Pray with Mozambique, January 7, 2024

Lectionary Selection: Mark 1: 4-11

John the Baptist’s preaching in the desert marks a moment of hope for the desperate people. The call to repentance is a call to trust God, which brings with him the hope of peace and well-being. It makes a connection with the message of Isaiah 9:2, “The people who walked in darkness have seen the light, those who lived in the valley of the shadow of death have shone the light,” which is the beloved son of the Father, Jesus Christ, born and baptized with a specific mission, to give joy to those who are sad.

Prayers for Mozambique:

Mozambique is starting the year coping with natural calamities (El Nino phenomenon and droughts), in which populations and animals are without food and water for life. 2024 is also a year with general elections after contentious local elections in 2023. We ask God to help us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Mission Moment from Mozambique

The Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) works to promote opportunities for spiritual, material, and behavioral change in communities vulnerable to socio-economic injustice, food insecurity, and violations of rights so that they can develop local capacities to participate actively in local development processes.

One advantage the CCM has is centered around solid multisector partnerships in critical areas of community development, such as access to water in quality and quantity, reception and education for girls, disaster risk reduction and climate change, adult literacy and education, home-based care for people living with HIV/AIDS and other endemic diseases, promotion of food security and participatory local governance. One such program is the CCM’s gender-based violence project. The Church conducts seminars and training for church leaders and volunteers to capacitate and equip them to return to their churches and lead dialogue sessions with other church members. Many leaders participate in the seminars, including Anita Jose António from the Unity Methodist Church in Moatize, Inhambane province. She used the information and practical knowledge that she gained from the seminar to connect with her goddaughter, Isaura, who was involved in risky and imprudent behavior and a victim of abuse. Anita stated, “The studies helped me a lot in having the strength and courage to talk to her.”

Isaura participated in the sessions at her church, which changed her life. Today, she has dreams for the future. She credits her godmother, Anita, for her life-changing transformation by teaching her “to value myself as a woman so that others can respect me and not abuse me for being a woman, as they used to do to …” CCM is proud of Isaura’s accomplishments and continues to carry out programs and projects aimed at building local capacities, through the empowerment of local communities.

Written by Rev. João Damião Elias General Secretary of (CCM) Christian Council of Mozambique

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