Monthly Archives: October 2024

Another Matching Gift!

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Dear friends of Malawi,

Last week, we let you know of a need for New Testaments to distribute in Malawi. We also informed you of a matching gift that was given to us to double any gifts we received to a maximum of $10,000. In the meantime, we have received another gift to be used as a “matching gift”. Praise God!

I know that there are some of you out there who would like to see your donations doubled. This is the time to do that! Our goal exceeds the limit of the matching funds, but we also know that God knows what we need, and He will provide for all our needs. One of our slogans for the Malawi discipleship work is, “Doing God’s work, God’s way, will never lack God’s supply”. So far, God has never let us down. We know that it is His desire to reach the lost – even in Malawi.

The New Testaments are a great tool in reaching the lost. The Malawians love to receive free gifts (as do most of us 😉). They are promised a NT when they complete the first 4 lessons in discipleship. Lesson one is the expanded gospel presentation. It is during this lesson that many who are not yet born again come to salvation – putting their faith in Jesus Christ. They begin to appreciate the value of the New Testament and look forward to completing the 4 lessons so they can get their own. What a thrill for them to own their very own New Testament – something they would never have been able to purchase on their own.

Poverty is a very real thing in Malawi. Many do not know where their next meal is going to come from. When they accept the free gift of salvation, they are also set free from the fears that they have – fear of not having food to eat, fear of sickness, fear of the witch doctors harming them, etc. But now, best of all, the fear of death is removed since they learn about eternal life in Christ. I can’t begin to explain how blessed we are! We look forward to standing beside all those Malawian believers in heaven. Not that we are out there discipling or reaching the lost.

We are here in Canada, having zoom meetings with our Team and encouraging them in the work that they do. We are partners with them – but wait! So are you! Without the help of your finances, this work cannot be done. Together we make a Team; together we reach the lost. Just that we all have a different role to play. We are not all evangelist, or teachers, or administrators, etc., but we need to ask ourselves, can I be a giver? … A partner by donating funds to help those that are out there evangelizing and teaching?

When you send in your donation, please indicate that it is for the Malawi New Testament matching project. The best way to donate is by e-transfer (to dcioffice@shaw.ca), Canada Helps or by cheque to Dynamic Churches international, 164 Stonegate Close, Airdrie, AB T4B 2V2.

Thank you for your help in reaching the Malawian people for Christ.

-Hans and Elly Timmermans

Need for New Testaments

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Dear frinds of DCI Malawi,

In this season of Canadian and American Thanksgiving we want to come to you to ask for help providing New Testaments for the work of God in Malawi. As you can read in the reports, the Good News is organically spreading from Northern Malawi to the surrounding countries. News of DCI (Discipling Christ-followers Intentionally) reaching so many through the one-to-one discipling and leadership training is also spreading to other countries in Africa. John Singinie has become the DCI ambassador of this approach to reaching the lost and is being invited to come to other countries to promote DCI there. Next week he is travelling to Tanzania to a pastor’s conference.

In this season of Canadian and American Thanksgiving we want to come to you to ask for help providing New Testaments for the work of God in Malawi. As you can read in the reports, the Good News is organically spreading from Northern Malawi to the surrounding countries. News of DCI (Discipling Christ-followers Intentionally) reaching so many through the one-to-one discipling and leadership training is also spreading to other countries in Africa. John Singinie has become the DCI ambassador of this approach to reaching the lost and is being invited to come to other countries to promote DCI there. Next week he is travelling to Tanzania to a pastor’s conference.

But right now, we need New Testaments to continue reaching Malawians in the Central and Southern Regions of Malawi. Since the start of DCI in 2012 over 60,000 people have been discipled and given a New Testament. The North has a population of around 1,8 million. The South has a population of over 16,000,000.

Can you help us? Some friends have made $ 10,000.00 in matching funds available. We could use 10,000 New Testaments, which will cost $ 50,000.00. New Testaments need to be ordered by January 1, 2025 from the Malawi Bible Society.

Luke 12:24 always gives me pause, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Serving Him together,
Hans and Elly Timmermans (for the DCI Team).

Etransfer: dcioffice@shaw.ca (tag: for Bibles Malawi)

Canada Helps (This also works outside Canada, but you won’t get a tax receipt).

Update: October, 2024

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Dear friends of Malawi,

It’s time for a newsletter updating you on the work in Malawi. I thought it might be time for an update on our family goings and comings also. That’s not something we do very often.

As you probably know, we live in Sarnia – have been here since June 2020. Our 4 children are spread around – from Palmerston (Bonnie & Rudy) to Brantford (Susan and Al), Williamstown (Paul and Vic) to Redding, CA (Sara & Marty). Bonnie is working with “Disciple a City” as the administrator and they are seeing many unbelievers come to Christ in their crusades. Both Bonnie and Rudy are working hard at renovating a house. It has proven to be a lot of work, but well worth it, as I see the pictures of the make-over. Susan is a student once again…halfway through her studies in counselling and hoping to open her own clinic in Brantford soon. Paul has taken a new job at McEwan Feed Mill in Maxville, ON. So he has made the move back to Ontario and enjoying his new job. We miss our youngest daughter, Sara and her husband Marty with their daughter, Madi. Marty works at Bethel Church and Sara still does her interior design work from home. Madi is starting driving lessons! 😊 Our 10 grandchildren are all doing well. The oldest grandson, Brandon, is still in NZ, and has no plans to return. He and Saskia, his wife, are enjoying life in the farming community there. Andrew (Bonnie’s second son) and his wife, Kaitlyn, live near us with their 3 sons, Enoch, Kiyan and Ishmael. That makes us great grandparents. 😊 It is nice to have them nearby. The other 7 live in the London – Brantford – Palmerston area. We look forward to sharing Thanksgiving dinner with most of them soon. Two more grandsons have married the love of their lives. Luke and Phil (the twins) now each have homes of their own. They are both working in the HVAC industry and are doing well.

That’s a brief little update on our extended family. Hans and I are doing well, just getting a bit older, as we all are. Doing the things that we have enjoyed for so long, are not always within reach anymore. We are attending People’s Church (AGC) in Wyoming, ON (a 17-minute drive), as well as a Connect Group that will start up again next week after the summer break. We enjoy good health for the most part and get out to walk/exercise our dog regularly.

We have been blessed with the work in Malawi for 17 years (Elly) and 13 years (Hans). We still marvel at how God has chosen to use us to facilitate such an amazing ministry. Our Team is a delight to work with; our leader, John Singinie is a wise, godly man of God.

We are thankful for every supporter who has shown an interest in the work. As we get older, we are trusting the future of the ministry to God’s care. It is, after all, His Work. God has proven that He will provide for it according to His will. Will you pray with us to that end?

Elly and Hans

The DCI Team filed the following report on their travel of last week:

We had a successful follow-up trip to Mpherembe and surrounding areas where Life Groups have been established. It was so exciting and encouraging to see the great results of this work. The coach for Mpherembe and area is Brave Nyoni. Before Brave Nyoni, the coach was Kondwani Msiska who is currently at Santhe in the Kasungu District in the Central Region of Malawi. He continues training many leaders and has established many Life Groups there.

Mpherembe is a Ngoni Area with more than 67,000 people. Ngoni like drinking, polygamy, meat and the Ingoma dance. We visited Life Groups at Emgazini, Changoma and Mangombera. At Emgazini the leader of the Life Groups is Kumbukani Mgemezulu. He is a humble and committed leader. He began the work by training leaders and establishing Life Groups. Some of the Life Groups are:

(1) Chiyenga Life Group with leader Steven Ndhlovu

(2) Mayula Life Group with leader Wilson Kajani

(3) Majiga Life Group with leader Rodgers Ngoma

(4) Matindiwizi Life Group with leader Edward Kajani

We heard encouraging testimonies of changed lives and of people discipling one another. In Emgazini lives a man named Nyirenda who was a witch doctor, but he has been saved. As a witchdoctor he had a uniform that he wore when performing his rituals. After he was saved, he burned the uniform and all other paraphernalia which he used for his magic. He said, “Now I believe in the Lord Jesus, I don’t need these demonic items anymore.” This man is now passing on what he has learned about his new Life in the Lord to others. Many people are being saved through his testimony. God is using his testimony of a changed life to reach more people. When Jesus sets one free that person is free indeed.

At Changoma, the leader is Wisdom Chima who was also trained by Ackson Qoma. Ackson trained 5 leaders, and they have established Life Groups. Changoma is in the Mpherembe area where a lot of maize is cultivated. Most of the people who live there belong to the Pundi clan, which has a history of drinking and violence. But through the Life Groups many are saved, and lives are changed.

The leader of Mangombera Life Group is Nellie Botha who was trained by pastor Brown Chilongo. Brown started some Life Groups, and which became of churches. Nellie is one of those whose family was being cursed by the witchdoctors. Her children were suffering from being attacked by demons. This was difficult for the family. However, the Good News came and she has been saved and Jesus has set her and her family free from these demonic attacks. Nellie and her family are now living a joyful life. She is also reaching out to her neighbors and friends. Many find salvation in Jesus and the Life Groups are growing.

Believers in Mpherembe are very thankful for the free New Testaments, Dynamic Basics and other DCI discipling materials. These are great tools for spreading the Good News which they could not afford to buy themselves due to dire situation food wise in their area. Many people are struggling to make ends meet in their daily life.

We were very encouraged to see that leaders are deeply committed to the work of the Lord and that the members of the Life Groups are reaching out to the lost in their neighborhood. Also, leaders are being trained and Life Groups are reproducing.

Seeing a young boy in front of a Nellie Botha’s pigeon coop reminds me of how these pigeons reproduce rapidly, like the believers in Malawi in their Life Groups.

To make this possible we do need your help, for which we are very thankful.

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Thank you for reading this far!
-Hans and Elly for the DCI Team