Man studies God’s Word while serving time
Joao is a member of Africa Continent Mission Church in his community in Mozambique. He has collaborated with Bible League for more than two decades.
Though his father was a pastor, Joao started turning away from the church when he was young.
“I grew up in church, but later, I became rebellious and stopped going,” he says. “I got married to a woman who feared God. I never forbade her and my children from attending church. I was even happy with it.”
Joao was a public school teacher but decided to change career paths in 1997 when he became a manager at a local company. The work was going well, and life was good. But after two years, it took a drastic turn. A major issue at work led to Joao being falsely accused of something.
He doesn’t share many details, but he does tell us the aftermath: he was sentenced to time in prison.
It’s amazing how God used Joao’s time in prison as a time of pursuit.
People from his wife’s church visited him, including Pastor Jamie, the national director of Bible League’s ministry in Mozambique.
Pastor Jamie began talking about small group Bible studies that were soon starting in the prisons. Joao agreed to attend.
The Bible study changed his life. “That Bible study helped me to be born again and to become who I am today,” he says.
After graduating from the Bible study, he trained as a facilitator so he could use his experience as a teacher to share the Gospel.
He served faithfully for remainder of his time in prison.
After five years in prison, the court proved Joao wasn’t liable for his incarceration.
Miraculously, he was released. “That made me realize that God used this time as a way for me to get back to Him,” he says. He continued to facilitate the small group Bible studies with the inmates.
He attended Church Planter Training, then studied theology and eventually was ordained as a pastor.
But he never forgot where his journey started. “I never stopped being a Bible study facilitator because God’s Word is powerful,” he says.
