Mika, Pedro and the Churches in Tete

Two visitors came to the house this morning to see Jacob - Mika and Pedro (pronounced Pedru – it’s Portuguese, not Spanish), both of whom are preachers from Tete Province. Mika speaks English, and I was able to learn some things from him.

Tete Province is the left finger on the northern side of Mozambique, about the size of Kentucky or Indiana (38,800 sq.mi.) with a population of 1,500,000.

In Tete, as in all of Mozambique, the Roman Catholic Church was the only Christian church for many, many years (Mozambique was a Portuguese colony) and is still the largest denomination. Many people feel loyal to it because their parents and grandparents were Catholic. The other “largest group” he mentioned is Jehovah’s Witness.

Mika (pronounced Meeka) was born in Zimbabwe but came to Mozambique as a child. Some of his mother’s family were in the Rhodesian army. During the war the family fled to Malawi as refugees to avoid being killed by the guerrillas fighting the government. His father was from Mozambique, so they settled here after the war (the guerrillas won the war, so going back to Zimbabwe would not have been safe).

Tete Province is sandwiched between Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, all of which are English speaking, and have many strong churches, including the Church of Christ (having been recipients of many, many missionaries for the past 100 years). Mica says there are 200 Churches of Christ in Tete Province, with an average size of 50 – 60, and some of as many as 300. But there are not 200 preachers for those churches, so many of the preachers are circuit preachers. Their work, though, is hampered by very poor roads. With roads, a person can hitch a ride or ride a bicycle, but without roads, they must walk. A walking preacher is limited to an area of about 50 mile radius, and each church might get one visit a year. With a bicycle he could visit those same churches four or five times a year.

The roads are so bad, I was told, that to make the 60 mile trip from the district where Pedro lives to the Provincial capital where Mika lives, it is necessary to go through Chimoio – a 400 mile trip.

Mika said the greatest need of the churches is for printed materials to help the Christians grow – reference materials, tracts and booklets on living a Christian life.

Prayer Needs

Pray that God will raise up more evangelists, pastors and teachers, and that He will provide the resources they need to grow in their understanding and faith.