Welcome to our Arise Africa podcast in partnership with the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. Arise Africa is a campaign which aims to bring sustained awareness to the problem of extremist violence and its impact on Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our aim is for you to gain an insight of what is happening to our family.

The violence taking place in Sub-Saharan Africa threatens the church and weakens the body of Christ. As Open Doors, our focus is not just merely on looking at how militant violence is impacting Africa, but how it is impacting the church. Christians in Africa are severely suffering due to militant violence and are amongst those most vulnerable because of their faith in Christ.

In this episode we speak to teacher and assistant pastor David Samuel from Mozambique. He tells of the sudden change that took place in his village. Thanks for inviting me to join you.

My name is David Samuel. I live in Mozambique. I was born in Mozambique and I’m Mozambican.

I love Mozambique. I’m a teacher at one of the universities here in the north region of Mozambique, Nampula. I’m also assistant pastor here in Nampula.

Back to us, it was just no problem. They’re killing anyone. But until in 2022, when they gathered young boys in one of the fields that were playing soccer, and they separated them according to their names.

They asked them who they are, what were their names. And according to their names, those who sounded big Muslims, they were put aside. Those who sounded to be Christians, they were also put aside.

And they killed all those that sounded their names to be Christians. This agenda is no longer an agenda of violence. Like they want to occupy all the territory, they have a big agenda.

Let me put it, last year, it was also one of the biggest agendas they had in the capital. It was kill them where you find them. We didn’t know who are they that should be killed.

Until we find out that they’re talking of Christians. That if you find a Christian, kill them. And they proved to us that they’ve killed them.

And that happened in Makomia. If a Christian had money, they had to pay it for their liberty, for them not to be killed. And that’s what happened in that region.

And that is happening now. This year, I read two articles where they proudly advertise or they publish that they’ve killed three Christians. They killed four Christians.

They killed two Christians. So this is saying, now we can openly speak. In the beginning, they couldn’t say that.

Because we didn’t know of it. In the beginning, we thought that Christians and Muslims are suffering in the same level. And they’re being persecuted.

This agenda affects everyone. But now we see that it’s not that true. They have a set agenda which is following Christians where they are.

Ban their community. They ban their houses. Ban their churches.

And let them spread all over. Let them go away. So that’s what I feel that is happening in Cappadocia.

In northern Mozambique, an expanding Islamic State insurgency is causing widespread displacement with Christians in the villages facing intense violence, including beheadings due to their faith. David shares the heartbreaking impact this everyday trauma is having on a woman from his church. Shocking as it is, he notes that some organisations providing aid appear to be operating under false pretences.

This lady that we talked to, fortunately she started coming to our church. And she said, I was here in my sister’s house. I was going to fetch water.

As I was coming, I saw a person that killed my husband. Terrorist. And she said, I was paralysed.

She was paralysed. That’s what she was saying. I was, yeah.

How can this guy who killed my husband, he’s not my neighbour here. So that’s a dramatic story that is like, she was being followed. It’s like, are you following to kill me too? But unfortunately that man, he was not, that was where he was living.

So he left here. He went to Cape Town to fulfil his mission. When he was back, he didn’t know that he’d meet exactly the same lady that beheaded her husband.

That’s true story. The terrorist was taken to the police. The police released him to say there’s no proof.

But in 24 hours, himself and his family, all left that city. I mean, that village where they were living in. And they moved to, we don’t know where they moved to.

To say, yes, that was the exact man who killed her husband. And this is the first story. I don’t know what goes to her mind every time that she passes by that road.

I don’t know what goes to her mind every time that she sees that house where that man was living. So this is a fresh living story that we heard of a Christian that saw her husband be beheaded. And later on, she met with the exact man who killed her.

These stories can be difficult to imagine. Yet there are people who are living through these harsh realities every day. David shares that one of the most pressing challenges in Mozambique is the lack of skills among young people, highlighting a significant need in the community.

He also notes that the Church of Jesus Christ often operates in silos, which affects our unity and ultimately undermines our witness to a world in need. This is a powerful reminder for us as believers. We are called to be more active and hands-on in reaching the lost.

What happens in a country like Mozambique? We have young people who are not skilled, who are not trained. They cannot do much with their own hands. And they can’t produce wealth with their own hands.

So they become vulnerable. The education system may not be strong to help them to acquire knowledge, to do much. They’re not skilled.

They’re Christians. Christian communities are not those. Some of them, let’s say, we are not that organised to say, let us come together.

Let us support this team to show that we are together and we are strong as we are working together. If I have something, I just give because we can state that verse, which your right hand gives. Your left hand should not know.

And we can quote that verse because I don’t want them to know that I’m the one who gave. And that’s what we do. A certain group goes there and gives something.

The other group goes there. But those things that we give are not significant and we’re not coming as one. And that impact is very, very narrow.

It’s a very, very small one. So I think from this, from what all I’ve mentioned, there’s a lot to mention. I think what they’re suffering, as I said, they need support, financial support.

Some still live in places where you say, is someone living here? Yeah, because poverty is real. They’re living in very, very difficult conditions. And they rely on meals that the UN and the international organisation are giving monthly.

But also when we come to what are Christians doing, I can’t tell. Not because we’re not doing the same. We are doing it in a very small group and our impact is very, very little.

That’s what I can say. But when you see these guys, as I mentioned their names, when they go there, they go there with 20 lorries of different types of food. The question is, if you were to choose which religion to follow, what would you say? If you’re asking someone who’s hungry.

If this God that these guys are believing in can bring 20 lorries and they’re just coming here in the Winnebago. What I think we as a church we can do, first of all, we must be one. First of all, we cannot do much if we are doing it isolated.

Let us be one. That is a fundamental criteria in every area in our families. If husband and wife, they cannot be one, their families will suffer.

If in our church we can’t be one, the church in the community will suffer. If the leadership cannot be one, their members or the citizens will suffer. So let’s be one.

If we can’t be one, there’s no blessing. What I mean is, which role can the church play? Let us be one and let us have an impact in the community. I always say to anyone I meet and I say, you know what? Africans have more problem with believing in God.

They have no problem. They have no problem with faith. The problem we have is when? Is that what do I do after I’m born again? Imagine if I make a life which is not worthy and that life is bringing me an income and today you preach the word of God and the person said, yeah, I want to follow Jesus.

What next? How can this man or this woman can live if what they were bringing income at home is no longer doing? What is the impact? What are we doing? We know that in Mozambique most people are young. They are aged under 20 or let them go to age under 30. They have energy.

They love God. They love Jesus. They are not skilled.

What are we doing to give them abilities and capabilities of going to the market, being able to support and feed their families and children? You know what? We preach faith. We preach Holy Spirit. We preach heaven, but we are not preaching how to live here as we still here.

How can we use our brain? How can we use our hands? And that’s the problem that we have. I think that narrative we need to change. We need to give skills to people.

We need to give abilities to people to do what they need to do, using their hands, using their brains, so that this Christianity or this Christian life that we are preaching, that we are preaching that they should follow Christ, it can have impact. Let us then say that centre was built by Christian. It’s not only for Christian.

It can train Christians, even non-Christians that are trained, because we know that there’s a problem of having young people who are not trained, and they need to be trained for them to gain life, so that they may not be the next generation to become violent, extremely severe in the nation. We have a role to play. Thank you for taking the time to listen and gain insight into the challenges facing our family in faith.

As part of the Arise Africa podcast initiative, we warmly invite each of you to sign the Arise Africa petition. Please take a moment to add your name and share this initiative with fellow believers so that together we can make a meaningful impact. Let’s take action today.

Transcribed by TurboScribe.