Churches are multiplying in Angola despite (or perhaps due to) forty years of devastating warfare. When a village is attacked the people scatter, and wherever believers settle they start new churches. There are uncounted hundreds of churches in rebel-held territory. SIM works with the Union of Evangelical Churches, which grew out of AEF's work in Angola begun in 1914. SIM ministries in Angola primarily concentrate on helping the church grow strong and on helping relieve human suffering. A team of missionaries and Angolans is working towards completing Bible translations for several languages, and the church is asking for missionaries to help with urban church planting and discipleship.

Two training institutions provide leaders for the churches. The Menongue Bible Institute concentrates on practical training for Christian ministry. The Lubango Theological Seminary, jointly sponsored with the Evangelical Alliance of Angola, offers college-level (bachelor's degree) education for church leaders. The teaching staff includes missionaries from SIM and other agencies as well as leaders and believers from our related church. Churches throughout the nation are benefited by graduates of these two schools. Meeting human need takes two primary forms: medical care and agricultural development. The deprivations of war and the proliferation of land mines have produced an endless need for medical ministry; SIM sponsors both community health programs and medical centres. Missionaries who enter unreached areas with help for improving agricultural production gain a ready hearing for their message of God's love. A growing burden is the care of thousands of refugees from the war. The government has asked the church to assume responsibility for some of these refugees, and the mission and the church plan to work together, in Christ's name, to seek to bring stability and faith to those who have suffered so much.

Please pray for:

1. Success in obtaining visas for missionaries brave enough to go to this war-torn country.
2. Safety amidst uncertain and perilous transportation.
3. Christians to be models of reconciliation and forgiveness, in spite of dealing with hurt and bitterness over the atrocities they have suffered. Pray also that they will deal wisely with other Christians who have compromised under pressure.
4. Wise response to the opportunity to care for refugees.
5. Students in the Bible School and Seminary, that they will be authentic followers of Jesus, growing in their ability to serve the church.