Dear friends,

Good News from a far country is always encouraging! Malawi is very far away and as different from Canada as possible. But people are being saved! This story is about Muslims coming to faith in Christ. How encouraging is that?

Christmas is less than 4 weeks away. That is a time of giving. Please read about the difference you can help make this Christmas by making the means available to keep reaching the people of Malawi. The work is growing by leaps and bounds, beyond our imagination because believers are reaching their neighbors and friends in large numbers.

Elly and I will be in Malawi from January 16 – February 11, 2019. We are planning a conference with Charles Ambaka, a GFI Associate from Kenya. Charles will be teaching the Exchanged Life, Elly will be focusing on the Firm Foundations course and I will be teaching Bible Interpretation. The conference will be for three days. We appreciate your prayers as a number of the coaches will come to this conference. They will take the teaching home to pass on to their leaders, who will teach their Life Groups. That is how discipling works!

Now for a few stories:

Pastor Brian of Cornerstone Church in Sani told us he has been preaching there for many years but has never witnessed lives being transformed like he does now using the DCI approach of sharing the Good News through one on one discipling. He said he knows of no other way to reach the Sani Muslims than through one on one discipleship. Many churches and missionaries have tried to reach these people by bringing handouts, like the Muslims do, without any impact. People pretend to follow them but after receiving the gifts they go back to Islam. Pastor Brian mentioned that the ShareWord Bibles have also been a great tool in winning Muslims to Christ. People in this area are in search of the true God, but also like free handouts. When they hear that those who are discipled receive a free Bible, they come to get that free Bible. They assume that after they get their Bible and the Dynamic Basics Booklet they can return to their Muslim religion. But while they are being discipled and waiting to receive that free Bible and having completed the Dynamic Basics Booklet, they wind up being saved through the Word and experience true conversion. Then they join a Life Group and become strong believers in Jesus. They also begin to reach out to their neighbors and relatives. And that is how Muslims are becoming Christ-followers and join the Christian churches in the area.

More stories and personal testimonies from this Muslim area of Nkhotakhota and Sani area are found on our website http://www.northernmalawinews.com. Please take time to read a few and be encouraged. Click on the link below.

One of the local people our team interviewed was Martin Banda who joined Islam 58 years ago when his parents joined Islam because of the handouts. Martin told us he doesn’t like Islam because he feels it is a dead religion. He says that after all these years of being a Muslim he still doesn’t understand what is written in the Quran, for it is written in Arabic. (You will find more about this gentleman; after the interview, George led him to Christ.)

David Mwaluwiro is a wonderful godly man and full of wisdom. He attended the training for the first time, but had previously been informed by one of the leaders. His love for God is amazing. He asked Raphael if he could attend the meeting because he wanted to meet the DCI team and thank them for the Bibles and the teaching that is being done. During the training he was also making some good comments, especially regarding the commitment of the leader. He challenged his fellow leaders, “As leaders we should not be like sign posts which only point in the direction of a place where we have never been ourselves. The leader should not tell people to do what he himself has never done before. Rather he should tell people to do what the apostle Paul said, ‘Follow me as I follow Christ’. The leader must be an example to the group, not ‘do as I say’ but ‘do as I do’”. It was encouraging to hear these comments because it clearly shows that people are really getting the teachings.

Projects for you to consider:

Bibles. ShareWord has promised 10,000 New Testaments for next year. We can use 20,000, an additional 10,000. So far you have given $26,249.00. We are looking for $50,000 by the end of December so we can buy enough Bibles to last until the next shipment from ShareWord comes in June/July 2019.
Printing DCI Discipling materials. We need to print 20,000 Basic Discipling booklets to keep up with the growth in Malawi and now also in Zambia.
Monthly Needs: The DCI Team also needs an additional $500.00 in monthly contributions for general expenses. At present the monthly income is $2,530.00. This pays for allowances and other ministry expenses. The cost of gasoline has gone from MK720 to MK920 / litre, about $1.90 / litre. Inflation keeps going up. Can you help monthly?

To help the DCI Team do their work, please click here.
DCI | 164 Stonegate Close , Airdrie, AB, Alberta T4B 2V2 Canada

John and George spent a long week visiting an area in the very north of Malawi. Three areas were included in this visit and the reports below tell the story. They battled with intestinal discomfort for three days and bugs that kept them from sleeping a whole night.

ULIWA, TILOLA AND CHITIMBA

1). ULIWA

We arrived at Uliwa late in the afternoon of Sunday,  and we started the training Monday morning. Eight leaders attended the training. It went well, except that George and I were both sick from the first day of training at Uliwa till the third day. Pastors where really blessed with the teaching we brought, especially when we explained the spiritual gifts. Most of these pastors have never been taught on the spiritual gifts, even though most of them went to bible colleges. George taught the spiritual gifts very well. Pastors were happy to learn how they can discover their own spiritual gifts. One pastor said he never knew that one can use the hand to explain the fivefold ministry gifts in details as George did.

Leaders of Hara Life Groups

From Uliwa we had time to travel to different villages to hear for ourselves what God is doing in the area. We first visited a place called Hara where the work is exploding very fast. This village has many people who belong to a denomination that doesn’t preach the true gospel, like Last Church and African Church. After Mwaonje Gondwe was trained at Uliwa by the DCI team he introduced this work in his village. He deliberately targeted these local churches that do not preach Christ. Now many people have come to know Christ and are being discipled. We met with some of these people, and some of them have become Life Group Leaders.

We met Lameck Kaulanda who is a pastor of an African Church. He accepted Christ at the Life Group and after he was discipled, he went back to his church and began sharing the Gospel of salvation. Many people from his church have come to know Christ for salvation.

We also met Elizer Chawola who was a prostitute and she is a changed person now and a mother. At Hara we also found Simeon Nyirenda who was a witch-doctor (an evil spirit worshipper) who had a Shilan (a temple dedicated for ritual practices and worshipping of spirits.)

We also visited a place called Hangalawe. Here we also met people that have been transformed through the one to one and the Life Groups. We met Ellings Harawa who was such a drunkard and everybody in this area knew about him. But through the Life Group Ellings accepted Christ through his wife’s witness. She was attending Hangalawe Life Group. Many lives have been changed through the study of the New Testaments in their Life Group and one to one discipling. At Hangalawe people are doing one to one discipling in more places than we know. This resulted in the community miraculously being transformed: drunkards and prostitutes are all changed by the Gospel.

2) TILOLA 

Harry started the work at Tilola and we visited this place once with him in 2016. We returned to see how the work is doing. We received many calls from there and so we were blessed to find that the work was still carrying on. Harry, who was the coach in that area had left and the leaders had not yet been fully trained at that time. We were encouraged by what we found!

Leaders of the Tilola Life Groups

We spent the whole day there, and invited all Life Group leaders and their apprentices to meet with us. Our plan was to do the Dynamic Basics together with them. We did this and George taught the Explosive Growth and the Welcome from the Leaders Training Manual. We had 18 leaders all together. Some walked for more than 20 Kilometers to attend the training.  We have also appointed two pastors as our contact persons. Pastor Emmanuel Mwafuliwa will be working with the leaders that are close to where we conducted the trainings, while Matthews Kamba will be working with those leaders who lives 20 kilometers from there. This area will no longer be part of the Uliwa group, since it is too far from there. There are 9 Life groups in that area with people from different churches.

3). CHITIMBA

From Tilola we went to Chitimba where we had two full days of training with six pastors with their wives. This is unique of the Chitimba pastors, they always come with their wives. This works here because we only have 6 leaders right now and that keeps the group manageable.

Leaders of the Chitimba Life Groups with their wives

The women are also very much involved in the ministry. The pastors at Chitimba are doing one to one discipleship both in their churches and in their community. Many lives have been impacted also due to the free ShareWord Bibles we can give them. Many Life Groups have started in this area.

During all these days we were lodging at the Kabalilo rest house. We had good rooms which were self-contained. This was a great help to us due to the diarrhea that troubled us for 3 days. The wash room was the only safe place to be. The shower also was a great help for cooling our bodies during the night for it was very hot.

One night we didn’t sleep because of some tiny flying insects that entered our rooms. These insects are edible. They come from Lake Malawi. People catch them by using a soaked winnower and swashing it through the air and the insects will stick to the moist winnower. Then they form them into a ball and sell it at the market. This is a favorite food for many people along the shores of Lake Malawi.

Thank you

John.

Dear Friends,

As you read the reports below, our prayer is God will stir your heart and encourage you as you see how the one on one discipling is spreading the Good News in Malawi. Thank you for your prayers and support! We, together, can do God’s Work and make an enormous difference as the Good News goes deeply into the hearts and lives of the Malawians. In Malawi DCI stands for Discipling Christ-followers Intentionally. And the DCI Team does!

Holy Cross Pentecostal Church at Pusi started in 2017 as a Life Group. A few years ago the DCI Team went to Karonga and trained a number of pastors. One of the pastors the Team trained was pastor Oswell Kaira. After being trained Oswell Kaira, the coach for the Karonga District, trained pastor Akim Kayera who in turn trained more leaders and pastors and established more Life Groups. After training these leaders he encouraged them to also disciple some people in their circle of influence, and to start Life Groups. Life Groups were started and Akim was one of the Life Group leaders. One pastor trained another pastor and this man also trained another leader. This has resulted in explosive growth taking place in the Karonga Border area. http://www.northernmalawinews.com of how God has reached Frank and Elizabeth Mlelemba and freed Frank from alcoholism and made him a Christ-follower, serving in his local church.

This photo (left) is of pastor Kayera who was trained by pastor Oswell of Karonga. Pastor Kayera lives in Kating’inda in the Pusi area. After being trained he started to reach people through one on one discipling and to train leaders. This has resulted in many people being saved, discipled and trained as leaders. Now many pastors and leaders invite pastor Kayera or the people he has trained to come and train them. This keeps them busy, because many are eager! One of these leaders he trained is Wakisa Mbwagha, who after being trained has also been passing on what he learned through one to one discipling and training leaders.

This is Wakisa Mbwagha (right) who was trained by pastor Kayera. He has also trained a number of pastors and leaders who are also actively doing one to one discipling, training leaders and establishing Life Groups. Wakisa is very eager and devoted to the work of God. The New Testament Bible he received has been a great tool not just for reaching out but has also personally helped him in his spiritual growth. He is learning more about his new life in Christ as he goes through the Dynamic Basic Booklet and as he reads and meditates on the Word of God from the Bible he received from Share Word.

The work which began by training one pastor, Oswell Kaira, in the area has resulted in all these leaders and pastors being trained. This is only a portion of the trainees; many live far away. The work has covered many areas in Karonga Border District. So far pastor Kayera and the leaders and pastors he has trained have been travelling long distances to conduct the trainings. Many people are being reached, discipled and Life Groups established.

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They are so thankful for the Bibles they receive from Share Word and the training materials received from DCI. “They are so helpful in discipling people and this results in a great impact in people’s lives”. Pastor Kayera mentioned that the challenge is that the demand for training is bigger than the supply of materials and that this limits the work of discipling. In response, we asked them to keep on praying that God should provide more materials and that we (the DCI Team) will try our best to send them more materials and Bibles so the work will continue to grow.

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Update on the fundraising projects:

• Bibles. As you already know ShareWord has promised 10,000 New Testaments for next year. We need 10,000 more. Your help has made it possible to buy 2500 urgently needed Chichewa New Testaments from the Malawian Bible Society so far!

• Printing DCI materials. We have ordered 2500 Basic Discipling booklets in Chichewa ! We need many more in Tumbuka also to keep up with the growth to reach the lost in Malawi and Zambia.

• So far we raised $ 100.00 more to support the DCI Team toward the additional $ 500.00 for general expenses. At present the monthly income is $2,530.00. Can you help?
Dynamic Churches International’s Mission

DCI is a non-profit faith ministry with a vision to have reached every person with the gospel of Jesus Christ through the reproduction of equipped witnessing disciples.

To donate, please click on this link.
We can accommodate both Canadian and USA charitable gifts.