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International Ministries

Sharing the Gospel Worldwide Through Sports

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​James Mhango | Malawi
Divine Sports Outreach Ministry
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Divine Sports Outreach Ministry is located in Malawi where they are there to equip local churches with sports ministry tools that enact life change and develop fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

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James is married to his wife, Hannah, and they have two daughters, Divine and Destiny.
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Ministry Updates

Click below to see what James & Divine Sports Outreach Ministry are doing:
2021
2020
January
  • Our ministry had a retreat where 31 church leaders were present and 27 churches were also represented. During that retreat, leaders shared many areas where we can improve our spiritual life and share the gospel with others especially in remote areas. 
  • The greatest challenge is transportation as it hinders a lot of movements that would help us to reach more targeted remote areas. Also, not having Bibles has been a huge challenge. Many of my brothers and sisters in rural areas can’t manage to get a Bible due to lack of finances.
  • I have training in Dedza this month and before that we have a number of follow ups programs and mid-week sports evangelism

Spring
Here's an edited report from James's latest training in Malawi:
I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am happy that the training went well although, we met transportation challenges as the area is like no ministry has been there before and there are fewer activities taking place in the same said region. 20 bibles and 20 soccer balls were distributed to the leaders as a gift. The very first day, no
church leader had a bible in his/her hand, we asked them, they were very frank and open that they go to church without a bible and that is normal church life to them as they can’t afford to buy.

I am happy that we brought sports ministry training there and next month, we will go back for the follow-up program. The region is prone to some evil cultural beliefs such as witchcraft, early marriages, and local brewery beer is the order of the day. And according to several leaders testimonies is that it’s hard to differentiate between Christians and non-believers.
However, the training went well and now church leaders have known ideas and received tools for preaching the word of God.
Stay blessed,
James Mhango.


Summer
  • My greatest success was that I managed to arrange follow up meetings  near the Mozambique border and we had many successful family prayers. 
  • My greatest challenge is how to raise money to buy bibles and am really struggling. We need more than 4000 bibles before the end of this year. For this, I am failing to raise money to buy only 30 bibles to give thirty families. 
  • We had training, and 17 churches were represented and 20 church leaders were trained. ​
  • I have a training follow up in the month of May and training in June 
  • We have a netball team which I support as I organize netball tournaments with four church teams, and they come together and play. It brings fun, happiness and enjoyment. People enjoying watching as well, but our aim is to bring people together through netball tournaments. In mid-June, six teams come together and play netball tournaments. The first team gets a prize, and the second as the way to encourage young girls to be active in rural areas, that also help them to not involve themselves in illicit behavior such as getting unprepared pregnancy and dropping out from schools and avoid early marriages. The chiefs of that areas praise the sports evangelism outreach for coming up with this helpful activity in their villages and districts. It's part of the plan to follow up.
  • In July, I have trip for a sports football tournament, follow up it's an continuation program, and we have weekly sports evangelism outreach in communities
  • July Training Report:
    • ​The training was conducted July 14-16, 2020, in the remotest district area of Ntchisi, in central
      Malawi. 
      and it attracted 21 church leaders, and 17 churches were presented. The training faced some challenges, one of the biggest challenges is the transportation, as the areas is far and uncharted even though they are many people there and churches are far apart.
    • The training started with a very low patronage due some traditional beliefs and not understanding the true meaning and some thought that sports is there to establish its churches, so they were afraid to attend the training as doing so might spark the debate within their congregation .
    • However, the second day the news went around that sports ministry is not there to established churches but to work with any church leaders and indeed, the second and last day the patronage changed.
      The good part of this training is that leaders were very active asking questions in order to
      understand the topic well and they were participating and active through the training.
      They seem to comprehend the sports ministry approaches and tools which can help them
      to preach the word of God in their community and outside.
    • The training had more women participants than men, and our DSOM coordinator explained to me that majority in that area who are active church members are women.
    • The area needs more follow up programs, outreach evangelism and discipleship as well  as bibles as very few members have one. 
  • I also recently lost my dearest nephew whom I raised, supported and had vision that one day, he will attain best education and become a responsible man but unfortunately he passed on in a tragic, painful road accident.
2019
  • Spring 2019
  • Divine Sports Ministry is busy making follow-ups in all districts whereby we conducted trainings, and we have more than 150 disciples and have trained more than 700 church leaders.
    • Out of those churches trained, forty-five  ministries have been established such as youth, kids, sports and evangelism ministries. Now, trained pastors are also busy conducting trainings.
    • More than 450 people have come to Christ in our sports outreach evangelism. We are planning to conduct a training in July, if funds will be available, and fifty church leaders are expected to be trained. 
  • I have been teaching in various churches, making disciples in Malawi and in rural Mozambique through sports ministry. I have trained 707 church leaders in Malawi and through sports evangelism and preaching the good news to kids.
    • So far, more than 1,500 kids have received the word of God and accepted Christ. The most incredible testimony in this journey of evangelism is when I preached the gospel to Muslims kids and twenty of them accepted Jesus Christ.
  • August 2019
  • The Cornerstone Evangelical Assembly church, in partnership with myself and CSRM GNP Henry Banda organized a two day church sports leaders sports seminar, whose theme was,” Church Based Sports Ministry.”
    • The seminar drew 48 participants from 17 different churches. The venue of the seminar was at Dzaleka refuge camp. There is potential to share the gospel in this refuge camp. The camp is situated 60 km on the outskirts of the Lilongwe capital city. The camp harbors 40, 000 refugees from different countries.
  • ​Challenges we had:                                     
    • We needed resources like the Swahili/ English Bibles.
    • Evangelism and discipleship materials.
    • Enough funds to host sports events.

  • September 2019
  • My ministry had training at and follow-up program where trained church leaders had to follow the "Timothys" in their homes one by one and conducted bibles studies and in that training, 20 church leaders were trained on how to use sports as a tool for preaching the word of God.  We distributed 20 bibles and 20 soccer balls to the new trained leaders.

  • Nov/Dec 2019
  • We are planning to have a training in December in Lunzu, and we have planned follow up activities starting next month in the regions where we had trainings and where the training had just ended a few days ago

Support James


When you give today, you are helping James purchase transportation and bibles to help Divine Sports Outreach Ministry to reach the people of Malawi.  
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After clicking the Donate button, be sure to choose James Mhango from the drop down menu.
Prayer Requests
  • Pray for DSOM ministry to raise money to buy bibles for this region
  • Pray for my ministry to find netballs, playing shoes and money to motivate the winning teams and second one as a token of appreciation and transportation and food as well to feed them.
  • Pray for my upcoming training and follow up activities to take place as we are facing financial difficulties. So pray for the breakthrough. 
  • Pray for me to raise money to buy bibles for 30 families in this month and 4070 bibles before then end of this year 
  • Pray for newly established ministries and their leaders along with myself to not falter when meeting difficulties along the way.
  • Pray for our ministry to find a projector
  • Please pray for our ministry to have resources that will help churches here to be trained- especially in remote areas of the country.
  • ​Pray for my dearest mother is who suffering from severe stroke as she can’t use left hand and right leg. 
  • Pray for the ministry to have transportation this year.​
  • Pray for me to have wisdom in order to do the ministry work with humbleness and in fear of God 
Praises
  • Praise God for his mercy and favor for us to accomplish four trainings this year as it was not easy.
  • Praise God all leaders are busy preaching the word of God in their respective places through sports ministry and establishing.
  • ​Praise God for His direction and blessing us with good health.
The most incredible testimony in this journey of evangelism is when I preached the gospel to Muslims kids, and twenty kids accepted Jesus Christ.

Malawi Facts

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Population: Approx 18 million
Religions: 
  • Protestant Christianity 44%
  • Sunni Islam 19%
  • Roman Catholic 18%
  • Other Christians 13%
  • Other Beliefs or Irreligion 6%
Economy:
  • Agro-based with 90% of the population living in rural areas. In 2013, agriculture counted for 20% of GDP
  • Least developed country in Africa with 50.7% living below poverty line and 25% living in extreme poverty
  • The country’s economy is highly dependent on donors 
  • GDP per capita is at $486.25  

Causes of Poverty
  • Rapid growth of population with 3% growth every year
  • Lack of education opportunities and poor quality of the education that exits
  • Unemployment levels averaged at 7.17% from 1991 to 2017
  • At lease 90% of the farming is consumed 
  • Poor implementation policies 
  • Lack of reliable energy sources. Malawi is depend on hydro-electricity however, the amount electricity generated is below required amounts. Only 10% of population is connected to the national power 
  • Poor road networks ​
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