A Letter from David Seccombe
God willing, I will be back in my beloved South Africa by the end of this month (June), but not for long. On July 3 Bishop Gary Nelson and I will fly on to Mozambique to take part in a historic event, the consecration of a bishop in the church of God, Inocencio Duarte Varine.
The story began when a young Mozambican was brought to my office in Cape Town and I was asked could we help him get the theological education he had dreamed of. The answer was yes, and, with help from a bursary provided by well-wishers around the world, Inocencio and Alexandra Varine spent four years at George Whitefield College preparing themselves for ministry. He was not from our denomination, and we had a policy not to “sheep steal,” so he returned to Mozambique and offered himself to his own church to help with Christian education; “Mozambique,” he said, “has lots of Christianity but not much Christian knowledge.” Because he had been away and in the hands of theologically suspect persons, his church said, “No—if you want to do that you must plant your own church—and don’t use our name.” Having never considered church-planting he was forced to start a work in the city of Quelimane, which grew quite large, at one point worshipping in a cinema; it now meets in a communist trade’s hall under the banner of the hammer and sickle, and is pastored by a former Muslim couple!
Eight years after he graduated, I heard Inocencio had planted eight churches. Thinking this was impossible, I went to see for myself. Sure enough, he had, and some were quite large; he was actually at work then on his twelfth, a student congregation in the capital, Maputo. His strategy: one-to-one witness, followed by discipling, then training with GWC’s Explore correspondence course, leading a house church, and then, if all was going well, build a church. I could see he was dangerously exposed, with various parties wanting to grab his rapidly growing movement. So I asked the REACH Bishop of Johannesburg to come and see what was happening. Inocencio is now ordained as an Anglican (REACH) minister and has more than forty Portuguese-speaking churches in his baby denomination, Fonte da Vida (Fountain of Life). He will be consecrated bishop on 7thJune, with bishops from Australia, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola present. I have been asked to preach the consecration sermon. I will travel with Bishop Gary Nelson, the recently retired bishop of North West Australia; we will also visit Mauritius, Johannesburg, and Cape Town.
Inocencio has long dreamed of establishing a Portuguese-medium reformed evangelical Bible college in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo. When Bishop Martin (Morrison – the REACH bishop of Johannesburg) visited the first time and saw the amazing thing God was doing he raised funds and bought land. In line with his (Martin’s) plan, Inocencio spent 2022 and 2023 in South Africa furthering his studies and developing plans for the new Bible college. It was launched this year. We need to be in prayer for this baby work in Portuguese-speaking Africa. It will need teachers and admin support, as well as facilities.
Mozambique is a dirt-poor country, but the people make up for it with faith and enthusiasm. I don’t wish to go empty-handed, but don’t intend carrying money. I think the best thing I can do is present Inocencio of some names of interested people and churches; he can follow this up. If you would like to be included please send your email address to me, David Seccombe ( Ph. +61 457 600801) Please pray for the success of our journey.
David Seccombe