Author: Willie Crew

Region: Southern Africa

Once There Were None, Now There Are a People of God!

After a long day's drive from the north of Mozambique to the central region, we were exhausted. Arriving after dark, we put up our two-man tents under a cluster of large mango trees and were looking forward to a nice long sleep.

Then at four o'clock the next morning, we woke  to a vigorous chorus of prayer. It was coming from a makeshift conference centre of grass reeds about ten meters away from our tent camp. Its roof was our cluster of mango trees.

The prayers came from the leadership of 35 churches that were planted in the last eight years in the Angoche region of Mozambique.

As I lay and listened to their prayers my thoughts went to Revelations 5:8, where the writer shows us a glimpse of what will happen in the Great Throne Room of God: "[…] the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

Soon, along with my friend Chip, I found myself joining them in fervent prayer. We could not understand each other's languages, but that did not matter because we were in a symphony of prayer before the God of Heaven, asking Him to pour out a revival in the region.This amazing church planting initiative started from the first two churches that were planted through World Mission Centre among two local unreached people groups in the year 2000. The same zeal with which the first two churches were started has spread to the region, giving birth to 35 churches in total.

According to the testimonies and dreams of the pastors and leaders, there will be no end to starting more churches until the area is saturated with communities of believers.

The greatest need they have is to know the Word better and to be equipped to teach their people, both young and old, how to follow Jesus.

Our team spent the next few days teaching, preaching to and exhorting the leaders to dig deep into the Word of God and to do all they can to disciple their people well. It was a true blessing to worship the Lord with these wonderful people.

The thought that went through my mind again and again as we drove further south was, "once there were no people in this region who served God - now there is a people - HIS PEOPLE! - in one of the most remote areas of Africa."

God Bless

Willie Crew