Mozambique has been gripped by increasingly violent political crisis last October’s election results, which secured the incumbent president and his political party’s dominance with a landslide victory. There have been deaths caused by both the protesters and the police, and we received reports in December that they are burning down government buildings. While the unrest had been mostly in the capital city of Maputo, it has since spread around the country and has affected our ministry team in Milange, which is the site of one of our broadcast locations.
Another area that remains a challenge is getting funds into Mozambique. As we previously mentioned, mission agencies including The Tide have felt the effects of Mozambique’s ongoing insurgency as authorities have tightened restrictions on the movement of funds in and out of the country. We have experienced difficulties in moving funds to local ministry teams. With the ongoing protests and people stealing from homes and institutions, the bank that we are working with is not always open.
Despite the threat of violence and the difficulty of transferring funds, our ministry has so far been unaffected and listeners continue to tune into the Words of God radio broadcast and engage with our ministry team. The Milange broadcast reports 253 responses from listeners between October and December 2024, which were made through telephone call, SMS message, and in-person. Of these, 78 are now considered contacts – 40 seekers, 30 new believers, and 8 believers growing in the faith!
One of these conversations was shared with us recently. A listener asked directly, “The Bible talks about the sheep that have gone astray – what does it mean, and who are the sheep?”
We responded that when Jesus said that “My sheep hear my voice” John 10:1-10), He was referring to those people who trust in Jesus and listen to Him, and those who are astray are those who do not listen to God and who do not believe in God.
We are grateful that, despite ongoing challenges, the Gospel is still going forth in Mozambique!