Maxixe, Mozambique March 5, 1995 Dear friends: We started the Zakewu Likumbe Bible School year with a service of worship, communion, and a dinner Sunday evening February 26. Students had arrived back during February to repair their houses, clear their gardens and get their children started in the local schools. The first week of school we listened to experienced pastors telling us about their life and ministry. The Rev. Filipe Ngulele told us how he served a church for three years and received no money from it. He had suffered but he learned to persevere. He assured the students that, "God knows our needs and will meet them" and "If we serve the church faithfully it will grow and then be able to support us." The Rev. Chedreque Mazive talked about the lack of financial support from the church and about other hardships, some due to the war. He counseled, "Ask God to give you only what you need." He advised the students to relate to the people in the church, not to discriminate against poor homes, to accept food when it is offered, but not as much as is offered since the next home may expect you to accept their hospitality also. The Rev. Elisa Uachisso Muhale said that above all a pastor must be firm in the faith. The pastor must then aim to be blameless. She explained that members blame their pastors for discriminating among them and for not visiting them in their homes. She urged the students to plan their work carefully and execute it diligently. In response to a question Elisa said that the pastor's job is to feed the sheep not to judge them: "Pastor both the sheep and the goats. It is not your job to separate them. Wheat and tares grow together. If you try to uproot the tares you will kill the wheat." Tomás Sengo is a recent seminary graduate who serves the Mucucune Congregational Church. He told us about his experiences at Rictala Seminary studying with students from different denominations and different parts of the country. "It was often difficult," he said. He told us that he had learned much from trips to South Africa and Scotland. He learned to value the faithfulness of the church in Mozambique and aspects of African culture that he had taken for granted. The students shared their experiences and what they have learned from them. Agostinho Muriane preached, taught, visited homes, taught singing and did funerals and memorial services at Tingatinga and Barane. He told us that he had started a new congregation. When asked about evangelism he replied that most of his time was spent with members of the church as pastor and teacher. Lucinda Mazive helped the pastor's wife at Balaza with the Sunday school. She was asked to preach only once for the women's society, Xirilo. She said she could have contributed much more to the church if she had been given the chance. Marcelina Cuamba taught, visited homes, and conducted worship for two congregations at Mavalane, a suburb of Maputo. She had found members to be reticent and lazy but her visits helped to bring them back into the life of the church. Veronica Mazive reported on her work at Hebron. People were impressed with how much responsibility her pastor had given to her. My ears perked up when she told about training three people to be Sunday school teachers. I reminded her of my request that she work on a communion liturgy expressly for the children's Christmas communion. She still doesn't think that she can do it and is waiting for the "Bible School Director" to show her how. Bernardo Chimate said he had learned that "when we are pastors, and students are sent to work with us, we must care for them." He thought that the pastors in Maputo were not sufficiently concerned about either his physical or spiritual needs. He reported that the Maputo Regional Council had elected Mr Nhavotso, a layman, as president. He did not think it right for a layman to be elected president and was offended that "a person without pastoral formation" was allowed to wear a robe. We explained to him that the current chair of the United Congregational Church, Alan Wentzel, is a layman who is an accountant and business consultant. Chimate argued that he must be special or that it was a concession to European culture. Bernardo had difficulty working at Chamanculo but a positive experience working at Mahlazine for the Rev. Paulo Guambe. Mateus David was a Bible school student when he was drafted into the army in 1989. He has returned to the school this year. He told us about his experiences in the army. Mateus said, "I was a radio operator so I didn't have to kill. But I did have to tell troops where to shoot to kill the enemy." Luisa Tomás told us about her experiences preparing to be baptized in the Roman Catholic church and then how she was refused baptism. It was painful she told us and she felt betrayed by her church. She told how her parents had refused to allow her to marry Mateus until he was out of the army. She was baptized in the Congregational church last year at Jogo. Mateus asked her what she would do about church membership if she went home to Tete. She said, "I would probably have to start a congregational church." Adelia Fernando gave a dispirited report of her time at Chamanculo. She tried to do some teaching for a young adult group, the Activistas, and for the women's society, Xirilo, but never managed to do so. She attended their meetings regularly, however. She said that Pastor Pacule had never met with her to discuss her work in the church. Orlando Mazive's report was an impressive enumeration of all the things he had done at Balaza - 10 memorial services here, 9 funerals there and another 8 somewhere else, teaching, preaching, and visiting homes. Olinda Manhamanha, a new student, was a founding member of the young adult group at Chamanculo and later an active leader of Xirilo. She worked with the deacons visiting homes and conducting services. She told how she converted the family of an nganga (traditional medical practitioner). Olinda is a widow. Orlando pressed her about getting married again. She explained that she and her children (she has ten children) decided against remarriage. She said she was freer without a husband. She affirmed, "Jesus is my husband." I reminded the students about Paul's comments about widows who should remarry and other "true" widows who should be admitted apparently to an order of widows. We talked about how to support both Marcelina who is a widow who hopes to marry again and Olinda who intends not to marry. The church, its ministers and leaders, and people preparing for ministry have good and bad experiences, different understandings and convictions, a variety of gifts, and a multitude of challenges, here in Mozambique and where you are, too. Pray that each may be faithful. Yours in Christ's service, Lawrence C. Gilley Return to index page