How Steadfast Friendship Helped Equip Mozambique Pastors

Building Up the Mozambique Church Through Friendship

What is your favorite kind of chocolate? There are thousands of options, covered in bold wrappers and shiny foil, but you probably don’t think much of the wrapping. Most people wouldn’t—except for João, a Mozambique pastor who resourcefully used them to bind his deteriorating Bible. A ministry partner in Mozambique, Joshua Kienzle (through the Global Training Network, or GTN), had been friends with João for a few years and, on a visit, he noticed João’s patchwork Bible and was able to provide him a new one. Joshua shared, “That was particularly impactful. He had used Ritter chocolate packs to sort of bind up the cover of his old Bible. I said to him, ‘That looks like a cookbook.’ And he replied, ‘Yeah. My binding was falling apart. So my wife Alfina sewed up my cover.’”

João, Joshua discovered, represented a larger reality of Bible shortages throughout the country. Joshua has since seen more instances like João’s (though maybe none quite as inventive!) of a great need for resourcing and training:

If a pastor has a Bible, he would be privileged. Beyond that, for a regular churchgoing person, they wouldn’t have a Bible. Sunday morning church services would be their significant shepherding experience for the week. If you get into the capital city of Maputo, some of this would change, but that’s really the exception. And Maputo is geographically way down at the southern tip of the country and as you go north, it just gets poorer and poorer with more limited resources.

João also recognizes the need for resources both for himself and other Christians in Mozambique. He shared his perspective on some of these challenges: “While there have been good efforts made to provide help—training, books, etc.—the majority of pastors in Mozambique still face a big challenge to be good pastors and teachers. Education and literacy (especially in rural areas) are big issues that impact the effectiveness of the local church.”

In response, Joshua and his team at GTN have focused their efforts on meeting this critical need for theological training for pastors in Mozambique, including João. Through partnership with Crossway Global Ministry, Joshua and João have been a part of distributing Bibles and biblical resources like Conrad Mbewe’s book God’s Design for the Church. The Lord is moving through friendship to provide his Word and book resources to Mozambique leaders in considerable need across the country.

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Equipping Mozambique Pastors Together

Joshua initiated GTN’s training in Mozambique with a call to João in the middle of the global pandemic. It had been a few years since the last time he visited Mozambique, so he wanted to confirm the lack of pastoral training remained in the same condition. João confirmed to Joshua that,“Yeah, nothing’s really changed. We’re doing the best we can, but there’s just not a lot of training.” So Joshua suggested establishing a training program in Gorongosa, a south-central region of Mozambique. With João’s blessing, plans were made for Joshua to make his next trip to Mozambique.

The GTN team traveled to João’s hometown in Mozambique to begin their first training with 40 local pastors. The goal was twofold: provide the critically needed training and supply resources to further support the pastors after they completed the training. Through João’s connections, interest in the trainings spread throughout the region. He introduced Joshua to a network of Mozambique pastors who were interested in being trained. Joshua met with some of them, finding that:

It’s the same heartbeat I had heard from other pastors: “Our churches are weak. We’re trying to strengthen them. We’re trying to equip them, but we’re not really doing a great job and we know it. We’d love to partner with you guys.” . . . So we began to explore partnering with them. And that’s basically what took us from running a local training program in Gorongosa to being more of a trainer of trainers. Now, though we still train pastors in south-central Mozambique, we are bringing in two or three representative pastors from each province.

GTN’s faithful work has had a significant impact on pastors from around the country, including João, who has been greatly strengthened. He shared:

In the past, I hadn’t received a lot of training or help to be a pastor and church leader. I attended a few Bible courses with different organizations. Starting in 2022, GTN has helped me and other pastors from different denominations with Bible studies and some additional books to help us understand the teachings of the Bible, and it has been very helpful. The training and resources received via GTN have been very encouraging and have strengthened my ability to shepherd the people under my care.

Joshua and his team are diligently working to provide theological training for pastors, alongside books and study Bibles, with the goal of seeing ministry leaders equipped with a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of God. They’ve found these resources to be essential not only for the pastors, but also for their congregants to see from their example what God calls his church to be and to do.

The Lord at Work in João

Recently, João helped to coordinate a complicated 750-mile delivery of God’s Design for the Church to his hometown to be given to pastors who are seeking direction for how to lead their churches the way God commands in Scripture. He was given a copy as well, which has had a significant impact on how he views congregant participation and church leadership:

This book is of extreme importance for us pastors and all the church leaders in my country. The book is very loaded, and what I found most helpful are the topics covering church leadership and church membership. I think all church leaders must study and be familiar with these topics. The work of ministry is not only for the pastor or leader, but really, we are to be equipping the church members to be servants and active in the church. They are not just observers but called to be active. Leaders have a high call—and we should not determine their ability based on their charisma or personality but on character and competency based on Scriptural standards.

The Lord brought Joshua and João together, alongside many others, to support pastors and churches throughout Mozambique. The Lord can do incredible things through friendship and partnership, and Crossway Global Ministry is grateful to come alongside Joshua and João, arm in arm, to help meet the need.

Pray for João’s wife, Alfina, who is experiencing difficulties with her health. Pray for peace over Joshua and his family after recently losing a family member.

Pray that the Lord would work in the lives of those who have received training and resources, that they would be encouraged by the truth of God’s Word and in sharing it with others.