Update from OM Madagascar

Greetings from Madagascar, it is our pleasure to share with you an update for 2025.

As the year ends, we reflect on all that God has done throughout the year. We are so thankful for the wonderful gift of your partnership with us. Your constant prayers and support have been a tremendous source of encouragement to us each day! The lives of countless people amongst the least reached have been forever changed because of your faithful partnership with us to share the Good News of the Gospel on the Island of Madagascar.

After 200 years of Christian witness in Madagascar, there are still so many people in this country who grow up never even hearing the name of Jesus and never hearing the story of God’s love and forgiveness. There are many Malagasy still waiting for someone to reach out and tell them about God’s love and forgiveness meaning our task is still unfinished. So, we thank you so much for your faithful partnership with us, enabling us to go and share the Gospel with those who would otherwise never have the chance to hear the good news. 

The OM Team in Madagascar is committed to the accomplishment of the vision of OM to see a vibrant community of Jesus followers amongst the least reached. We have been working amongst the Ntandroy People in the south for more than a decade and we are grateful to see God touching lives of children, youth and elders who keep on journeying with Jesus.

Recent Events

Goat Farming 

Empowering communities, from dependency to sustainability. In the remote villages of Ambovombe Androy, Southern Madagascar where the land is affected by high salinity and the weather is harsh because of lack of rain, farming is a challenge. Families are struggling to find a reliable source of income and communities are left depending on foreign aid. Opportunities to earn a living are extremely limited. OM is present in this area to bring the Gospel by word and deeds. Anajafy is a woman who responded to the message of the Gospel in a Bible study group in her village called Anjatelo.

A neighbour had originally come to share with her about Jesus. She was interested in the stories from the Bible about the woman who had been sick for twelve years, but Jesus healed. She was longing to have peace in her heart and longing for forgiveness and to receive the inner healing seen in the story. She experienced a turning point in her life when she committed her life to Jesus. She then started to gather friends to listen to the Bible stories with her regularly. Her Husband was still not a follower of Jesus Christ at that time. She took the responsibility of leading the Bible study group in her community, and they have since started two other Christian fellowships in their neighbouring villages.

Anajafy is a hardworking mother who deals with constant financial difficulties, meaning her family does not have enough money to meet their daily needs. She is not alone in this, unfortunately this is the reality faced by many in her community.

OM in Madagascar has community empowerment projects that focus on goat farming with the hope of empowering the communities of Jesus followers we are connected with. The communities are given 8 female goats which multiply quickly providing 28 goats in 1.5 years. In the past OM would hand out relief packages in result of the famine but now people are being empowered as they can bring relief to their own families through the goats they have tended. Anajafy has sold 10 of their goats in order to buy food which can be distributed to their struggling community. Anajafy said “It was a great help to us that we were able to give relief at the time we needed it most. Our Bible study group was really encouraged as we were able to help each other, we are also happy to be able share and show love to our neighbours who have still not made the decision to believe in Jesus Christ.”

As a woman in the local culture, it is not easy to both lead and manage the goat’s business as culturally it should be a man’s not women’s responsibility. However, Anajafy shared “I am thankful to God that my husband is standing by and supporting me, and he is also starting to show interest and be open to hearing Bible stories.” We were also able to support the local relief team by gifting them two goats to help them as they supervise the ministry. The goat program is an opportunity for us to be able to engage with new communities and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

With dedication, integrity, and support from the local OM team, Anajafy’s efforts paid off and she saw God’s blessing as her goats continued to multiply. Her community now has 30 goats, praise God. Their dream now is to build a community basin to store water. The success that Anajafy and her community have experienced is something for other villages to aspire to, we are happy to see the model they have provided, and hope to see other communities experience the same success.

Perla Ministry

Over the past few months Perla ministry has changed their focus from only looking at the vulnerable girls to looking at how to reach the whole family, church and community. Through our experience we have come to the conclusion that to truly empower the girls the whole community needs to be involved. Miora from the Perla team had the opportunity to share Godly Values, Biblical principles and the love of God for every life with a group of people from one community. It was an opportunity for her to teach a group of people a range of topics that helped them to know their own identity and God’s purpose in their life.

Miora was invited to the event by Josia a previous volunteer with OM. Josia shared that through the session Miora had helped the team to grow in unity and understanding that everyone can contribute in God’s Kingdom including children and young girls. Perla was also able to have a time to talk with the girls alone about puberty and self-care. They were taught that God loves them, so they also need to love themselves and take care of their body, soul and mind, 

Children's Ministry

Whilst in Diego there was time to follow up with the kids’ workers that have been coached by the OM kids’ team for 2 years. It was good to see the number of the kid’s groups increase and see the kid’s workers more passionate about reaching out to the kids in the community whether that be in the city of Diego or in the rural villages. They were coached further in how to make a vision and empower someone in the villages they travel to, to take over the Discipleship responsibility of the kids in their own community. Juliana is a kid’s worker that attended the sowing broadly training and has seen fruit in her rural community. Juliana was able to take Bibles home from the conference and has shared some of them with children who learn the Bible with her on a Saturday. The children learn a story with Juliana and then take the stories to the kids in their school or in the surrounding villages where they live. The majority of these villages didn’t have any Gospel influence before. Juliana shared how one girl received a Bible because she was passionate to learn Bible stories and share with others. She is 12 years old, and her parents are witch doctors. She attends the new cell group in her community every night so she can read the Bible because she isn’t able to read it at home. Her dad said the Bible is not allowed in the house because it interferes with his dark magic. The young lady was scared about her upcoming exams at school, and her parents were nervous for her. She talked to Juliana who reminded her that she had been afraid to share the Gospel at first, but she prayed and God helped her and that God would also help her with her exams. She prayed about her exams and to her surprise she came first in her class. Her mum was so surprised that she decided to follow Jesus and now goes to read the Bible with her daughter. It is inspiring to see how Juliana continues to put what she learns and is taught into practice in her community seeing the number of gospel communities multiply. In some of her village’s gospel communities meet every day with the adults meeting in the morning and the children after school. It is also great to do the work in Diego through partnership with the local church.

During 2024 and 2025 some of the OM team participated in an OM training about how to raise funds locally. They used the training to raise funds for children’s Bibles. The first 30 bibles were able to be purchased and sent to the kids’ team in Androy in September. It is great to hear how the Bibles are being used. Many of the kids' team are teenagers who study in the town of the Ambovombe and it isn’t always possible for them to take the long walk to their villages to teach the kids on a weekend so the kids lack spiritual input throughout the week. However, now a Bible full of pictures and text easier for the kids to understand stays in the village. Tehasooa shared how the kids in her village love going to read the Bible and she now has to be better at reading the Bible because they ask questions about people in stories she hasn’t read yet like Samson. We look forward to sharing Bibles in more communities.

Prayer and Praise Points

Prayer builds a strong foundation for our work here in Madagascar, so we are happy to share with you some up to date prayer requests and are grateful for those who join us in lifting these requests before the Lord.

• Pray for more communities in Androy to follow the example of Anajafy enabling the goats project to bring transformation to their community.

• Pray for the OM team to be able to start the new year well rested and ready to be strategic in reaching more least reached communities in 2026.

• Pray for the Malagasy church to understand the role it can play in international missions.

• Pray for safety and good health for the OM team in 2026.

• Pray for continued fruit for God’s kingdom from those who have been trained through OM’s various ministries throughout 2025

Comments

As the year comes to an end, we would like to take the opportunity to share with you some insight into Malagasy culture. In many cultures around the world when the end of November comes around people look to Christmas, however in Madagascar there is something else that marks that specific time of year, Litchi season! In Madagascar Litchi season is a major cultural event typically peaking around November and December depending on when the rains arrive. The Litchi season symbolises hard work, friendship and community with preparations including basket weaving and large-scale transport via the local taxi busses. It brings with it a festive season of sharing sweet fruits with friends bringing local bonding. It is usual for Litchis to make it onto the table when sharing food with family on Christmas and new year.

There are still a lot to accomplish, and we are looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us in the New Year. Thank you again for your unwavering commitment to sharing God’s love with Malagasy people.

OM Field leader in Madagascar,
Hanitra Andrianomanana