Our trip to Niassa

We travelled to the Diocese of Niassa at the invitation of Bishop Mark Van Koevering to deliver a programme of education for the catechists leading the churches in his diocese. In addition to this Sandy, whose background is in relationship counselling, was to work with the Mothers’ Union officers in the diocese to produce a programme on understanding Christian marriage and on the widespread problem of domestic violence.

The work took place in three centres: the town of Milange, just over the Malawian border in central Zambezia; Nampula, Mozambique’s third city; and by Lake Niassa. This brought us into contact with three very different histories of Anglicanism. In Milange most of the people who have become Anglicans have done so in the last decade, following the end of the civil war. In Nampula the church dates from the 1980s, while Lake Niassa has an Anglican history stretching back to the 1880s.

The greatest part of our work took place in Milange, which is linked with our own parish of St. Nicholas in Shepperton. This time included a five day workshop with the catechists and a further week of visits to outlying churches in the villages around Milange to deliver the Mothers’ Union programme. In this time it became clear that the standard of work in terms of leadership and oversight delivered by the catechists varied enormously, with significant consequences for the lives of their churches.

In the workshops in all three centres the programme worked under the following headings: Leading Worship, Anglican Identity, Being a Pastor, Teaching and Preaching, and Personal Prayer. The groups contained people of apparently greatly differing commitment and ability (and suitability) for the ministerial roles they were fulfilling as catechists; a role which is crucial in this growing church with so few clergy – not all of whom are truly active. There are over 140 churches at this time but only just over 20 priests.

Several things emerged as we met and worked among the catechists, although we are very clear that we only scratched the surface of the many issues. There was a great lack of clarity about Anglican identity. There was a poor grasp of Biblical content and genres. One of the stronger catechists talked about the “Letter of St. Matthew” one day, which led to an amazing morning of potted introduction to the New Testament that was lapped up by most of the group. There was a very shallow understanding of how worship could be led and applied to deepen Christian discipleship. The necessary formation that gives Christian teaching its integrity was not always apparent in the catechists. Yet, all that said, there was also a good deal of energy and enthusiasm, and some of the church communities felt vibrant despite the above.

Bishop Mark and his wife Helen are truly remarkable people, with whom it was the most enormous privilege to work. They are in a situation in which collegial support is desperately lacking. Mark is especially aware of this in the area of training and oversight for the clergy and catechists, and has attempted, so far unsuccessfully, to recruit a training officer to work with and for him in Diocese of Niassa to develop the Christian leadership there. A little, very basic input in this area could go a long way in the fertile soil of Niassa.