Layers of challenges and ministry in Mozambique

Mozambique (MNN) — Reports of insurgency continue in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, despite the government’s efforts to quell it. 

A string of attacks starting on March 31 and leading into April displaced 15,000 people, according to one report. For some people, it was their third or fourth displacement. 

Paolo*, a partner with MegaVoice, explains that the insurgency started small in 2017 after the discovery of massive natural gas reserves. It has now become a seven-year-old conflict that has killed more than 4,000 people and displaced 800,000.

“Anyone in front of them, they were killing. They were burning house[s],” Paolo says. 

“[It] was not necessarily a religion conflict. [It] was because there’s a financial possibility in the region. But definitely these affect a lot of the [religious] work, especially because many missionaries moved from there because of security issues.” 

But MegaVoice’s local partners have stayed. This is a good thing! Paolo says these people are essential for distributing audio Bibles. 

“They have access to the people. They know the language, they know the necessity, where people [have] needs,” he says. 

A gift people ask for

Paolo says many people in northern Mozambique have had no chance at education. “So the only way to have access for the Word of God is through the audio Bibles.”

One woman received an audio Bible and listened to it while she worked in her croplands. She was playing it loud, and someone overheard.

“What’s that?” the man asked her. “Because this is in our language — I’ve never heard something in our own language!”

She told him, “This is the Bible. This is the Word of God.” The man went to the missionary house where the audio Bible had come from and said he wanted God’s Word, too. 

Layers of challenges and need

Mozambique is also enduring lingering political unrest after its contested 2024 elections. In the midst of these dynamics, the MegaVoice team and its partners hope to see many things happening. 

“We want people groups receiving discipleship, learning about God’s Word, growing [in] God’s Word,” Paolo says, “and they could be missionaries. They can share the gospel with others. That’s the most important for us, because we are looking for not just church-planting, but we want to see [a] reproducing church among these people.”

Paolo invites you to stand with them in this work. 

“[Our partners] see how important the Bible is for them [themselves]. They understand the Bible is important for others, and they are participating. They are praying for access. They are praying for people that are able to go there. They are investing. They are supporting the Bibles. We can make this happen,” he says. 

“It’s not one or two organization[s], [it] is not one or two people. Is an entire body of Christ involved to make this happen.”

Learn more about MegaVoice’s mission here. 

 

*Name withheld for security

 

 

Header photo of children in Mozambique courtesy of Hidlson via Pexels.