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The ongoing growth of the work in this area is very encouraging. It is obvious that they continue to build a strong team for training. As training is at the heart of this work it is growing on a strong foundation.
New zones of work are being established and frontiers are being extended. There is a good spirit amongst those we talked to. The leadership style is consultative and empowering. Young people are coming into leadership and are taking responsibility. It is very inspiring to hear the stories of growth, changed lives and communities that are developing.
The regular training continues every week on a Wednesday. There are now about 80 people coming for the weekly training. They then return to their zones and on Thursday or Friday they teach to the group leaders who then go and teach in their small groups on the weekends. It’s a great concept and works well in an oral culture where little is written down and few can read. They have developed training resources that are produced weekly for use.
New communities of faith in Isa (Jesus) are being established and people from the Koti and Makhua people are being baptised. Many Makhua people are coming to faith and barriers between the tribes are coming down.
New generations of Koti are becoming Isa followers as well.
Recently they had a conference and about 20 Mwani people from the north came down. It was very encouraging for everyone. The Mwani people were excited and vowed to go back with renewed passion for the gospel in their communities. The others were encouraged by stories of miracles, healings and dealing with demons as well. There are still many Mwani who need to hear the Good News.
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Nuru Juma has been involved with TyH since he was a young man. He met the leaders as a child when they came to his house to talk to the family about the prophet Isa. They mainly talked to his parents who were very welcoming to them, although they have still not become believers. He would often not be there, he would be at the mosque madrassa learning about Islam. He remembers one time he was home when they arrived and he jumped out a window and ran away because he didn’t want to have to shake their hand and become unclean.
But one day when they came he was there and couldn’t get away. They told the story about the Good Samaritan and the love of God and he began to think about that. Even though he was a good Moslem he had never experienced love like they were talking about. He asked a few questions and they answered him and gave him a Gospel of Luke in Koti. He began to read it and couldn’t put it down. He read it many times and memorised large portions of it. In 2005 he finally became a believer in Isa.
Some of his Moslem friends began to give him a hard time saying he was lost, but others disagreed and supported him. He has kept a good relationship with many of them and now he is able to explain much more to them and they listen.
Around 2007 he began to help at TyH by teaching the children. Now he is involved full time in evangelism, training and teaching literacy to children most days of the week. He was married to Amina in January 2015 and they are expecting their first child. Their wedding was one of the first Christian weddings in the Koti culture and it has caused many questions to be asked. Usually Koti men run away from their wives when things get hard, so to make a commitment to live together for all of their life has caused many discussions about relationships. Many people, even non-Christians, are recognising that this is a much better way to live.
Nuru spent some months in Capetown in 2014 at the Lighthouse Church. It was a time of training and learning and he really enjoyed it. His regular weekly programme gives some insight into the work:
Saturday – the main meeting of the Isa group in Angoche. He sometimes preaches. Some afternoons he goes to his home village to their main meeting as well.
Sunday a.m. – he often goes to one of the smaller gatherings in one of the villages
Sunday p.m. – he goes to the youth programme at the centre
Monday 7:30 a.m. – teaches a literacy class for one hour
Tuesday 7:30 a.m. – teaches a literacy class for one hour
Tuesday 10:00 a.m. – meeting with all the TyH workers, testimonies and discussion
Tuesday p.m. – prayer meeting
Wednesday 7:30 a.m. – teaches literacy class for one hour
Wednesday 9:00 a.m. – the main training meeting all day, sometime he teaches
Thursday all day – evangelism in some location
Friday 7:30 a.m. – teaches literacy class for one hour
Friday -prepares for Saturday programmes
Vitole is an older man who was one of the first Koti believers. He has been on the board of TyH since early on. At school he learned Portuguese, then he learned Makhua, but he had to teach himself to read Koti, it was never taught in school.
He is a farmer, and quite successful. He has noticed many changes in the Koti people who become followers of Isa. Their hearts are very different, it shows up most in the family. The men have learned respect for their wives and relate very differently now. They care for them and spend time with them developing friendship. “There were no close relationships before, but now it is very different,” he says with a wide smile on his face. The wives are very happy and they talk a lot about it. Their Moslem friends cannot believe what they are told and what they see.
The community is now taking a lot of notice of what is going on in TyH. They comment about the different values they are observing, especially in family life. The women are noticing changes in the Isa men and families.
There are many comments about the influence of the Madrassas and the way the children are being taught and cared for. Parents often ask what is happening to their children, although some parents pull their children out when they realise they are using the Bible as a textbook.
More Koti people are becoming followers of Isa and are being baptised. This is a cause for concern at the mosques. When the Moslem call for prayer comes in the morning and evening the Christians gather at the community centre to pray and the Moslems cannot believe it.
It is now OK to follow Isa in Koti land. Before it was not, but now people realise that this is not an outsider’s religion, these are Koti people following Isa and they can see the changes. The Christians respect the culture, the people and the religion and so there are few arguments. In fact, they speak well of TyH because they are not like the other Christian groups in town who do not respect them. Moslems comment that TyH are very close to them relationally. It’s hard for them to come to a meeting in public, but they are very open to being visited at home.
They have clearly established goals, Jo Graham helps them to develop these and work at them. Some of them are: to reach a new island with the Good News and establish a strong base on it for ongoing ministry to the Koti people. The original island of Buzu is being washed away again, so they are moving their base to Maziwala. A young couple will be sent out there very soon to establish the work.
The Jesus movie is currently being translated into Koti. This will be recorded in October and will become a great tool for evangelism.
Training in Foundations for Farming has started with a seminar for 150 people in July. This has the ability to help families become self-sustaining. The next stage of the plan is to see which people do well after the first training and then get them together, maybe 20 of them, for the full Foundations for Farming seminar.
The ongoing growth puts pressure on their finances. Helping people become more productive is part of the answer to this dilemma.
1) The ongoing impact of the work amongst the Koti, Makhua and Mwani people. The Good News is transforming families.
2) The establishment of the base for Koti ministry on the new island
3) The great reputation that TyH has amongst the local Moslem community. They relate with respect and build bridges rather than barriers.
This partnership continues to grow and thrive. I have no issues with increasing the funding as we have done recently. No further action is required in the short to medium term apart from John Vlaming, BHW's Agricultural Director, developing a plan to come back to do Foundations for Farming training.