Capital City: Maputo
Year of Independence: 1975
Area: 801,590 sq km
Arable Land: 5.43%
Population: 21,284,700
Median Age: 17.4 years
Population Growth Rate: 1.792%
Infant Mortality: 107.84 deaths/1,000 live births
Life Expectancy at Birth: 41.04 years
Literacy Rate: 47.8%
Ethnic Groups: African 99.66% (Makhuwa, Tsonga, Lomwe, Sena, and others), Europeans 0.06%, Euro-Africans 0.2%, Indians 0.08%
Religions: Catholic 23.8%, Muslim 17.8%, Zionist Christian 17.5%, other 17.8%, none 23.1%
Languages: Emakhuwa 26.1%, Xichangana 11.3%, Portuguese 8.8% (official; spoken by 27% of population as a second language), Elomwe 7.6%, Cisena 6.8%, Echuwabo 5.8%, other Mozambican languages 32%, other foreign languages 0.3%, unspecified 1.3%
The Maputo Biblical and Theological Seminary in Maputo is a very important part of the OMS ministry in Mozambique. The institution was founded to provide much-needed theological training for tomorrow's church leaders in the country. The photo below shows the seminary's first graduating class in the fall of 2008.
VCP Statistics as of June 2011:
Members - 4,326
Churches - 107
Training Centers - 13
Coordinator: Juka Fernando
Juka Fernando is the Mozambique VCP coordinator and he has been with the Into Africa Project in Mozambique since 2003. He currently oversees seven teams scattered throughout Mozambique, all reaching the country for Christ. In the picture below he stands with wife Elina, daughter Milca, and Elina’s sister Ana.
Juka has a great passion for the VCP model, a heart for the lost of Mozambique, and a desire to mentor the trainers to bring the gospel to their communities and church planters in creative and memorable ways.
The photograph above was taken on the day he and his family relocated from the Maputo area to Mocuba in the Zambezia province. He felt strongly that God had called him to this area where church growth was exploding as God’s Spirit poured across the land. Under Juka’s leadership, God has blessed the Mozambique VCP program, growing the denomination to over 100 church groups in five of the 10 provinces of Mozambique. Juka’s desire is to expand into all 10 provinces so that no part of this lovely country is untouched by the life-transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ. See above for recent country statistics.
Click here for further information on God's work in Mozambique through the Into Africa Project and the Igreja Evangélica Palvra Viva denomination.
Click here to view an article on a church planting conference held in Nampula, Mozambique.
Click here for photos of the OMS-sponsored seminary in Maputo.
Other Mozambique links:
