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Sample Church Information

Church information

Thambajane UMC
Rev.: Felisberto Moniz Mbanze
Wife: Rev. Benedita F. Matsinhe, with 1 child (2 years old)
Morrumbene North District
DS: José Mateus Mapswanganhe

Church membership: 214 Church attendance: 62
New converts: 12
Local Churches: 4 (Thambajane, Xihosse, Savana, and Niniva)
Baptized: 165 Classes: 7
Founded: 1998, from Phanga UMC and Cambine UMC mother churches.
Location: The Church is located about 42Kms west of Morrumbene village.

Well: They get water from a river, which dries up most of the time, and it is not healthy for consumption. It is 3.5kms away from parsonage.
Clinic: Available 20kms away from parsonage at Cambine or to seek assistance in Morrumbene village (18kms).
Schools: There is a primary school 4kms away from parsonage (1-5th grade).

Development activities: Members are mostly agriculturists. Crops comprised of coconuts, cashew nuts, cassava, corn, etc.
Access road: Dust one-way dust road through the bush of quite difficult access.
Language spoken: Xitswa, and Portuguese
Possible telephone contacts: None.
Electricity: Unavailable.
Employment: People live on farming and selling or exchanging cashew nuts, cassava and mangoes to the neighboring areas.

Church structure: Semi-permanent. Coconut dry leaves make a wall and roof with mud floor. Tree logs make benches, and raised earth makes pulpit.

Parsonage: Small semi-permanent structure, with one bedroom and living room, roofed up with zinc sheets, mud floor and coconut dry leaves make a wall.

Fellowship house: none.

Special projects: They dream to plant corn in 5.0 hectares of church land.

Communication: Communicate through M. I. Representative Ezequiel Nhantumbo at enhantumbo@umc-mozambique.org

Constraints:

  • High illiteracy rate within members, and people hardly understand the word of God.
  • Quite long distances for pastor to assist local churches and classes;
  • Members have very low financial capacity to contribute for their pastor's salary;
  • Heavy winds destroyed crops.

Special needs/plans:

  • Through evangelism programs, they plan to increase the number of class meetings, recovering areas previously affected by the past civil war.
  • Rehabilitate the chapel.
  • Introduce adult education for the community.
  • Enlarge the parsonage to an additional bedroom.
  • Desperately in need of a well and a clinic.

Observations:

  • There are many elderly people than it is the number of young people;
  • The pastor walks long distances from Nhagoho (where his wife is serving) to his parsonage. He stays there 4 days a week.
  • The pastor provides workshops on evangelism and visits door-to-door his members to renew their faith, and their participation has increased.
  • It happens to be the first year of pastor activity.
  • The congregation has contributed 5 zinc sheets for the parsonage.
  • In the beginning of March, they had a local women conference.
  • Because of the cyclone "Japhet", one of the member's house fell down while they were sleeping, but none was reported injured.

Pictures:

  1. Chapel outside view
  2. Chapel - inside view
  3. Pastor at parsonage

by Ezequiel Marcos Nhantumbo
The Mozambique Initiative Representative
Ao c/ Igreja Metodista Unida Em Mozambique
C.P. 2640
Rua D. Francisco Barreto, 229
Maputo - Mozambique
Phone 258-21-485742
E-Mail: Mozambique Initiative