Report from BHW Mozambique Partnership Facilitator Following Visit in July

Key people:  Chrissy and Suzen Lukanga

Recent Events

It has taken 10 years to get the church established and last year they noticed a big lift in the church culture. They think there are strong foundations laid and it is beginning to be effective. The church members are now evangelising and bring people to church, there are new people every week and a number of people have become able to lead and teach. New leadership is emerging and Chrissy and Suzen are very encouraged. 

They have formed a discipleship team that meets every week and this is a strong group of people. They have now got a team of people to be able to move out with into new communities. 

The women’s group has matured and is now an effective ministry team and along with that Suzen has grown in capacity a great deal. The women have to deal with a lot of cultural pressures and they are working on many issues to help people understand alternative ways of dealing with them. This is especially related to birth, death, marriage and initiation rites for boys and girls. They do a lot of praying as there seems to be many barren women and a great deal of idol worship. The barrenness can lead to a lot of divorce and major family issues. 

They have some people in the north around Palma and have bought some land on which to develop a church building. However, there are huge security issues up there and they have had to lie low for the meantime. Rebel Muslim groups are moving around killing whole villages of Christians and could strike here any time. There is a lot of fear. 

Almost all their work and converts are from Muslim backgrounds. They are rapt to have people in their church from many places and from the three main tribes around Pemba; Mwani, Makuwa and Makonde. This is very unusual to have people from these three groups in one church.  

Personal Stories

Jose

José is Chrissy and Suzen’s landlord and is a young convert from Islam. He went to OM Mozambique for training for two years. He is very well respected in the community, even though he has converted from Islam and is a community leader. He is married to Tanya and they have two of their own children and four others living with them. 

He is from a very strong Moslem background, his father was a Moslem leader and also involved in a lot of witchcraft. He was a very powerful and feared man.

José owns a number of houses, inherited from his father, and is self-supporting. He also has other little businesses as well that bring him income. He rears chickens, and bottles and sells body lotion and hair oil.  

He is a good preacher and they are thinking that he will go to Palma sometime in the future. 

Angelina

Angelina is one of their “daughters.” She came from an animist / Muslim background. Her parents forced her as a 12 year old to bring money into the house by becoming a prostitute. She began to drink and go with men, most of whom paid her nothing. (Most young girls become sexually active at puberty as part of the initiation ceremonies and witchcraft.) She became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. That’s when Chrissy and Suzen found her.

Immediately she heard the gospel she became a believer and her family dumped her. She came to live with Chrissy and Suzen and they brought her up and her baby. She finished school and then did some more courses. Chrissy became her dad and joined the school board to make sure she was treated OK. They have done the same with a number of other young people as well. 

She then went to Palma to live with her brother, did another course and after a couple of years got a job. She has started a church there, got married and had two more children. Her husband is unstable and is hardly ever around. 

Belinha

Belinha (pronounced - Belinya) is from a Muslim background and has two children. She was sickly as a child and found relationships very hard. Her children are from two different men. A couple of years ago she was going on a bus to visit a witchdoctor about her sickness. She sat beside one of the church members who started talking to her about Jesus and church. 

She came to church and poured out her heart to them. They brought her to Chrissy and Suzen’s place and they counselled her and prayed. She had all sorts of “medicines” on her and in her house. She brought them all and burned them. Two weeks later her crazy dreams stopped and she stopped running with men. Her father wondered at the change. Her brothers mocked her but one of them has softened and now sides with her against her drunkard brother. Chrissy and Suzen have been invited to go to her home to pray with the family and there are no barriers. She is known by the community as the girl who loves church. 

She is now part of the discipleship team and they hope one day she will become part of a church planting team.

Partnership's Influence within the Community

There is a lot of positive feedback coming, even from Muslim leaders. One of the neighbours is causing issues for them and blasting them with loud music every night. They have told the local leader that they are planning to leave because of this guy but he has begged them to stay. The two main Muslim leaders near to their house are now good friends, it wasn’t always that way. 

Chrissy and Suzen have been in this area for almost 10 years now. Their housing situation is not ideal, however, it has taken 10 years to feel like they are part of the community so although it would be nice to move for the sake of the gospel they think it is best to stay. 

Recently two HIV+ women have been healed. Their stories are amazing and verified by the medical people. They had been through all the tests and on ARVs but now don’t require them and are completely clear. This has caused quite a stir in the community. They also have a teenage boy who has lost all his family to HIV/AIDS, he was born with it. They are trusting God for him to be healed as well. 

Last year there were issues around the church building. The Muslim neighbours complained about noise and other petty issues. Chrissy was invited to a meeting and expected a rough time but when he got there one of the leaders was someone he had been on a school board with previously so he had a good hearing. When he asked if the neighbours had complained about the mosque calling out five times a day and the bar that made noise every night the board laughed and told the people to stop complaining. 

It is hard to argue against the testimony of changed lives. 

Plans for the Future

The young people in church are very keen and at the end of July they are beginning reach out programmes into the markets on the weekends. 

The next part of their strategy is to send out a team from the church in Pemba into the 17 districts of Capo Del Gardo Province. They plan to send five people to YWAM in Nampula for six months training as a next step towards that. Their support will be an issue but they think that Foundations for Farming would be a good thing for them and when they get there it will be a good way of bridging into the local communities. They are very excited about seeing this coming together. In five years they want to see groups in all 17 districts. 

Personally they have applied for residency in Mozambique. For some reason it is taking some time but they do not foresee any issues and hope to have it by the end of the year. This will change a lot in terms of what they can do. 

Current Issues and Challenges

Their family is the greatest concern and burden for them. Two of the older girls are now back in Mozambique from Zambia. Sonia (26) has opened a beauty salon which is not yet making money and Katende (21) is at home and wants to do more study! They are both involved in church. Katende is good at caring for people and Sonia is in the praise and worship team and writes songs. 

They have two sons in Zambia; one is just finishing Amano Christian School and the other is studying at FCE, an agriculture training place. 

Their youngest, Luwi, is 11 and doesn’t speak a lot of English. They want to send him back to Zambia but cannot afford to nor do they know where they could send him. 

Chrissy, Suzen and Luwi applied for immigration permits last year at the same time. Suzen and Luwi got theirs quickly but for some reason Chrissy’s has not appeared. When they went to apply the local immigration person told them to apply for citizenship at the same time so maybe it got caught up in that. Currently he only has the receipt for the money he paid, not a full permit. This can cause problems at road blocks and other places. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) The security problems in the north are of real concern and are a great hindrance to the spread of the gospel. 

2) They are seeing break-throughs in the lives of many very difficult and staunch Muslim people. 

3) They are working on models for church planters so they can be self-sustaining as they go out. A lot of young people are available to go; they just have to work out how to do it sustainably. 

4) As this is a strong Muslim area, there needs to be numerous power encounters of the spiritual kind. Pray that they will remain faithful in this dark community. 

5) Many people are positive to the gospel and will listen but when it comes to decision time they have to weigh up the cost and many don’t make the decision. 

6) Some of the women do not understand Portuguese so Suzen has learned two other languages but still there are others who don’t understand well. This is a challenge. We talked about how she needs to structure to train trainers and not be the one doing all the work. 

7) Their children need employment. 

8) There is a potential problem emerging with the Christian Brethren leadership in Mozambique. The guy who is the legal representative does not like Chrissy and the work in the north and there are problems in other areas as well. They are dependent on his “permission” to operate and to be in the country. This has major implications if it turns sour. 

Comments

I think this partnership is now bearing fruit, after 10 years. Many people have been influenced and they are starting to say that the work will now continue if they are not there. I think they have earned their stripes in this community. I recommend that we continue supporting them as they continue to build depth now.