Future Process of Mission in Mozambique

The blue line on the Graph is the line of visible growth in the IRM in Mozambique. From a few Prayerhouses in 1994, the church grew very quickly till there were about 300 churches. After about 6 years I discovered that the invisible part of Church growth (Green line on Graph) did not grow. It is so easy to have the appearance of Church, but do not have much influence on the culture of the members and community.

People accepted the Lord and after that they were baptised. A lot of my time went in organizing congregations to do administration, organize training for children and youth, studies for leaders and members, elders and deacons, creating the culture of marriages etc. In many places the leaders wanted the pastors to baptise new members and on investigation I often found that they did not understand who Christ is and that they have no personal relationship with God through Christ.

Pastors continued to baptise new members who didn’t have knowledge and experience of faith. The thousands of members came to the church but they also continued with a life based on traditional beliefs. This is the point on the graph with the vertical line. It was a big crisis in my ministry and I struggled for about two years to find a more effective way of ministry. We discovered that to change the visible actions of the church and teach people to help the poor, needy, widows and unevangelized, did not bring the long term transformation. People started doing that work but the results were on a visible level and it did not last. Real lasting transformation happens only when you change a value system. A value system changes only when you work from a new belief system. It starts with the reality of accepting that there is a real Good God and a character that became flesh in Jesus and continue His work through us as His church. In other words, when you know the character of Christ you can start demonstrating this new character through your deeds. This insight not only changed my ministry, it also changed my faith.

On the graph the emphasis of my ministry changed towards the green line, the foundation or worldview. On this foundation you can build your understanding of church and community, calling and destination. Changing the focus of my work on this level resulted in more personal contact and focussed training through conferences. Listening is a very important part of it. Later the IRMTumbine synod decided to use the conferences as their main tool in this faith growing process. They also asked me to continue to support pastors and help congregations with strategic thinking and planning.

I do not want to say that the mission work before the vertical line had no effect, but according to my understanding the ministry became much more effective afterwards.

This process developed through the years. I myself is still in grade one in my learning process, but I belief it as the right direction.  It is a very sensitive process to work with leadership style, working more and more with local Mozambican resources (not depending on outside help), understanding partnerships. It was a challenge to approach the mentality that says “there is no future” or if people live out of the reality of good and bad spirits and depend on them or when leadership is done through power and manipulation or with strong tribalism and many other cultural preconceptions. For sure our Western culture also has its own lies.

To bring the light of the Word as the point of reference is a long and steady process.

God’s Word bring a alternative to many traditional ways. He is giving us a new mentality with good consequences. The green horizontal line represents this process. As you can see on the graph, based on what I have seen, this new process was steadily growing in last years. I could tell you many stories of transformation on this level, that started to influence the visible part of the church.

Future involvement with Mozambique, will not focus on building the visible part of the church, but we will continue the process of working on the invisible, the foundation. Many of your, as supporters, efforts are working towards this process. I am sure that building the foundation is the right thing to do even if the visible part of the church is showing cracks. Transformation on this level is real transformation, not pretence. I can tell you many stories that illustrate this progress, where new Biblical ways of thinking has visible consequences.

The way I see the road to the future for the work of God’s Kingdom in Mozambique, is as follows:

1. 1.   Continue to focus on building the invisible foundation and don’t be too concerned about the visible decline. As long as we have open doors in Mozambique, we need to continue the good work and demonstrate that our Lord is their friend and saviour.

I am aware that we need to tread carefully in giving materially. Giving without a relationship, mostly have more negative consequences on the process than positive. For a relationship we need to grow in compassion, mutual understanding of our vision (mostly we do not understand our written vision in the same way. There are too many assumptions from different backgrounds), understanding how partnerships function, understanding the values that we are working with and knowing our Good God behind everything. The relationship will not grow automatically. There are some tools to help us give in such a way that it will result in the growth of the relationship with God and therefore also with one another.

1. 2.  As we became more uncertain about agreements with the Church, I belief that we accept the uncertainty as part of our sacrifices. We will find time to help the church on this aspect. To fight for our interests as we understand it now, will not help the growth of the Church.

I am still available for a few months to think about implementation, to find new approaches and to develop concrete plans in line with building the invisible foundation.

My vision is to see that blue and the green horizontal lines on the graph will soon meet. (The blue line will not decline under the Green line). From there I can see a steady growth. There are still so many opportunities for us to be the representatives of Christ in Mozambique. Our sacrifices are not in vain.

Afskeidsbesoek aan Mosambiek

Die besoek aan Mosambiek was noodsaaklik en ons het in die tyd duidelikheid gekry oor ‘n paar goed. Ek het saamgegaan om te gaan groet. Die Saterdag aand het die dagbestuur van die sinode ons ingewag en verwelkom. Van die begin af het hulle ons hartlik ontvang en ons kon saam met hulle eet. Sondagoggend is ons gevra om die preek in die gemeente waar te neem. Die lot het op my geval, die ander twee het meer ondervinding in oortuiging. In die begin van die diens het ek die dagbestuur eenkant geroep en gevra of ek die gemeente kon groet teen die einde van die diens. Een van hulle wou eers keer, maar die ander drie het dadelik ingestem.

Tydens die diens het ek myself uitgeleef in die boodskap. Op ‘n stadium het ek gevra hoe God se hart lyk teenoor ‘n dronk persoon. Wat sal Hy doen? Die een persoon antwoord toe dat hy hom sal wegjaag. Toe vra ek of daar dalk iemand is wat ‘n dronkaard was en toe na die Here gekom het. Daar staan toe ‘n man op en verduidelik dat hy baie gedrink het. Ek vra hom toe “wat het die Here gedoen en wat was op Sy hart toe jy voor hom gaan staan het?” Hy antwoord toe dat hy vergewe is en dat God genadig is. So het ons baie voorbeelde gehad om te verstaan hoe God se hart lyk en die boodskap is dan dat omdat Hy so is, ons ook so word. Ons word gestuur om soos Hy te wees in die wêreld. Ons word soos hy mense wat dien, vergewe, regeer oor alles en reg te help en die omgewing te herskep. Ons bring God weer nader aan mense soos Jesus dit gedoen het. Ek het dit as ‘n besonderse geleentheid beleef.

Teen die einde van die diens het die moderator opgestaan en dankie gesê vir die werk wat ek deur die jare gedoen het en toe vir my kans gegee om te groet. Dit was emosioneel om die ouderlinge en volwassenes in die kerk te groet. Toe ek daar gekom het was van hulle, die seuntjies wat vreeslik opgewonde was om agter op die bakkie te spring en te gaan help om sand uit die rivier te gaan haal vir die bou van die huis en die kerk. Ek het ‘n paar staaltjies gedeel en dankie gesê vir wat hulle vir ons beteken het, hoe hulle ons opgepas en geleer het hoe dinge in Mosambiek werk ens. Sonder om redes te gee, het ek dan net gesê dat ons tyd om daar te werk, nou verby is.

Die vergaderings waar Herman en Kobus, baie ure met die leiers gespandeer het, het daardie middag begin. Die gesprekke het in ‘n baie goeie gees plaasgevind. Hulle besluite is gerespekteer, maar baie vrae is gevra oor die manier waarop dit gedoen is en ook verduidelik hoeveel implikasies besluite soos hierdie het. Die beëindiging van Handevat  se werk was maar een van ‘n paar drastiese besluite wat geneem is. In Chiconono is ‘n evangelis gevra om sy werk te stop en die drie personeel lede van die geletterdheids kantoor is ook gevra om hulle werk te beëindig. In beide gevalle was dit ook baie nodige handelinge wat bewys dat daar ‘n poging is om verantwoordelheid te neem. Hulle het nie hulle werk gedoen nie en het die motorfietse misbruik ens. Die een persoon wat na hulle terug gekom het en om verskoning gevra het, is op die ou end weer aangestel.

Kobus en Herman het aan my verduidelik dat die leiers om verskoning vra en erken dat hulle nie die sake goed hanteer het nie. Hulle het ook bevestig dat daar niks negatiefs gebeur het wat hulle verhouding met my vertroebel het nie. Van hulle kant af is daar niks wat hulle teen my persoonlik of die werk wat ek gedoen het nie. Hulle het ‘n groot waardering vir die werk en wil graag dat dit moet voort gaan.

Daar is ook ‘n brief opgestel om vir die ondersteuners in RSA te verduidelik wat aangaan. Die brief was baie mooi bewoord, maar het nie baie gesê oor die redes van optredes nie en ook nie die spesifieke gebeure en besluite verduidelik nie. Kobus en Herman het toe saam met hulle die brief aangepas wat toe aanvaar is. Lees die brief by: http://handevat.blogspot.com/2013/01/letter-from-tumbine-synod-to-all.html

Ek was net een keer in die vergadering om die omvang van die tweeling verhoudings tussen gemeentes in Mosambiek en gemeentes in RSA te verduidelik.  Die res van die tyd het ek mense besoek en gegroet. Ek het ook vir Bileam (die motorfietsie) verkoop.

Woensdag oggend is ek na die sinodale gebou om die leiers te gaan groet. Ongelukkig was die ander al weg en het ek net vir Ualize gekry. Ek sê toe dat ek ‘n boodskap het vir hulle en wil graag hê dat hy dit aan die ander moet oordra. Hy gee my toe ‘n stoel en ek sien ‘n diep bekommernis op sy gesig. Ek verduidelik toe dat die besluit wat hulle geneem het, ‘n goeie besluit is. Ek was van ongeveer die jaar 2001 die oudste predikant in die sinode. Ek ken al die gemeentes en ken die geskiedenis van al die streke. Soms gesels ek met dominees en dan praat ek van gemeentes wat hulle glad nie ken nie. Omdat die kultuur nog sukkel met selfbeeld het dit natuurlik veroorsaak dat hulle dikwels in my skaduwee gewerk het en ek het dit nie genoeg raakgesien nie. 

Ek het verder kontak met al die ondersteuners en weet wat orals aangaan. Inligting is mag en alhoewel mens juis verantwoordelikheid en eienaarskap probeer oorgee het, het ek in die pad begin staan van die self realisering van die kerk. Ek verduidelik toe vir hom dat ek dit eerste moes gesien het en daarom vra ek om verskoning. Ek kon op sy gesig ‘n geweldige verligting sien en ons kon ons verhouding weer bevestig. Ons verhouding met mekaar is nie verbreek nie en hy nooi my uit om nie heeltemal uit hulle lewens te verdwyn nie. Ek moet weer besoek.

Hier moes ons meer tyd gehad het om verder te gesels, maar ongelukkig was dit net voor ons vertrek het. Nou eers was die spanning en ongemak gebreek dat mens meer openlik kon gesels. Die situasie was dus vir hulle baie spanningsvol en daarom glo ek is baie besluite onbehope geneem. Ek glo dit is ook die rede hoekom hulle nie ‘n rede kon gee vir die beëindiging van Handevat se werk nie. Ook hoekom hulle nie my nie kom groet het voor hulle geloop het nie. Dit was vir my sleg dat hulle Dinsdagaand vir my sê, dat ons more oggend groet en toe glad nie opdaag om te groet nie.

Wat my rustigheid gee is dat die werk wat tot dusver gedoen is, baie waardevol was en nog vir lank ‘n invloed behoort te hê op die toekoms. Verder ook om te weet dat die besluit reg is ten spyte van die foute wat gemaak is in die manier waarop dit oorgedra is. Ons hele gesin het ‘n rustigheid oor die gebeurtenisse en die lesse wat ons hierdeur leer, is vir ons baie werd. Ons weet ook dat die toekoms aan die Here behoort. Soms is mens bekommerd oor die spesifieke planne vir die toekoms, so as julle iets van die Here hoor, laat weet gerus!

Met die gebeure is dit dalk tog moontlik dat daar weer 'n rol op 'n ander vlak, in Mosambiek kan ontwikkel! Alhoewel dit nie so is nie, sien die kerk my as 'n pa. Indien die pa se kinders kinders het, mag die oupa nie meer inmeng in die manier waarop kinders groot gemaak word nie, maar die oupa het nog 'n rol. Met die spanning wat gebreek is, is dit dalk moontlik. Dit is net nou baie belangrik dat, in so 'n geval, dit 'n inisiatief van Mosambiek moet wees.

Letter from Tumbine synod to all supporters

Igreja Reformada Em Moçambique

Fundada em 1908 em Mphatso, Angónia-Província de Tete

SÍNODO DE TUMBINE

C.P. 4, Milange-Zambézia, Moçambique

E-mail: irmtumbine@gmail.com

January 22, 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Ruvuma partnership and supporting congregations

Greetings to you from IRM Tumbine  Synod.(IRM hereinafter)

We are proud to partner with the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (DRC hereinafter) and the Ruvuma Support Partnership (Ruvuma hereinafter).  The DRC and Ruvuma played a critical role in the history of IRM and we all look forward to work together to make an impact for Christ on young people, communities and the world for many years to come. Our partnership  is  the heart of our ministry, together as partners in ministry, we'll stand with each other, believe in each other and support each other and we firmly believe miracles will become commonplace.

At the Synodical meeting in August 2012 a new executive was elected. The new executive is :  pastor Ualize as moderator, pastor Sousa as vice moderator, Pastor Zalimba as actuary and Pastor Cezar as secretary. We had a need as new executive to evaluate all our ministries and to clarify our vision, strategies and responsibilities. At the Synodical meeting in November 2012 every ministry was evaluated. Steps were taken to align their activities with the vision of the IRM.

In this regard the ending position of Pastor Danie Murray in the IRM is not the end of our relationship with the DRC in South Africa but it is a result of this evaluation. As we journeyed deeper with pastor Danie more than 20 years into different ministries we began to understand how to be church in the community. We came to realize that it wasn’t about increasing the size of our congregation but how we could be church in our everyday lives. We developed intentional habits that allowed us to open our hearts and minds to listen to God and let him lead us into His preferred and promised future. One of the most important habits we developed was the Dwelling in the Word. This allowed us to let God into our conversations, instead of trying to proceed on our own agenda.
We therefore have much appreciation for the work done by Pastor Danie Murray. In many ways we will build on it in future. The time has now come to take responsibility ourselves for the conferences and training that he has done within the IRM.  We will in future communicate directly with our supporting partners . Pastor Jose Matique was appointed liason officer in Pastor Danie’s place and he will see that good effective communication are done with our partners and supporting congregations. Specifically we have decided to continue with the vision conferences and will liaise with facilitators involved.
At Chiconono we are busy arranging a meeting in February with SIM and Aubi Banda and leaders from the local congregation to plan the ministry as well as the radio ministry.
Also as part of the evaluations we have restructured the Literacy ministry. This included some staff changes. We will shortly liaise with the supporting congregation in South Africa on these matters. We however want to stress the hugely positive influence of this ministry. This restructuring will keep this project on track.
The medical project are currently in a stage of consultation with partners in South Africa and the Netherlands. Hopefully this will be on track shortly.
The agricultural project are on track with minor administrative issues that will be talked through with the supporting group in South Africa.
Pastor Kobus Eksteen and his wife Nana are now appointed to serve in a youth/children ministry. We await eagerly their return from holiday to support them in this new venture.
We are still fully committed to the ministry amongst the Muslims in the Quionga area. We encourage the Thiarts to further community relations in the area. The IRM offer their help if needed.
The ministry at Namavi by Johan and Enna Dames is an encouragement to many Their positive involvement in the community serves as a witness to the work they do.
God takes good care of us, and like Paul, we don’t request your partnership with us because we just have to have your money. Sure, we could do more and go more places if we had more money, but that really isn’t the point. There is a benefit to you in partnership that we can’t take credit for, any more than we can take credit for the anointing flowing through us. It just happens. If you partner with us, you will have a share in everything we do. That’s the nature and purpose of partnership.

We are heading a time of even more uncertainty and change. We need each other even more .
We trust that you would gain confidence in our leadership. This will and must result in even better cooperation and unity in future.
May His name be Glorified

Pastor Ualize
On behalf of Tumbine Executve

Story from South-East Asia

In one Southeast Asian country, a small church made up of 10 families had received training through a DNA partner. After they completed just the first training, they wanted to show God’s love to a family whose wife was having heart surgery. They decided to help by harvesting the family’s crops while the wife was recovering and the husband was tending to her in the hospital. About 30 people from this tiny church set out to the couple’s field—pulling up crops, bagging them, and delivering them to the couple’s doorstep. When the couple returned from the hospital, they were stunned. They had worried about what to do with their unharvested crop. Even though they faced high medical bills, they assumed their harvest would have to be abandoned. The couple opened their hearts to Christ after receiving such a practical example of his sacrificial love for them. On top of this, nine other families in the community witnessed this event and also asked to receive Christ! “They said they wanted to believe in God because they had been seeking love but had never found any until they saw the love in the church,” reported our partners in Asia. The love of Christ is a uniquely powerful thing! And if we wish to be used by God to heal the world’s brokenness, it is, in the end, the only thing that works. I took this story from the web from: (You can read their whole letter here.)

God in a Lomue house

We walk down the hill over the bare granite rocks to visit an Elder of the congregation of the IRM (Igreja Reformada em Mozambique) in Ile Mozambique. The people received the gospel for the first time less than 100 years ago. The Lomue people are very traditional and as I start to understand something of the culture, I am amazed at the joy, humanity and respect in their relationships. It is something to experience, although you have to be able to lay down your own thinking and cultural setting. The congregation is still very young and the people are in the church for different reasons witch I will not call Biblical reasons. Then you get people like this man whowas sent twice in dreams to become a Christian. In the first dream he met a person whosuffered and died and then rose from the dead and invited him to come to him.
He hadthe dreams in the colonial times when the Catholic Church was the only Christian church and unfortunately was closely linked to the government. They did not train people and had a lot of strange ideas. They even persecuted the then new Protestant church by burning churches and killingleaders. In this setting the second dream then sent him to the protestant mission.
I think that he believes that the forefathers sent him. So first we talked about a God whogives you choices, and that he may choose for himself.  He is now a leader in the church, but he does not manage to pray. If he tries to pray, he starts crying. I explained to him the basics of prayer and that going to church with a well dressed pastor and other members and using different words than the normal conversations gave us a wrong idea of what communication with God is. The other lie is that the Lomue people see themselves as not worthy and made in a class very far from God. They believe that you need special ways to get your words to God and mostly they believe that it is not possible to talk to God.
Firstly I told him the story of the ants. How someone wanted to help the ants in their struggle to carry their food to the nest. Each time he wants to help them with his finger the ants attack him or flee. So he discovered that the only way to help ants is to become an ant himself. Then I went and sat on the ground before them to illustrate this. I asked him if God knows his house. He said yes, then I told him how the curtain of the templewas torn when Jesus died, the curtain to the holiest of holies and the people. He could interpret the significance. As I sit here before him, so God is here and incarnated as a Lomue whospeaks Lomue. He knows all the struggles and shareshis house with him, like me sitting here before him. I asked him if he can talk to me. Yes he can and then I told him that Jesus likes more to hear him speaking normal Lomue. If he speaks normal Lomue, he can express himself better and therefore it is better for God also. The same way he talks to his wife and children he can talk to Him. Further that crying is one of the best prayers, because you show Him your heart. The traditions that tell him that he is far from God is a lie. The idea that prayer is a church thing and a formal thing is a lie. We do not have to impress Him with clothes or any other thing. I also had to tell Him how God does not push him away when he doesthings wrongly or make mistakes. We treated Him as enemy, but the day that we talk to Him, He accepted us, because the price for the bad relationship was already paid!

To go and sit down before the man also touched me, because it became clearer for me, how God incarnated in our lives in so many different settings. This attitude and identity of God of having compassion and then incarnate it in our lives to help, is the same Identity or new life that God gives us. Now we start to incarnate in the lives of others in other cultures. Not thinking of our position, but serving. Phil 2:6.

In the second house the deacon and his wife told us that they do not have a very good relationship. We listened to some wonderful ideas of him in his business to serve others. Then we identified the problems of his family as the most important matter to start with. His marriage relationship is the foundation for his business and his position as a leader in the church. If that foundation is not strong the rest will also suffer. I took the agreement between God and man as the basis for our relationships because Paul did the same. We first tried to understand Gods agreement with us. Firstly it starts because God is good and He cares. His identity is becoming ours through Jesus and therefore we learn first to care. To have the heart of God for my husband or wife is the first vision that we can strive for. We should have our partner’s growth as our aim. After that we took the fruit of the Spirit of Gal 5:22 as part as our vision. We took for example peace and that it means to accept all weaknesses of the other, to have gratitude towards God for the other. To have patience is important and tomake your agreement with God more important than the hurt you receive from your partner. Especially Kindness was very important in a culture where power en control is so important. Self control is also very important in what you want, also for the sexual relationship towards your partner or when you are outside in the community. It is very useful to start from God and His covenant with us and then identify it as God’s Identity. From here you understand that God is recreating His identity towards us and now we are living that identity towards, firstly, our spouses and then towards church, friends and at the end enemies, reflecting God’s Identity like a mirror. In our conversation it is good to take for example kindness, understanding howwe can be kind and then see how a kind person treatsa situation differently.

I picked up some challenges for the pastor and his wife and working with the deacon I could see that he translated everything with enthusiasm. I believe that he took the challenge and vision also for his own family.

In the previous congregation we talked a lot about service and the pastor started the next morning to sweep around the house, something he hadnot done before. Further he helped in making food. How much do we value these things in money?

I think you can understand why I enjoy this work and also why it is so important to visit people in their homes. It does not mean that the sacrifices do not sometimes make me struggle. This thing about TIME is for example sometimes terrible. You are in a hurry to be back before dark and the pastor is also in a hurry, but apparently in a very different way!

Chiconono Vision Conference

There are a few more people attending the conference from the beginning. It was also positive to see that everyone attended the whole conference. I can’t give details and Bible verses, but only an summary of the process over 4 days.
In our revision of the conference in 2010 we looked back at the way they evaluated the community.
The following problems were identified:
Poverty
Diseases
Fighting between people
People hold tight to their possessions
They are uncivilized
Jealousy
People are ignorant (without knowledge)
Live in fear
Muslim community
Polygamy is the rule
No love
Bad sexual behavior
Worship of ancestors is strong

This Year they added a few more characteristics of the community:
People are lazy
There is a lot of theft
Telling of lies is a problem
Pride
Hunger
Alcoholism and drug abuse are getting worse.

In our revision we confirmed that that the community is like a tree. The fruit is only the consequence of the way the community thinks. You can not only change the fruit and think it is a different tree. The problems are caused by the roots and the roots represent the way we think. Prov 4:23.

Then we looked again at who God is and what He wants. What fruit He wants in Chiconono. We looked at the fruit of the Spirit. One of the fruits that caused a good discussion was Kindness. It caused a good discussion about leadership style. How you help someone in a kind way and not from above. l
 We looked at faith from the life of Abraham. How he received promises for a big nation and then everything he experience told him that it is not possible. He is too old, his wife can’t have children, and 30 years passed without anything. At the end he believed and by faith, God’s plan came to life. We are living in this community with many problems, but we have a vision of a new community. There are many things that make us believe that it is not possible to move from this reality to the reality God intends for us. Many of the participants repeated that this is what they learned. We should not look at our situation, we must look at God, it is possible.
We then went to discover the reasons for these problems, which thoughts have theses consequences. The roots we talked about were the following: Some of these lies we discussed further as practice in how to identify lies, therefore I will share some of these discussions also.

• Men are superior to women: 
• Racism and tribalism: In evaluation this lie came back as something learnt.
• Physical work is a curse:

This lie came from not reading the bible wrongly. We saw work as a curse of God because of the sin of Adam and Eve. They will produce their food in sweat. The truth is that God send people to work before the falling in sin they had to look after the garden. Work is to honor God.

• Trust in the spirits of the forefathers
• Fatalism (we were destined to be poor and the least and we can’t change it).
• There are no future and history is going nowhere (just repeating itself)
• Zero sum, that anyone that do better than others, stole power from the others and needs to be pulled down to restore the balance.

Interesting to see that according to the groups evaluation, the following lies became weaker: Work is a curse; Men are superior than women; Racism and Tribalism; Worship of spirits.
Lies that became stronger were evaluated as follows:
Materialism and History is going nowhere
The lies that stays the same is: Zero sum. In general there are a positive change in the thinking of people from the conference in 2010 to 2012. They told us that where there are richer people, the balance is out and then the others talk to the witchdoctors.  They then make people to change into snakes that will go into the houses of rich people to steal from them. They also tells about the fact that people out of fear to be out of balance went and bury their money in the past. These days they do not do it so often. The government official visited our meeting and added that if someone have a motorcycle, car or maize mill, that the others suspected them of killing someone. That is the only way to manage these things.
On the topic of worshipping the spirits, one of believes is that the driver is not driving the car, but the spirits is guarding and driving it not to make an accident. If a accident occurs, it is when the spirits get tired.
The other comment was that, you are not allowed to do anything if the spirits do not tell you to do it. If you are preparing your fields, first the spirits must attack you and tells you to do sacrifices for your fields, then you are allowed to do that.
They told us how the different kings (those more important than the chiefs and headmen), there are three of them in the area, had a big meeting to ask the spirits to protect the workers before they started to build the road to Mavago. In the process of building one worker lost his leg and they saw that the spirits did not manage well.
There are places on the road to Chiconono that are sacred and cars may not travel fast there. If you travel fast, that car will make an accident further on. Today they see that some cars now travel fast when they past those places without making accidents.

Work of the church

After this understanding of the beliefs in contrast to the intentions of God, we saw that God wants to give us a better life. His kingdom needs to be realized here in Chiconono, because He wants to bless us with a better life.  The root of this Life is Jesus Christ.
On this point we asked the members about the functioning of the Church. What is the roll of elders and the answers indicated that elders need to control and lead the members. They even said that they have to focus more on Physical work than spiritual work. They need to control the deacons as well.  Here we saw that the physical spiritual divide as well as a leadership model of control in the minds of the church and it gave as a good starting point to compare it with a biblical leadership model.
When we talked about the role of the pastor of evangelist, the members stressed the idea that the pastor should serve the members, visit them, not having favourites, and not work only in the centre. It gave the picture of passive members served by a pastor as a church model.
When we talked lastly about the role of the members they said that they needs to be one. They must listen and learn from the leaders and be obedient to what they hear. Some also say that they need not to wait for the leaders, but use their gifts and teach others.
With this information, Johannes looked at the servant attitude of Jesus as the foundation of everything. He very realistically used the washing of feet as an example. Then demonstrating the leadership model where the leaders are serving the members from behind. Then he used the model of a soccer team playing against the best player in the world, but that player is the only one playing. (Pastor or evangelist). Which team will win?
He then used the story of the good Samaritan to demonstrate who is our neighbour. Who do we need to serve? It came through very clearly that we everyone is our neighbour, especially the ones that are outcasts and even our enemy’s. We talked about many examples.
We discovered again the biggest commandment of Love and how to live it out as service to our neighbours. Members do not wait for a pastor to serve them, but with the pastor we are serving the world. If we do not do that, we are not church! We need to avoid a pastor running around solving problems but leave the people in the community do die in lies.
If neighbour is ill, who is the best person to help him, the president of the country, missionary, or you?

Worldview

We then used glasses to explain that our basic view of reality and assumptions determine our fruit. Johannes used a few examples like the pastor in Zambia that adhered to the tradition. The community believe that when the husband of a lady die, that she is still under his control. The only way for her to be free is through a ceremony where the brother of the deceased need to sleep with her. So when the brother of the pastor died, he slept with his deceased brother’s wife to “free” her. In the process he got Aids and died of the aids. So the question is what killed the pastor? Was it the Aids, or was it his believes. The group answered that it was his believes.
We then looked at so many places in the Bible where it is mentioned that our transformation depends on the way we think.

Planning removal of old thoughts and planting new thoughts

We divided in a few groups and each group discussed a lie from the tradition.  The thoughts that were discussed were: Work is a curse; Zero sum Materialism and History has no purpose. They still struggle with this new way of thinking but we were surprised at some good results. We did this by answering 5 questions. The group that worked with the lie of work is a curse answered as follows:
How did this lie start?
They said that when people came back from their fields they are tired and negative and accused Adam for the curse of work. This started the negative feeling for physical work.
How does it transmit from generation to generation?
When children see the negative way that parents treat physical workers, they also look for other ways to get their money. Then stealing and manipulation etc starts.
What is the result of this lie?
People stay poor and do not develope.
What is the truth from the Bible?
The Bible talk about work as a way to glorify God.
What can we do to combat this lie?
We ourselves can go work with joy and praising God! This way we demonstrate to our children a good attitude to work and to love work.
This way we handled also the other lies and some of the feedback were:
The community have the attitude that they do not like it when others have good things. It is fueled also by looking at white people. The reaction is that you start bad stories about that person so that his name will be dirty. Or you go to whitchdoktor to get medicine to pull that person down.
When talking about the lie of not considering the future. They explained that the reason why people do not have fruit trees is because they think that they will be dead before the tree bear fruit. Even build a good house because they will not have time to stay in it. Therefore adult people do not want to learn to read and write, because they will die before they can do it. People divorce without thinking about the future of the children. Do not sent them to school. To combat this lie is to teach and then yourself live with a vision. Plant fruit trees.

Exercising love reports:
Our caracter and identity must be to love one another and serve one another. If people talk about the Reformed church in Chiconono they must think of the people that love and serve. If this is our identity, others will also start to be loving our neighbours.
Many of the lies were fueled by the education system that taught that God does not exist.
One young man said that he met his friend that was very troubled. He explained that someone is drugging him to kill him because of the way he lived. So he was on his way to the witchdoctor to find medicine. He then talked to him and convinced him not to that, but trust in the Lord to protect him. (I got the feeling that this was a made up story because of what they know we want to hear.
The laughing man said that there is a long man who shared that he wants to learn about the Word of God, but when he came, there were many people that wanted him to help milling their maize as he have a maize mill. He is sacrificing his time to study to serve people.
There were initiation rites and were dancing through the night. Some people danced the whole night without eating and were so tired that he could not walked. Then he went to buy some bread and gave him to eat. The money he used were money for salt for his own home.
Other person walke through village and have a disire to share the things that he learned from the conference. He sat down with friend and told him what love is and even the next day went back and shared some more. The man now is with us!
Women went to visit a sick person and found that there were no food. So she went and buy some food for the sick family.
Johannes guided them in understanding that to grow as servants and to be witnesses, it takes effort and discipline. Matola did not became a champion sitting down studying books, look how others do it. You need to work hard plan and discipline yourself te became like Crist. Represent God. To sit in church listening , being baptised and giving offerings only of money only, will not make you like Crist. The church should be the place where we train to love and serve.
SUNDAY
Matt 28 16-21
We did the going to the world quite well. We did the baptising also quite well. What we lack is to teach people to keep everything that Jesus commanded. We need to grow. This growth is represented by a hand. The palm of the hand is to be rooted in Christ.  One finger is to grow to be sons and daugters of the Lord. 2Cor 6:18  About our relationship with God.  Our willingness to live in Gods house as our own house. Experience God's love.  (Lie said that God is far from us).  I will be with you till the end of the earth.  Difference between slaves and children.  Stressed the fact that God created men and women in the image of God. Need to grow as servants. Matt 20:25-27. His servants with the value that He gives us. Treat people with the value of being His image. Grow also as students. stewards.

STEWARDS
Matt 25. We are entrusted with God's creation what is it? Trees; Animals; Fish; Gras; fields; children; water; people; neigbours; Church family; family; enemy; sick people; prisoners; wife and husband; father mother; myself, money; clothes; cellphones; house; life; even time; etc. Everything belongs to God. Did we develope His or did we destroy or bury it.  God gives time for Chiconono, we do not know for how long we will have this opportunities.  The radio belong to God, the money of the church belong to God. The buildings belong to God, The toilet there outside is falling in, is God's toilet and we are entrusted to take care.

Soldiers
Who is our enemy? Is it Churches or other people? No, Satan is the enemy. The one that say that he is king and you need to fear him. But he is the slain one. He is overcame and we can resist Him with the truth. The truth will make us free.

Students
Bible is very important.

Servants
Here we learned about the very important aspect of Christian leadership.

Child of God
Here we start to live not as slaves but as children.

New deeds of love
We went through the process of planning and doing small acts of love in our communities. We left the congregation with this tool to continue with Gods transformational work for Chiconono and vicinity. We could not help but leave there with the feeling that we left family there! Although there are still a lot of challenges, when you start to share a vision and learn to see Gods heart, you leave with hope in the heart.

New sense of the calling of the Church in North-East Mozambique.

I had a few discussions that turned out to be very valuable for rediscovering the calling for the Church (including myself) in Mozambique.

In my talks to people in the market and with leaders of the church, I intentionally asked them about their evaluation of life in the town of Milange. As in South Africa people were all inclined to see that the values of people are declining rapidly. Normally I do not take this too seriously, because through the ages people say these things. When we looked at practical things, it proofed to be true.

The town is growing at an alarming quick rate and everything from government’s side is working on a bribery system. Government on local and national level does not care about the poor and weak. Families are less and less inclined to look after the elderly and disabled. Statistics show the increase of HIV and AIDS. More and more you hear about murders of elderly people after they were accused of witchcraft and so I can continue.

These things made me think again about Gods intentions. How He is as good God, wants to see love, peace, righteousness etc. What are the consequences of the life as He intended it to be? Well, not what we see now.

The other question came to me: Who have influence of these communities?  There are in government a strive for power and with a lot of people doing what you say, means that they have a big influence. In these broken reality God wants His influence to be real through His children so that the community can be transformed to the better, namely His intentions for the community. The church is at the heart of this process.

We can’t just look at it, we have Gods heart and have His passion and His love and strive to bring positive Biblical transformation!

Look at the situation in South-Africa! How political leaders are looking at a country that is busy to hurt itself terribly and they are not doing anything about it!  They use law and power to reign. We as His children has the effective strategy for healing, because it is His strategy!. We need to get involved as His church and start bringing His love and service and start this sacrificial transformation process.

Here in Brackenfell we had a meeting with the community about a through route where theft and other things became a problem. The one man wants to iron the “bliksems” till they listen and the other enjoy it when they suffer etc.

NO! “They” are not our enemy’s. They are not God’s enemy’s! It is not an easy way, but let us use His sacrificial strategy and let us bring His light in a dark world. We can’t help Mozambique if we are not involved in our own country and learn through our own trails.

I want to invite you to get involved in God’s compassion, we can’t stand back and watch our world and our brothers fall in pain and suffering. Sometimes we are still living in good conditions and defending our homes and clinging to our dwindling lifestyles. Is this a reason to live? There are many that are hurt more than us, even if they themselves participate in the strikes etc. God wants to bring His transformation in their communities and lives. Do we feel what God is feeling? If not, do we know Him? We are His representatives created in His image!

The vision of the Taking Hands ministry is to see transformed communities in Mozambique. This through a strategy of growth in South-African Christian communities so that there can be effective partnerships with the Church in Mozambique through which this vision can spread in the Mozambican Church that is God’s answer to the problems in Mozambique. The church has a lot of potential and between all the problems has a lot of Biblical characteristics that needs to be confirmed.

We REALLY want to bring Gods transformation and can’t sit back and look how communities destroy themselves.