.

Dear friends,

This past week the DCI Team was in the Bolero area. The rains have come and the farmers (which is what most people in Bolero are) were busy planting their crops. The picture above is of the meeting with the few people who came to learn and be encouraged. It was an encouraging time with reports of new people coming to faith in Christ.

Elly and I were looking at 2 Corinthians 10:13-16a,

We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory. (NIV)

When we look at the work of God in Malawi we see this same activity which Paul, the apostle, talks about as well. The Good News is being passed on by others who passed it on to others and so the kingdom keeps growing. We can only praise God for the increase we see in Malawi. John, George and Caleb are so excited to see all this happening before their eyes. Please take time to read the following reports.

Shalom,

Hans and Elly Timmermans

WADILIKA VILLAGE
We also visited some brethren at Wadilika Village where the village headman is Eliyasi Nkosi. We first met with this humble village headman in Mbalachanda about a year ago. Eliyasi is a man who loves God and has a very humble heart. When we met him in Mbalachanda he told us that he had heard about us. He had also read through our Basic booklet and he was discipled by Pastor Nkosi. But he was then followed up by Pastor Manda, the coach for Euthini since he lives in the Euthini area, where pastor Manda is.
The beauty of true Christianity is when leaders understand that they can refer someone to another fellow servant to lead them. Man naturally wants to have a lot of people under their leadership. But through discipleship leaders have begun to think differently. They understand they all work for one Boss who is God. This understanding has really brought unity among believers, and this is happening all over the place where leaders have been discipled through the DCI material. In this area we were surprised to run into a Life Group that had a lot of men as compared to others where the women are usually the majority.

CHAMUNGUMA 2
In this village we saw some new faces. Some of these people have never heard about accepting Christ into their lives (being born again). An unnamed lady recently started teaching people from house to house and eventually started a Life Group. This new Life Group now has more than 26 people already and the Good News is spreading like wildfire. When people heard that we would be visiting this area some neighbours who had been hearing what has been happening came and attended the meeting. Caleb taught on the meaning of salvation and more than 10 people accepted Christ. We encouraged the leaders to make sure these people will be discipled through the one-to-one Dynamic Basics by the people in the Life Group.
There is a lot of work to be done in this area as many people have not yet heard about the words “Born Again” in their Churches. All they have heard is to stop sinning so you can secure your place in heaven. We helped them understand the principle of “Being in order to Do”. (Because you have believed and are “in Christ” you do the works God prepared for you to do. (Eph. 2:10).

To help see our Donate Page here.
DCI | 164 Stonegate Close , Airdrie, AB, T4B 2V2 Canada

4,200 New Testaments in the hands of new disciples!!

Thank You Lord!

November 10, 2023

These past few weeks we have been raising funds to buy New Testaments for Malawi. With the help of faithful supporters who offered matching gifts we were able to raise enough money to buy 4,200 New Testaments. Discipling without Bibles is difficult. Your donations will make a huge difference in the lives of 4,200 families or individuals!

Thank You!!

Reading God’s Word is exciting! When we visited Malawi in 2019 I found a man reading this Bible. he had received it a year earlier and almost every page was marked in some way. Most children learn to read. When the parents can’t read, the children read to the parents!

We welcome additional support for this project [designated to “Malawi”]. See the donate page here.

Dear praying friends,

Elly and I believe that our job as Christ-followers is to disciple people, both believers and unbelievers. Jesus Christ said, “I will build my Church….” (Matthew 16:18).

Jesus commanded us, His disciples, to,

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you….” (Matthew 29:19-20)

That is what we taught our DCI Team of three men, John Singinie, George Chipeta and Caleb Chirambo, to begin making disciples of all who would come and teach church leaders how to train leaders. We understood that this strategy would bring unity among Christ-followers from the various denominational churches in the villages.

We had learned to appreciate John Singinie during our visits to Malawi. His love for the Lord and his desire to serve Him with his life were evident to us. He became the leader of what we called the DCI Team (Discipling Christ-followers Intentionally).

Modern technology has helped us keep in touch with the DCI Team from Canada. We train, answer questions, talk via WhatsApp, and Zoom, email, and keep in touch almost daily.

Every other week the team travels to villages throughout the north and Central Region to encourage, train further or simply hear testimonies of people saved through the Good News of salvation.

As the DCI Team prayerfully considers going to a village to train local leaders, they begin looking for a person of peace (This principle is found in Matthew 10:11-13 as Jesus sends the 12 out). This local leader is then asked to invite 11 other local leaders to attend a training that would benefit their local church and community. Some pastors that come to these trainings are not believers. Some belong to African churches that don’t know God. Amazing conversions are seen as these pastors believe the Good News and are saved. Pastor Laswell is one of those men. He was a pastor of a church but did not believe in the Lord Jesus and did not preach the Gospel to his people. As he went through the first lesson of the Dynamic Discipling, God touched his heart and he was wonderfully saved. He was very anxious to get to his congregation and tell them the Good News. He told us that he needed to get back, because his flock was a congregation of the walking dead. How true! Today Laswell is the coach for his area and a man of God. (You can read and hear testimonies here http://www.dcimalawi.com).

After pastors are taken through the Dynamic Basics they are taught, using the Apprentice Leadership manual, how to train leaders to start reproducing Life Groups with the people they are discipling. (https://dynamicchurches.org/resources/life-group-disciple-making-model/learning-to-lead-course/).

This process has seen tens of thousands come to salvation as well as many believers being established in their faith, learning to live a life of faith through trusting in the Lord Jesus and the promises of God’s Word.

John Singinie, our team leader, is a Malawian and very familiar with the culture. He is an evangelist and noticed how other organizations are working. He taught us that, going to the villages with simply the Word of God will help the local people to hear the Word of God. People are not side tracked by the things being distributed but rather listen to the Word of God and take it deep into their hearts. Their lives are changed dramatically as a result.

Even though the Malawi villages are extremely poor, finding the God of the Bible and salvation through Jesus Christ His Son changes everything. The little money available to the family gets used for the benefit of the family as the husband learns to love his wife and children. The changed life they begin living in the village becomes a witness to the power of God to those who trust Him. Others ask what happened and the discipling process continues.

We are thankful for The Gideons (Now ShareWord International). They supplied us with New Testaments for many years. Because there are so many needs for Bibles in the world and we had already received so many, they stopped supplying us with New Testaments. This is hampering the work of discipling. The growing reach of the discipling process in this very poor is increasing in the meantime. Through one Christ-follower telling his friend or neighbour or relative about Christ the work has spread from the north of Malawi to the villages in Central and South Malawi and to Zambia and Mozambique. The DCI Team has trained leaders who became coaches as they in turn trained leaders. Some of these coaches, at their own expense, travel long distances to spread the Good News and train more leaders and disciples.

Brian Mkandaweri (a coach) lives in Jenda. He came to the first training conference we had in Mzuzu in 2012 and has become a great servant of God, travelling from his home in the Central Region to Lilongwe and Mzuzu to pursue people for Jesus and disciple them. He has dozens of Life Groups in Zambia and hundreds in the Central Region. He has trained many other leaders who have become sub-coaches to help him keep up with the training of new leaders. These new leaders train more leaders and disciple more people. We don’t help Brian (or any of the other coaches or leaders) financially; they do this work because they love the Lord and want to see people saved. For many years he went about discipling people and training leaders without the support of his wife; she was not a believer. She hung around with the wrong crowd and had a reputation to match. When pastor Brian started a Life Group in his house with believers from different churches, she didn’t attend. Lately, after many years, she began attending the Life Group and came to faith in Christ as she was discipled one-on-one. This changed her life and now she is a help to her husband and now she loves her family. Her community also has seen her changed life. She has begun to disciple people in her village.

· The three full time workers, John Singinie, George Chipeta and Caleb Chirambo are given an allowance to support their families.

· The Team has a 4×4 diesel truck, a 2010 Toyota Hilux that helps get the men safely to the villages with their supplies. The team also has two motorcycles they use to get around during their week at home, running errands and reaching people in Mzuzu they are personally discipling.

· DCI materials needed for the discipling process are available in the local trade languages, Tumbuka for the north and Chichewa for the rest of Malawi and the areas across the borders of Zambia and Mozambique. These materials are printed locally so the local economy benefits.

· We have been able to buy some New Testaments the last few years as God provided funds, but really need many thousands more as the work expands.

· John Singinie is working with the Malawian office of Awana to bring Awana to the DCI network and the thousands of children who need to know Jesus. Some local churches have a children’s work already, but Awana will bring the discipling process to this age group as well.

· John Singinie participated in a conference in Kenya, this year was a speaker at a Baptist Pastor’s Conference in Cameroon in August 2023 and is invited to participate in a conference in Tanzania in November 2023. The work of DCI Malawi is being noticed across Africa.

Our needs:

· Our budget needs help due to inflation.

· In December we need to order New Testaments. The cost of one New Testament has gone from US$ 2.95 to US$ 5.00 each as of last December. We can use 10,000 for the expanding needs as the Good News keeps spreading to new areas. The north has a population of about 1.7 million. The south, where the work is just beginning to reach the villages, has a population of 14 million, plus the Chichewa areas of Zambia and Mozambique that are being reached.

· Printing training materials in the Tumbuka and Chichewa languages.

· Finances for the Awana program to be added to the trainings and the cost of translating their material into Tumbuka (It is already available in Chichewa).

· Inflation is rampant in Malawi; fuel has gone from CAN$ 2.00/litre to CAN$ 5.00/litre. Malawi is a landlocked country, everything not produced locally must be imported.

· The cost of living has increased dramatically. The Team needs an increase to their allowances.

· Elly and I are Associate Missionaries with Dynamic Churches International since 2002, we don’t receive a salary from DCI.

Yours in His service,

Hans and Elly Timmermans

One of the people who has been reached in the Nkhotakota District and has been discipled is Akalina Kalaza. Akelina was into love potions, magic herbs and witchdoctors. Some herbs she sold to women who would add them to the food of a man they desired to be with. Sometimes these herbs would make him go mad and would end up staying with that woman and not go to work anymore.

By the grace of God, Akelina was reached with the Good News and saved by trusting in Jesus. She has been discipled and has discovered the truth that changed her life. She discovered that the devil is a liar and Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that true life is in him and not in charms. She no longer relies on those demonic powers and charms as she did in the past. She now knows and teaches the Truth found by faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

There are two things which are everywhere in the Nkhotakota District these are Islam and Gule Wamkulu or Nyau. Both practice cursing people and have rituals. Most people in Nkhotakota also believe in witchcraft and the many other rituals.

Muslims believe that if someone has wronged you, one can go to the sheikh who will curse or cast a spell on that person. Then that person will die or suffer severely.

They also believe that if someone who is not a Muslim has wronged a Muslim the Muslim has to retaliate even to the extent of killing that person. They believe that killing someone who is not their fellow Muslim is making someone to be rewarded by Allah.

Gule Wamkulu or Nyau is considered part of religion by the Chewa people. They believe in worshipping their ancestors. They also believe in magic herbs and witchcraft. They used to force people to join them by abducting them and taking them to the bush to teach and train them the Chewa culture and believe in Gule Wamkulu and the worshipping of ancestral spirits. The Chewa people used to send their children to Dambwe where they stayed for a month learning about the Chewa culture and Gule Wamkulu. They send them when they reached puberty. That’s why Chewa people were not doing well at school because they would miss classes too much and for too long. Some of these things are changing as people discover the truth of the Gospel.

The sign was raised which reads: “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Peter or Eve and Esther”.

The Nkhotakota District is one of the places where the DCI Team is involved in training pastors and leaders of different churches in one-on-one and leadership development. We appointed Raphael Hala as the coach a many years ago. Raphael has trained 7 more coaches who have started many Life Groups in this area and also spread the work to some parts of the Mchinji and Ntchisi Districts.

We also encouraged one-to-one discipling in these areas and one-to-one discipling has turned out to be gladly accepted here because Muslims and those who belong to Gule Wamkulu are afraid that other villagers will see them attend Christian meetings. But one-to-one discipling is able to reach these people with the Gospel. Many are being saved and discipled. Through the discipling process, they get to know the truth and then they will be courageous enough to participate without fear in Life Group meetings. They no longer live a life of fear. Witchcraft as well as Gule Wamkulu and Muslims have lost their power to make them afraid. They trust God and as they study the Word of God, they become more encouraged as they learn more. That’s why the New Testament, the Dynamic Basic and the Dynamic Discipling booklets are such great tools for the people of Nkhotakota.

The Muslims like to give hand-outs, they use these to draw people to their religion. Giving them DCI materials and New Testaments as they are being discipled is a great approach with these people because they are used to receive things for free from the Muslims. As they are being discipled, they discover the importance of the Word of God and begin to enjoy studying it. Then they will buy a New Testament or Bible for themselves as the one we gave them wears out.

Many people are being reached through one-to-one and are being saved and discipled and become disciple-makers themselves and some also become leaders.

-George

Dear friends:

Four ways you can help the work of DCI Malawi:

1. Pray for the Team and their families.
2. Send a check with a note “for Malawi” (address below)
3. e-transfer: dcioffice@shaw.ca
4. Canada Helps click here.

Yours in Christ,

Hans, Elly and Malawi team

Dickens Mwakawonja Gondwe comes from the Hara area in Uliwa. He is one of the founders of Christian Love Church. He is so teachable and humble. He learned from the DCI Team when we started trainings at Uliwa and has been there since. He takes us to different Life Groups including the one which he has established in his own village.

This time he took us to the Children Life Group. He prays with the children as if he is a child and in this way they understand what he is teaching. His has a heart and a passion for the children. He has also trained other children’s teachers, Blanco Munthari and 2 more women.

We were so encouraged to see that children are being saved are taught and trained. They are being discipled while they are young so that when they grow up it will be difficult for false teachers to deceive them.

When a child is taught the truth while young it is difficult for that child to be deceived when they grow up. Discipling children is reaching and touching the next generation. They meet three times a week.

These children are discipled and as a result, their lives are changed. They learn more of the Word of God through one-on-one as well as on their own as they read and study the word of God. Those who were troublesome at home as well as at school are no longer troublesome. Jesus has saved them and changed their lives. They are now able to obey their parents. Before parents and teachers tried to change them but failed. That is why parents and teachers are very happy with the changes that have taken place in their children’s’ lives. Some of these children can even teach their parents. Seeing what God has done in their children’s lives, the parents are encouraging their children to go to the Life Group meetings.

Help us grow the work: Donate page

(sent Feb. 25, 2023)

The man in the picture is Zaccheus Nyirenda a village headman. He trusted Jesus for salvation during one of our Life Group follow-up meetings at Mulewera in the Euthini region.

After he trusted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he was filled with joy and happiness for the peace of the Lord that filled his heart.

Zaccheus once attended a Holy Cross Pentecostal Church and was devout about the things of God. As time passed, he stopped going to church and got busy with village duties, customs, and the traditions of the community. For this reason, he has not attended church for over three years and his pastor stopped following up on him long ago.

Fortunately, a woman who was discipled by one of the people we trained started a Life Group in his area and Zaccheus started attending. Later he was given someone to disciple him and he received a Bible and a DB.

Now that he has trusted Jesus, he will be discipled by a member of the Life Group as they read the Bible and go through the Dynamic Basic booklet.

Thanks,

Caleb

EUTHINI FIFTH VISIT

This past week (February 2023) God gave us the privilege to conduct the fifth training with pastors from the Euthini area under the leadership of pastor Misted Manda of Pentecostal Christ Church International who also is the coach in this area. We started the trainings with the leaders from Euthini last year, but the work has advanced beyond the boundaries of Euthini. A lot of people have been saved in Euthini through the training these leaders have received from the DCI team.

So far there are over 37 active Life Groups and over 41 leaders have been trained. This is really an explosive growth experience we are witnessing in this region. The DCI team started to work in Euthini in 2012, but for some reason the work didn’t survive. We decided to stop going there, instead we used our time and resources to go to other places where the teaching is well received and implemented. But we never gave up on Euthini and we continued praying and kept searching for the man of peace in this region. We found pastor Manda who came from Ekwendeni (where DCI also trained and equipped leaders and pastors, ed.).

Euthini has a small number of born-again Christians. Most people who call themselves Christians do not really understand what that means. Most of these people belongs to Traditional Churches that do not preach the gospel. And we found that most these folks are double worshipers, they worship God, and they also worship the spirits of their ancestors. Many people still practice rituals such as drinking fresh blood of goats and chickens. Many others are into drinking much beer (both men and women).

We heard a story of a certain butcher who on the 24th of December last year (2022) killed a cow which spoke back to the men who were slaughtering it in the slaughterhouse. It is said that the cow said, “Why are you killing me? Please release me and let me go back and raise my kids”. They said the voice sounded like a lady. They thought it was the voice of a certain lady who went missing a few weeks earlier before this cow was taken to the slaughterhouse from the area where the butcher lives. As the result the butcher has lost his business. These are some of the true stories that when you hear them are hard to believe but witchcraft and magic are very real here in Malawi.

We also found that there are some people in this area (so called Men of God, self-proclaimed prophets) who are selling anointed water. They charge people Mk2500 (about $ 3.00) for a very small bottle of water and the price goes higher depending on the size of the bottle.

We were told that some of these men also sell stickers and make people believe that these stickers have divine powers to protect them from accidents and the attacks of evil spirits. Many people buy these items because people are hungry for the spiritual.

One of these prophets is so popular that he attracts people from far places like Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu and even from Zambia. Learning about these things helps us to pray for Euthini in a better way and to also have a better way of presenting the gospel. That’s why we combine training sessions with follow-up visits right from the second visit. During these follow-ups we make sure we encourage the Life Group leaders and members from the Word of God. We are very encouraged to see God working in the lives of the people in Euthini, lives are being changed as traditional practices are abandoned by those that have come to faith through one-to-one discipleship. And seeing all these 37 Life Groups that started within a year’s time is a great encouragement to us and the body of Christ. This is a testimony that God is working in this area. During this trip we only visited three Life Groups and the testimonies we heard from the people we met encouraged us very much.

Please keep Euthini in your prayers for God to continue the great work He has begun in Euthini and that more people will come to salvation through the one-to-one discipleship and the Life Groups. Pray also that the Traditional Church will be reached so those churches also begin to preach the true gospel of salvation. And this can happen when the pastors of these Traditional Churches are saved. We already have seen two of these pastors saved and they are among the first generation of believing leaders in these churches.

Thank you

John

Dear friends,

As you can read from these reports the work in Malawi is seeing much amazing fruit. God is blessing the work in souls saved and we rejoice. But we need help. Right now we are short about 20% for the every month expenses. Would you help? Perhaps a one-time gift or a monthly commitment?

Thanks for your prayers and financial help,

Hans and Elly Timmermans for the DCI Team

Carmel Mtika Banda is a committed pastor. As George Chipeta explains in the article below, he is using his training to further the Kingdom of God in the Central Region. From the map you can see how great the distance is. The trip takes many hours. On his way home Carmel, travelling on the back of a truck, was involved in an accident. Two of his fellow travellers were killed, Carmel survived with bruises and much pain. Please pray for him.

-Hans and Elly Timmermans for the DCI Team

Sent on Feb. 11, 2023

I had a great time this past week with pastor Carmel Mtika Banda from Madise in Dowa District that’s the Central Region of Malawi. He came all the way from the Central Region to be trained further on DCI Principles as well as get some materials. This is the second time for him to use his own resources to come and learn more about DCI principles. He heared from another pastor that these training are very helpful to grow the work of God.

He reported that the work is going well. He has established 7 church branches using DCI principles and each church has a number of Life Groups where people are either being discipled or discipling others. The one-on-one discipling takes place outside the participation in the Life Group. I have been training him as a leader on one-to-one when he comes here as well as on the phone calls. He has also trained a number of leaders who are leading the churches and those church leaders are also training the Life Group leaders in turn. I like pastor Carmel because of his a humble heart. He is teachable as well as hard working. He is one of the pastors that we talk with for a long time on our phone calls. He feels free to ask for advice.

These are the churches he has planted so far:

• Wakerenela church branch. The Leader is Damiyano and has 4 Life Groups.
• Dwangwa branch. The leader is Precious Chiziko and has 3 Life Groups.
• Mponera has 5 Life Groups. The Leader is Lisa Kamanga
• Nsanganga. The leader is Juphrikisi Kapundu and has 4 Life Groups
• Nambamba branch. The leader is Selina Bizwick and has 5 Life Groups
• Kamwendo has 2 Life Groups and tey they have no bibles.
• Madise, where Carmel is based has 7 Life Groups

These are Life groups in other places:

• Chambande boundary Zambia & Mozambique. The leader is Dickson and has 2 Life Groups.
• Chinkhoma. Pastor Gibson Seza Banda is the leader and has 2 Life Groups.
• Lojwa. The leader is Fumu Chizunba and has 8 Life Groups.

Carmel has also started teaching some orphans the Word of God, seeing that it is the only hope for them to hear God’s Word and to start a Life Group with them.

– George

Dear friends of DCI Malawi

(Sent out in February 2023)

Greetings in Jesus’ Name! We are very thankful for the amazing reports we continue to receive from our Team in Malawi. They have returned from their Christmas break refreshed and ready for this new year of seeing what God has in store for them and their fellow Malawians.

You may have been wondering how your donations are used in Malawi… Thank you for your help in these very important items which are needed to facilitate the discipleship and leadership training that John, George and Caleb do in Malawi.

The exchange rate fluctuates a lot. In January 2022 the exchange rate was MKW 620 for CAN$ 1.00. In December it was MKW 750 for CAN $ 1.00.

The allowances for the three DCI Team members, John Singinie, George Chipeta and Caleb Chirambo take up 42% of the expenditures. This gives them an income comparable to a teacher in Malawi.

A lot of ministry takes place over the phone and “airtime” takes up 15% of the budget. Staying in touch by phone and counselling Life Group leaders this way helps the Team to stay connected. Transportation (truck and motorbike costs), lodging, meals, and providing food during the training for the participants, etc. are all part of our regular expenses.

We are so thankful for everyone who helps make this work possible through prayer and financial giving. God is using the DCI Team for His glory by saving many Malawians from a life without hope and making them part of God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ.

As workers together with Christ we can look forward to meeting these Malawian brothers and sisters when we personally see Jesus face to face. Then we will all together praise Him for His love and the salvation He worked for us. Then our new life in Christ, which we already have now, will be completed as He also gives us a new, sinless body. How exciting!

In the mean time things are getting more expensive, here and in Malawi. In Malawi, we ask the Team to operate on this budget of approximately $50,000, whereas in reality, the budget should be approximately 30% higher. So we want to ask you to think about how you can help this work. Perhaps you have never given on a monthly basis and are in a position to do so now, or perhaps you are able to increase the amount you already give each month. God is doing amazing things in Malawi and your dollars are laying up treasures for eternity.

Here is how you can help:

e-tranfer: dcioffice@shaw.ca

See our donate page here.

Thanks again for your interest in this work.

Shalom,

Hans and Elly Timmermans (for the DCI Team in Malawi).