Key Points:
- A task force of 14 church members, including representatives from the Mozambique North and South conferences, helped create and launch the new online giving platform.
- The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries provided the primary funding for the launch, but The United Methodist Church in Mozambique will support the platform moving forward.
- Six projects spread throughout the country are already receiving donations, including programs supporting community health, clergy salaries, evangelism and scholarships for vulnerable children.
Geared by the vision of economic stability and vibrant churches preaching the Gospel, the Mozambique conferences of The United Methodist Church have launched on online giving platform to support church self-sustainability.
The Local Advance Project was unveiled July 31 at Malanga United Methodist Church, an inner-city church that sits across the street from the bishop’s office in Maputo.
The Mozambique Episcopal Area is under the leadership of Bishop Joaquina Filipe Nhanala, the only female United Methodist bishop on the African continent. Her oversight covers a geographical area that encompasses Mozambique, South Africa and, more recently, a mission field in Madagascar.
Armindo Venancio Mapoissa, who oversees conference institutional development, said the giving platform will give church members an opportunity to support local projects.
“We have graciously reached this stage where UMC members in Mozambique are given an ample opportunity to donate any financial amount to sustain the church and its projects,” he said.
Mapoissa, a member of Zacarias Manhiça United Methodist Church in the outskirts of Maputo, has been serving the church since an early age in a variety of roles at the local, district and conference level and within the global connection.
The Rev. Mauricio Chichava, who led the devotion, encouraged attendees to be generous just as the Corinthian church was generous to the needy in Jerusalem.
“Be moved by the Holy Spirit and be generous to the needy and the least within our communities … but before we can donate our means and funds, we need to donate ourselves to God,” Chichava said to a large in-person crowd and online audience.
The hybrid event allowed church members to attend the event remotely from different parts of the country and abroad.
“This platform offers an opportunity for church members to offer what they feel they can donate,” said the Rev. Andre Mudungaze, project coordinator from the Mozambique South Conference. “But we as church leaders have the responsibility to teach our people to be generous and, above it all, (how to manage) the few clicking steps in our gadgets until (their) donation has been made.”
A task force of 14 church members, including representatives from the Mozambique North and South conferences, helped create and launch the platform.
Mapoissa, the task force chair, said that currently six projects spread throughout the country are already receiving donations: Chicuque Rural Hospital, salary support for clergy serving in rural areas, evangelism and church growth in urban settings, scholarships for vulnerable children, the fight against drug use and abuse among youth, and a community grinding facility in the Nhamatanda District.
How to help
Donors can designate which project their funds will support. The Chicuque Rural Hospital has received the most funding to date.
Mapoissa said that Nhanala shared her idea for an online giving platform with staff at the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, who identified the software and website design company for the project.
“The Local Advance Project is a result of our visionary episcopal leader, who upon looking at the current financial trends of the church, decided to create an online opportunity for the church members to donate,” he said.
Global Ministries provided the primary funding for the launch, but The United Methodist Church in Mozambique will support the platform moving forward.
Church members said they are excited and hopeful about the project.
“Bishop Joaquina Nhanala’s leadership deserves respect in terms of managerial and financial transparency within The UMC in Mozambique. This will certainly motivate our members to send their funds to support church projects and ministries,” Mudungaze said.
People in the corridors of Malanga United Methodist Church voiced the need of promoting the platform across the church in Mozambique to yield the desired fruits.
“I think in this primary stage of the platform, the task force should spearhead the promotion … without discarding the relevance of using the pastors (and) district superintendents in the launching process, because this will help clarify some possible doubts amongst potential donors,” Mudungaze said.
The United Methodist Church in Mozambique has more than 300 congregations with thousands of professing members.
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“The Local Advance online platform may shape the Mozambique UMC contributions paradigm,” said Antonio Simbine, chair of the committee on finance and administration. “Provided that our church members shift the mentality that only foreign aid can support our church projects … We are not that poor and unable to fund some of our projects locally.
“This online platform offers great visibility and transparency to all. It therefore inspires trust that will culminate with transparent management,” he said.
Mapoissa said once the necessary funds are raised for a given project, a new initiative will be on the platform and fundraising will begin.
“In this internet and digital era, the church must also develop and follow the pace of the technological advancements,” Mapoissa said. “I hope to see many people donate and give back to the church they love and to God they serve.”
The Rev. Jacob Jenhuro, administrative assistant to the bishop in the Mozambique North Conference, attended the launch and congratulated those involved.
“We as church members are given this opportunity to practice our generosity. All of us can do something bearing in mind that the church is on our shoulders.”
Sambo is Africa Lusophone correspondent for UM News.
News media contact: Julie Dwyer, newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests.
