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Mission
deOliveiras
January 2005
Meeting in Gurué
Background Information
The churches of Christ in
Zambezia and Nampula provinces have, according to the
latest report from Jacob Michael missionary in Nampula, about 2,500 churches and
50,000 members.
They have split into two
factions, the Churches of Christ and the Churches of Christ of the New
Testament. Both churches are recognized by the government of
The split came about as
the result of fighting for preeminence among the leaders, specially
among Mongesse (now vice-president of the
I have not visited the
areas of conflict since 1993 when we were involved in the distribution of food
and clothing for the poor even though I have on occasion met with the leadership
of both churches in Nampula. The purpose of our
planned meeting in Gurué was to redress our absence,
as well as get some preachers from Gurué to come to
Gurué
I arrived in Nampula on
Tuesday and was picked up at the airport by Chad Westerholm,
one of four missionary families that are hoping to be able to work in Cabo Delgado as soon as the government gives them the green
light, and by Germindo Jaime my coworker who is doing
an incredible job in Cabo Delgado (see a summary of his
work below).
In Mongesse’s
Home
We left early Wednesday
morning for Gurué and arrived just after lunch time.
As arranged we headed for the home of Manuel Mongesse
one of the five leaders of the
Anselmo and a group of preachers
from other areas (Rosário from Cuamba;
Almeida from Lioma; Arlindo
from Mandimba; and Manteigas
from Gurué) arrived at about 2.30pm and told us that
because of jealousy and desire for power there was a lot of fighting going on
among the leadership. Apparently the president, Joaquim
from Mocuba, did not trust Mongesse
and Anselmo and falsely accused them of keeping money
that was for the church. He also said that Joaquim
had not stayed for the meeting with us because he was not told personally by us
about the meeting. It also seems like Anselmo
purposefully did not tell the other leaders about our coming until one or two
days before our arrival.
Meeting in Manteiga’s
Church
The rest of the afternoon
and the next morning we spent speaking to the preachers that had arrived and
teaching in a local church that had been ready to receive us. It was a joy to
be with them. A young church led by a good man, Manteiga,
who somehow had managed to keep out of the problems due to the split of the
churches. They have maintained the desire to work with both churches and to steer
their own course.
Back in Mongesse’s
house
Back in
Mongesse’s house where we ate dinner. spent
the night and had lunch the next day, Mongesse
complained of Gurué never getting any missionaries to
live among them. We explained that we don’t have a Missionary Society to send
out missionaries where and when they are needed but that we would try to make
people aware of their spiritual needs. Mongesse
opened up and said that he was afraid of sending preachers to the
In the morning we again
met at Manteiga’s church and after lunch returned to
Nampula where we arrived at 9pm.
Germindo’s Report from Montepuez, Cabo Delgado
In five years God has used Germindo to establish 24 churches (773 conversions) in a
province predominantly Muslim. Five churches are strong enough to look after
themselves, seven are good churches that need some attention, and eleven still
need a lot of attention. In the district of Montepuez alone seven churches have been started,
the four missionary families working with the Makua
tribe have initially targeted four of these churches to work with. Germindo seems to grow more convicted and dedicated with
each passing year. Praise to God for his faithfulness.
Please keep the churches in Gurué in your prayers.
To
God be the glory,
Manuel deOliveira