk, so trainings in Pemba are ok.
• To have a group meet there is the risk of people saying to the government it is a terrorist training but as long as they communicate with the council about the meetings and get the right documentation from them as to what the trainings are for there is no problem.
• They also must communicate with the police and army to get approval prior to the training. There are a few policemen in the local church that Craig used to go to the authorities and get the appropriate clearances.

Emerging Leaders

John*, who was Craig's succession plan, has been given a role with OM Mozambique. This did cause Craig some stress as he was hoping to be permanently back in Zambia by now but feels he cannot leave yet until something is in place.

His next option is a man called Alan*. He is only around 18 years of age but shows great maturity and faith. He can lead bible studies while Craig is not there and is very confident. He joined Craig after he fled his village that was attacked by terrorists. He was trained at the local Pemba bible school.  

Plans for the Future

Craig and Sharon are aiming to go back to Pemba, Mozambique after the Pan African Brethren Conference in Zimbabwe that is to be held in August.

Their plan is to be there for one or two more years in the hope of handing things over. They will then go back to Zambia to work out some form of income generation to support themselves.

*names changed for security reasons