Munda Mobilizer Team

Delfina* is the daughter of a local church member, but she has not attended church since childhood. After she married, the couple remained outside the church.

But when Delfina was pregnant with her second child, her husband died. The young widow and her daughter returned to her mother’s home.

Our team visited with Delfina and shared Jesus with her. She invited us to return to continue the discussion. We continued sharing Scripture and the gospel with her.

On our third visit, Delfina gave her life to Jesus—something her mother had prayed for, for many years. Delfina confessed that she had a peace that surpassed understanding and comfort that she knew could only come from God.

We are continuing to meet with Delfina and disciple her as she grows in her relationship with Jesus.

What a joy to walk alongside local believers as we go into the community regularly to share the gospel and worship God in this way!

Stories like Delfina’s are the result of God’s work and a renewed emphasis on sound biblical teaching in local churches made possible by givers like you.

Thank you for being a part of Delfina’s spiritual journey through your gifts and prayers for this ministry. You are helping equip local believers to share Jesus with others.

Please join us in prayer:

• Praise the Lord for Delfina’s salvation. Pray for her discipleship and spiritual growth.
• Ask God to guide local church leaders to dig deeply into Scripture and encourage their congregations to abide in God’s Word, too.
• Ask Him to guide our team to nine local churches we can work alongside to encourage in Christ and equip to embrace the Great Commission.

You are an important part of our team here in Angola! We deeply appreciate your faithfulness as we labor together to see the lost reached with the good news.

*Name changed

António’s* isn’t a new Christian. He has been a believer for many years, serving the Lord faithfully and involved in ministry.

But during his first trip to southern Angola, António sensed God’s call to work with an unengaged, unreached people group (UUPG) living there.

Your generosity to this ministry enabled António to travel with a team of long-term workers and volunteers from the U.S. to the region to reach out to a UUPG.

This UUPG has had limited interaction with Christianity and doesn’t have access to a written Bible in their language, so a translation is underway.

As a primarily non-literate people, the team shared God’s Word through oral Bible storying. We are working with other Great Commission Christians to record these Bible stories on digital audio players and create written transcripts for those who read.

Thank you for giving and praying for our team, as we train and equip believers like António to share the gospel with the lost in Angola.

Please join us in prayer:

• Praise the Lord for opening gospel doors with this UUPG in southern Angola and for António’s obedience to His call to serve there. Ask Him to help António as he and his family prepare to move there and seek the Lord’s timing.
• Pray for all those serving this UUPG, especially as they strive to learn the language.
• Ask God to open hearts to the gospel, so they hear the good news, find salvation, grow in Christ, and share the gospel with others.

Your partnership with our team is an encouragement from the Lord, as He reminds us that “we, though many, are one body in Christ” and are gifted accordingly (Romans 12:5-8).

*Name changed

Zé* lives in the community around our local church here in Luanda. He has struggled with alcoholism for much of his life.

His addiction led Zé’s family to leave him, and he couldn’t hold a regular job. He struggled with feelings of hopelessness and desperation.

One day, as we were out sharing the gospel in the community, we met Zé and shared with him the hope, peace, and freedom Christ offers.

Zé prayed right then to receive Christ. He committed to seeking the Lord instead of alcohol. God changed Zé’s heart and is transforming his life.

Praise God for all He is doing here in Angola!

God is using your sacrificial gifts to this team to support mission education and encourage local churches to reach out into their communities.

Please join us in prayer:

• Praise the Lord for Zé’s salvation. Pray for him to mature spiritually.
• Pray for an upcoming theological education conference to run smoothly, solidify relationships among church leaders, and equip attendees well.
• Ask God for guidance as we work with national partners to develop a theological training program for lay people.
• Pray for our local church to disciple and evangelize with passion and boldness.

Thank you for encouraging our team with your faithful gifts and prayers! Together, we are reaching Angola for Christ.

*Name changed

Thank you for sacrificially giving and faithfully interceding for unreached people in Angola. In a nation of nearly 40 million people first introduced to Christianity in 1491, many people have still never heard the gospel. Your gifts help mobilize the Angola church to reach the unengaged, unreached, and under-reached peoples and places of Angola to create strong, reproducing followers of Jesus who participate in strong, indigenous, reproducing churches.

Book translation encourages and equips Angolan church leaders. As we seek to strengthen, disciple, and equip the Angolan church, we train our national partners to reach their country effectively. Our team works to put critical Christian resources into the hands of those interested in studying and passing on what they learn. Recently, your generosity and Good News Publishers helped translate into Portuguese and distribute God’s Design for the Church: A Guide for African Pastors and Ministry Leaders by Conrad Mbewe. Hear how God is using your partnership through this book to raise up His church and equip His people in Angola:

Jose Solomão is a family man, an adult Sunday School teacher at his local church, and Angola Baptist Convention’s Department of Evangelism and Missions staff member. Recently, he was one of nearly 400 Baptist church leaders in Angola who received a Portuguese translation of the book God’s Design for the Church. “I am grateful for the partnership with those who wrote, translated, and distributed this book concerning God’s design for my family and church,” Solomão says. “This book spoke to me personally, providing a guide for me and my work with local churches. I love that it speaks to the African context. Even though we have African tribes, languages, and cultures, God and His plan for His church comes first.”

Solomão said there were several topics the book covered that he especially likes, including the importance of evangelism in the church, why the church needs to be involved in missions, and the value of spiritual and numerical growth. “These stood out the most for me,” he said. Pray for Jose and other Angolan Baptist leaders as they cast vision and train local churches and believers to “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19a).

Pastor Tito Samba is an Angola Baptist missionary serving in one of the country’s most physically and spiritually challenging areas. He primarily works among unengaged and unreached tribal peoples of southwest Angola. One of the people groups he works with is the Khoisan, commonly referred to as “the Bushmen.” He now has an established work among them.

Pastor Tito utilizes oral Bible study materials your gifts provided for Bible schools, leadership trainings, and healthy church development. He has translated them into the language of the people where he lives and serves. Pastor Tito recently asked for an oral Bible study on King David’s leadership methods, which he plans to translate and teach to church leaders in his community. He will also carry several other studies back with him for future translation and use.

Pastor Tito shared how valuable God’s Design for the Church is for training leaders in his province, a primarily desert area with few towns and urban areas. In training local church leaders, he highlights topics in the book, including the role of Jesus as head of the church, responsibilities of church members, essential spiritual growth, and the development of missions. “Our leaders and church members need these teachings. I am so thankful for those who make it available.” Pray for Pastor Tito as he disciples and equips believers to become faithful followers of Christ. Ask the Lord to water the gospel seeds he has planted so many more will accept Jesus as Savior.

We are immensely grateful for your generosity! Your prayers and gifts address the world’s greatest problem: lostness. Thank you for partnering with us in this ministry.

During our visit to southern Angola last week, we visited a fishing village on the Cunene River. While doing some evangelism there, a woman named Filomina came up to talk with us. She was a believer, and before she moved to this village she attended a Baptist church. “Please,” she urged, “start a church here in the village.” Overhearing the conversation, others agreed. We must start a work there, they said. Ezekiel, our national colleague, leaned over to me and said, “There’s our man – or woman – of peace.”

Several people gave their lives to Christ that day. They and many other said they would definitely attend church if one was started there. Please pray.

Pictured is Steve with Ezekiel on the right and local missionary-pastor João Quintas on the left. They are standing beneath a tree where they believe a church could be started.

Life is very difficult for many women in Angola (and most of Africa): Some are devastated when their husband takes a second wife; some are widowed and left homeless because of war or disease. Others are mistreated by their in-laws. Some are shunned because they cannot conceive, and many are responsible for caring for their own children and the children of other relatives. Many women suffer in silence with nowhere to turn for comfort.

Our team is implementing a trauma healing ministry called New Hope to aid these women and show them that God sees their pain. New Hope is one of several trauma healing trainings being developed to help those who have experienced emotional and/or physical trauma find healing and, ultimately, new life in Christ. Carla and Adelaide (from First Baptist Church, Luanda) are translating the New Hope course into Portuguese, Angola’s primary language.

New Hope offers women the opportunity to process some of the trauma in their lives in a caring and compassionate setting. They learn the benefits of walking alongside each other through times of grief. More than that, they are introduced to stories from God’s Word that help women see both the short-term and the everlasting hope available through a relationship with the Lord.

The New Hope model is a seven-session small group curriculum that teaches one Bible story to a group each session in a memorable way, able to be passed on orally. Each story addresses someone from the Bible who faced trauma and talks about how God interacted with that person through that tragedy. New Hope is one of a cluster of trauma healing trainings being developed. Another is based on forgiveness.

Please pray for Carla and Adelaide as they work on this vital resource to use in our churches here and reach out to our country’s hurting and lost.

Yesterday, a friend called him a missionary. He humbly replied that no, he wasn’t ordained as a missionary. He was a simple layman on mission with God. This is Ezequiel Castelo, an Angolan believer with a gift for evangelism.

Ezequiel and several others are planting a church in neighboring Bengo province. After participating in our “Tell His Story” evangelism training, Ezequiel came to our Angola Country Team to ask for resources to help him and his leadership team teach and train others. We offered Ezekiel our “Understanding Your Salvation” oral Bible study materials.

On the way back to Bengo, Ezequiel shared the stories from “Understanding Your Salvation” with all the travelers packed into the public transport they were riding. One woman was brought to tears as she began to comprehend God’s love for her and what Christ did for her.

Back in Bengo, as Ezekiel was at the river bathing, he shared more stories. Nearby two young men were smoking. They were listening to Ezequiel share – eavesdropping. Later in town, one of the young men saw Ezequiel and told him that the stories really touched him.

Those attending the small preaching point enthusiastically received the oral Bible study materials. Please pray for the leadership team in Bengo as they make new disciples and train them to become a healthy, disciple-making church.

Ezequiel has signed up for our God’s Heart for the Nations course. Pray that his passion for evangelism and church planting continues to burn bright. And please pray for us as we seek to be a true encouragement to him.