Latest Prayers by Zambesi Mission

A significant lack of rainfall across Malawi and northern Mozambique paints a bleak outlook for food security and hunger later in the year as prices of staples have already begun rising. A role of the newly-formed Malawi Advisory Council will be to determine how best to allocate any available resources to those who face greatest need. Please pray for God’s continued divine provision and for wisdom and unity for this group of local believers as they decide on this and also on the future direction of Zambesi Mission’s partnerships.

Millions of Malawians are struggling with the impact of back-to-back climate disasters – last year Cyclone Freddy devastated southern Malawi. This year El Niño has affected the same region. Long spells of drought have caused healthy growing crops to wither and die. Church pastors and congregations are wondering how they will feed their families today, let alone through the coming year until the next harvest in 2025. Let us pray that God will provide them with daily bread. Let’s pray too for initiatives that will improve these communities’ resilience in the future.

Zambesi Mission has been piloting a new initiative to provide pastors with a 'library on a tablet'. Used Android tablets with SD card slots are loaded up with Bible study resources from a range of partner organisations, enabling each pastor to have access to their own theological library. The mission’s supporters have given very generously to allow 40 such tablets to be prepared. Please pray for the logistics of getting them to pastors through Zambesi Mission’s office in Malawi. Pray also that these tablets would enhance and enrich each pastor’s ministry, as they receive and use them.

Life for church pastors in Malawi is very challenging. The aftermath of Cyclone Freddy and the war in Ukraine has made everything so costly. Then in November the Central Bank devalued Malawi’s currency by 44%. Imagine if you had £100 in the bank today and tomorrow it is only worth £66. This squeeze affects pastors and their families badly, because their church members also feel the pinch and are less able to support their pastors. Give thanks for their faithfulness and pray that the Lord would sustain them and help them to persevere in ministry.

There is much false teaching in Malawi and its neighbouring countries. For many years the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi has been at the forefront of teaching sound doctrine and preparing men and women for ministry in the church. Once the college had a good blend of Malawian and overseas lecturers, something that is important from a cross-cultural perspective.  It also helps with sustainability.  But today it has no lecturers from outside Malawi. For the first time in a decade Zambesi Mission has been looking for workers who might be called to teach at EBCoM.  Please pray about this.

Cyclone Freddy has had a devastating impact on southern Malawi.  Torrential rain led to flash flooding and huge mudslides. As of 18th March, 445 people had died, around 363,000 people displaced and 282 are still missing. The fatalities include ten members of one family from Chilobwe Zambezi Evangelical Church in Blantyre, who were tragically swept away when a raging torrent engulfed the house that they were sleeping in. Please pray for the ongoing disaster relief effort.  Pray too that the mission would have sufficient resources to help meet the enormous needs that their church partners are facing.

Malawi is facing a worsening cholera outbreak.  Over 1,000 people have died since the outbreak started in March 2022.  Zambesi Mission’s partner the Zambezi Evangelical Church (ZEC) has five health centres in rural areas.  At Nthorowa, ZEC’s healthcare staff are treating patients in a temporary cholera tent.  Please pray that ZEC and other similar health facilities would have sufficient medicine and equipment to treat those affected and that the outbreak would be brought to an end quickly.  

Helping church partners towards sustainability is one of zambesi mission’s priorities. Dependency casts a long and deep shadow over Malawi. Please pray that churches and Christians would be transformed by the renewing of their minds (Rom. 12 v 2), so that they can start addressing the challenges that they face before God. Pray that zambesi mission’s sustainability initiatives, including Church and Community Transformation, would bear fruit so that each local church would have the resources they need for ministry.

The global economic crisis is impacting Malawi very badly. The kwacha was devalued by 25% in May, but lack of Forex has led to severe fuel shortages. Inflation is 25% with food price rises are even higher. Crucially the cost of fertiliser has risen five times in just a few years. There is just one growing season each year. Malawi is a subsistence economy where the majority rely on their crops for survival. Growing maize, Malawi’s staple crop, this year will be unaffordable for most people. Please pray that God would sustain the people of Malawi in these challenging times. 

How would you prepare to preach if you had no Bible, no study books or formal theological education? This is the reality for many in Malawi. Worse still, rural communities are often steeped in animistic culture and traditions. Zambesi Mission runs ‘bookset conferences’ each summer to address these challenges. They provide elementary biblical training for rural church pastors and elders. At the end, each participant is given a set of study books including the Bible in Chichewa. Please pray that everyone attending this year’s conferences would be blessed by God and fully equipped for their church ministry.