“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” 2 Tim. 2:2

April 27, 2017
Dear Friends of Malawi,

The above Bible verse is the key verse that Dynamic Churches Int’l is built on.  It’s the principle of multiplication that makes the discipleship grow exponentially. One person teaches one other person, who teaches one other person….and on and on. It’s not a difficult principle to understand, but it is certainly not one that is easily put into practice here in the western world. Generally speaking, our culture keeps people busy and we lack the time to build relationships the way the Scriptures instruct us to.
Relationships are critical for discipleship to be successful.

And so we are all the more excited when we see this happening in Malawi. In a culture where people live in community, a changed life is noticed and neighbours begin asking what happened and the love of Christ is shared. Understanding that their poverty gives them no distractions, and understanding that each person lives in fear of the day that the demons will attack them or their loved ones, leaves the unbeliever with an overwhelming sense of need.

• Does anybody love me?
• How can I be safe from the evil around me?
• How can I feed my family today?
• Enter: the gospel message – God loves you!
• He wants to set you free from the bondage of sin!

As you are probably aware, Hans and I have recently returned from our trip to Malawi. We were there for 3 weeks. During those three weeks, we visited 6 villages where our indigenous team of 3 men have completed the training of leaders who are carrying on the work of discipling one-on-one, starting Life Groups, and training other leaders in their areas.

The testimonies we heard are truly humbling! How these dedicated men and women will walk for many kilometers to fill the requests of their fellow man to bring the training to new areas is beyond anything that we would do in Canada. But, it is happening in Malawi! The work has grown so fast that our Team is having difficulty keeping up with the demands for materials, etc. In almost every testimony we heard, the leaders shared how he/she could do so much more if only they had more New Testaments and Discipleship books available. For example, if they ask for 100 NT’s, we can only supply them with 30 or 40 – wanting to be good stewards of what God has given us, and knowing that there are many more who will request NT’s.

We estimate that we could use 20,000 New Testaments right now, and each one will be used to disciple one other person. That’s $100,000!! How can this happen? We certainly don’t know; but one thing we DO know is that our God is a great God.
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4: 19).  This is the verse that we left with all these leaders and pastors as they begged us to not forget them and their need for Bibles. Our confidence is in our Great God. The Malawian leaders and pastors put their confidence in their great God also. They promised to pray for us as we fund raise, and we are praying for them as they pass on the message of God’s love to others. Will you join us in this? Will you also consider becoming one of the donors for this huge need?
UPDATE: Malawi Appreciation Dinner, June 10, 2017, 5:30 at Bethel Pentecostal Church, Stratford.  This is a slight change from our previous announcement in our March newsletter. It will be held on Saturday the 10th, not Sunday the 11th as previously planned. And, we have moved it indoors to Bethel Pentecostal Church in Stratford. The reason is that we have taken videos of the testimonies that we heard in Malawi and want to share some of these with you. That requires an indoor setting. We really hope that you can make it. Formal invitations will come soon and we hope that you will RSVP to us so we can let the caterers (Quehl’s of Tavistock) know the numbers. The talented Patti Hill will once again provide us with special music.

We also hope to collect bicycles for the leaders who are currently walking long distances to multiply the work of discipleship and leadership training. There is another container being planned to leave for Malawi in a year or so. We want to put a lot of bicycles in it. Perhaps you can help with this. You may have one in your garage that is not being used; or, yard sales are a good place to find them; also, police auctions, etc. But please be sure they are in good working order. You can contact us for details about how to get it to our storage location until the container arrives. We are also asking for a donation of $15 to help cover the shipping costs for each bicycle.

You can donate through Canada Helps online, or simply send us your cheques payable to D.C.I. (attach a slip of paper indicating “Malawi”). If you would consider becoming a regular monthly donor, that would greatly help our month-by-month ministry needs. We can provide you with a PAD form.

Looking forward to seeing you in June. May God continue to bless you.
Hans and Elly Timmermans
Hans’ cell: 519-859-9812
Elly’s cell: 519-913-3341