Author: Mike Beresford

zm’s Mission Director Mike Beresford was recently preaching at his home church York Baptist Church.  On the fourth Sunday of every month they have an informal evening service.  This has been conducted by Zoom since March 2020.  They have been working their way through 2 Timothy in a series entitled “Guard the Gospel”.  On Sunday 25^th April they were looking at 2 Timothy 4:1-8.  This includes Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to “Preach the Word”. 

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Mike instantly thought of getting in touch zm’s former overseas worker Myles MacBean and asking him to contribute during in the service.  Myles spent over three years working in Malawi with his wife Ruth.  Amongst other things, Myles collaborated with Malawian workers from a German mission called Disciple the Nations to develop a training programme for rural preachers. 

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Myles wrote in his blog back in 2017:

Ever since we first visited Malawi, I have been captivated by the challenge of how to develop a truly contextual, scalable and sustainable way to equip and release ZEC’s grass-roots preachers to better expose the original meaning of Scripture, and better communicate that meaning to today’s Malawians within their rural oral culture

You can read his blog to find out more about together they developed the Preach the Word training programme. 

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One of Myles’s concerns was the ongoing sustainability of Preach the Word.  He was concerned that it might be seen as his personal ministry, and that it might peter out when he and Ruth left Malawi.  Hence the emphasis on working alongside the Malawian training facilitators, allowing them to lead the programme.  Despite Myles returning to the UK and now no longer working with zm, the Preach the Word training programme is still going strong today.  It is led by Malawian workers Pastors Aaron Sekeya and Samuel Phiri.   

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Myles prepared a ten minute video that Mike used in the church service at York Baptist Church.  In it he talks about his preaching experience and how the Preach the Word training programme came to be developed.  Myles concludes by reflecting about how, in the postmodern culture prevalent in countries like the UK, preachers can learn much from Malawi’s oral storytelling approach.  You can watch Myles’s video below.

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If you wanted to hear Mike Beresford preach from 2 Timothy 4:1-8, you can listen to his message here. 

zm was founded as the Zambesi Industrial Mission way back in 1892.  We are reminded of the words of Psalm 124 that starts: “If the Lord had not been on our side…”  The psalmist then recounts the dreadful consequences that might have occurred if the Lord had not been with us, before concluding that: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth”. 

Over the years zm has been governed in a variety of different ways.  Today its day to day running is entrusted to the staff team headed up by Mission Director Mike Beresford.  However, a key part of the mission’s governance is delivered by the Executive Committee.  This group of Christians is responsible for overseeing zm’s management and its strategic direction.  The mission’s five trustees retain responsibility for legal and personnel matters, but share responsibility for all other matters with the Executive Committee. 

The trustees and other members of the Exec bring together perspectives from different church denominations, age groups, backgrounds and cultures – and together discern God’s will for the mission’ direction.  They met most recently by Zoom on Tuesday 9^th March.  During this meeting they agreed the mission’s new strategic plan in which our vision is succinctly summarized:

zm’s vision is to see sustainable gospel-preaching disciple-making churches across Malawi and northern Mozambique

Towards the end of 2020, we were delighted to welcome two new members of the Executive Committee.  Amos Oumounabidji and José Laussu.  We are introducing Amos and José in this article.

Amos Oumounabidji has worked for Project Possible (formerly Rope) (https://projectpossible.org.uk/) since 2006 and is currently their Partner Relationship Coordinator.  He grew up in Chad and became a Christian as a young man, soon after moving to the city and starting to attend an evangelical church.  His village had been looking for someone to translate the Bible into their native tongue.  So he thought, “why not?”  He thought it would be easy, but instead it took 15 years!  Amos has a great deal of experience in helping churches to sustain themselves.  His understanding of the way missions interact with local churches will be extremely beneficial to zm.  At present he is still finding out exactly how the relationship between zm and its church partners works.  Once he understands this fully he feels he will be able to contribute in greater depth.   

José Laussu is passionate about mission. He is committed to fostering links with churches and encouraging them to participate in mission locally and globally. He has a deep personal and pastoral concern for helping people and feels that his passion and experience will be able to help zm. 

We give thanks to God for enabling the long life of zambesi mission.  We give thanks for the Executive Committee – for the range of Christian perspectives that God uses to guide and direct the mission today.  Please pray for Amos and José as they grow in understanding about the mission, and bring their gifts and experience to bear on its life and direction.

zm’s Honorary Representative and CFCM Specialist Ruth MacBean brings the latest news from Zambesi Mission. She explains what is happening in Malawi and northern Mozambique, including the current COVID situation. She also informs us about leadership changes at the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi and updates us about recent UK staff changes. Mission Director Mike Beresford closes by introducing our new Office Manager Clare O’Connell.

Please note that this video was finalised on Sunday 7th February. We heard yesterday (Monday 8th February) that the initial three week school closure mentioned in the video has been extended for a further two weeks, meaning that all schools will be closed until at least Monday 22nd February. Schools were all instructed to send all residential students back to their homes; this means that all EBCoM’s students have left the college and have gone home and are now awaiting further government advice.

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The opening chapter of the Bible tells us that God made humanity in His own image (Gen. 1: 27).  Although we struggle to define exactly what this means, one of the delights of working for a mission is that you get glimpses of God’s character revealed in the believers who interact with us.  The mission’s supporters pray for us, phone us, write to us and send us gifts.  Sometimes they live near us, but occasionally they live on the other side of the world.  In this brief article we want to shine a light on the life of a supporter whose regular gifts made such a difference to the lives of pastors in Malawi and northern Mozambique. 

Mr Otto Gerschow was just an ordinary Christian.  He didn’t serve on the mission field.  But God had given him a heart for mission, and God used his generous regular gifts to support Malawian and Mozambican mission workers – particularly in rural areas where they faced so many challenges.   As you will read, Otto Gerschow’s life is inextricably linked with zm’s former Western Australian Advisory Council and the Australian mission workers who served in Malawi. 

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Otto was born in 1929 and grew up on a farm in Western Australia.  It was a hard life with little money.  During this time Otto developed a strong attention to detail and a desire to put in the maximum effort into whatever he did.  Over the years he became a successful dairy and beef cattle farmer.  

Otto gave his life to Jesus in his 20’s and became a faithful and committed Christian.  Not only did prayer become a lifelong priority, but he also sought to live out his faith in practical ways.  In the 1990’s he made 13 trips into China taking Bibles with him so that people there could have access to the Word of God.  He supported many different missions.   When zm’s Australian missionaries John and Gladys Simons visited his church, he got to know them and soon started supporting zm.   His quiet generosity was remarkable.  When buying a new car for his own family, he also bought a new vehicle for zm.   

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The Holden Belmont HT station wagon travelled with John and Gladys Simons by ship to South Africa.  Then they drove it to Malawi for the mission’s use.   Otto Gerschow served as a committee member on zm’s Western Australian Advisory Council for over 30 years between 1979 and 2010.  His regular generous gifts for the needs of active and retired pastors in Malawi were so encouraging to everyone involved in the mission.

Mr Otto’s Gerschow died in August last year.  He was just a humble man, but one who was made in the image of God and whose gifts and generosity were used by God to transform the lives of God’s servants in Malawi.   We give thanks to God for his life of service to the Lord. 

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Most of you will heard about the sudden death of our good friend and co-worker Pastor Lameck Masoamphambe.  He was tragically involved in a road accident on 14^th October and died in Zomba Central Hospital shortly afterwards. 

Lameck graduated from the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi (EBCoM) in 2007.  In the following year he became pastor of Namitete Zambezi Evangelical Church (ZEC) in western Malawi.  He became Administrator at ZEC’s Ntonda Rural Hospital in 2014 and served there until now.  His responsibilities included management of Ntonda’s Orphan Daycare Centre. 

Lameck’s wife Stella now has the responsibility for caring for their six children on her own.  Their eldest child is 20, their youngest is 8 years old.  They are shown in these pictures which were taken back in 2014 when Lameck was pastor at Namitete ZEC. 

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Lameck was an ever-present companion and guide whenever we visited Ntonda.  He was a hard-working tenacious man, who fully grasped the importance of heathcare as mission.  He approached challenges fearlessly and cheerfully – he has been an inspiration to all of us.  He also worked hard to improve his knowledge and understanding.  At the time of his death he was studying for a Master’s so that he could serve his community better through Ntonda Rural Hospital. 

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Our former mission workers Abraham and Ruth Folayan knew Lameck and Stella well and Abraham shared his recollections with us from retirement in Nigeria.

“We send our very sincere condolences to Lameck’s wife Stella and their children.  He came to us at EBCoM for the three-year Diploma programme.  He was a mature and diligent student who worked very hard and achieved good success.  It was during his final year when Stella joined him for the Wives’ Programme.  We saw the beauty of their Christian character in the loving care that Lameck and Stella provided for their family and particularly Olive who has a disability.  We knew the heavy burden that they shared privately.  We learnt so much to learn from their gentle and persevering spirit in the face of trials.  Their trust in God was admirable and this was the driving force of their lives together.

All of us who have visited the Ntonda Health Care and Orphan Day Centre during his time as Coordinator will always remember the warmth and the commitment with which he served the Lord and His Church.

Our hearts go especially to Stella who must now carry the responsibility of caring for their children without the great support that Lameck provided.  Our prayers are with her and the rest of the children. The God in Whom he trusted will sustain her and continue to meet the family needs now and into the future.

Lameck Masoamphambe will not come back to us, we will go to meet him someday at the feet of Jesus, his Saviour and ours”.

We offer our sincere condolences to Pastor Masoamphambe’s wife and children.  Please remember them in your prayers at this devastating time for them.  Please pray that the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort would pour out His peace upon them in the coming days and weeks. 

Our Office Manager Charlotte Dunning will be leaving the mission at the end of January 2021 in order to start a new full-time role in the charity division of a local accountancy firm. 

We are sad that Charlotte is leaving, but equally we fully support her decision.  Our prayers and very best wishes go with Charlotte and her family as she takes up this new opportunity.   

Recruiting a new Finance Officer

As a result, zm is seeking to appoint a Finance Officer to start at the beginning of January 2021, or as soon as possible afterwards.  The role would be based in zm’s office at York Baptist Church, and is for 1½ days per week. 

Please email Mission Director Mike Beresford to apply for the position or to ask for further details.   The deadline for receipt of applications is the end of Tuesday 8^th December 2020.