- By Danielle Byles - For years, the sight of Chinkwita would spark fear in the community of Mitundi, just outside Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. As a local gang leader, he was a notorious thief who used to terrorize and injure people with...
Sports Friends Malawi
From Forgiveness to Faith
- By Tohru Inoue - Sometimes it seems that our best ministry efforts are hindered by hardships, by a wall of hostility. In the field, we’ve seen people turned away by communities hostile to the gospel. “The power of darkness,” as the Sports Friends team in...
Growing in Word and Spirit
Every parent feels excited when they see their children growing strong and healthy. There are many stages of growth throughout life, and each one is an important milestone that parents look forward to seeing. Sometimes, however, growth is difficult because...
Simple Ball, Simple Faith
Coach Frackson is from the central region of Malawi. After his Basic Training with Sports Friends four years ago, he returned home equipped for sports ministry with a passion to introduce young people to Christ. Coach Frackson had limited resources and had...
Vision of Beauty
She was 11 years old when she joined a Sports Friends netball team in 2013. She was the second born in a family of four. Her father had died long ago, and she lived with her mom. She obviously had talent and influence and great potential for leadership, so Coach...
You Are Missing Something
When God created the world, He used His voice. As children made in His image, our spoken words carry weight. It changes things, a word spoken. Perhaps this is why the Proverbs and epistles both have so much to say about how as God’s people we are to use our mouths....
Unstoppable Camaraderie
What happens to church-centered sports ministry in southeast Africa when a global pandemic shuts the entire country down? What happens when worshippers are no longer allowed to gather together corporately, or even to mingle freely with their neighbors because the risk...
The Landscape of Malawi
“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among...
Meet the Team: Chisomo
What is your role with Sports Friends? I am the Netball Coordinator for Sports Friends Malawi. What is your favorite sport? Netball! What is your favorite Bible verse? Joshua 1:8: “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on...
Piercing the Darkness
Coach John is from Malawi’s eastern region of Mangochi. This area is densely populated with followers of powerful religious cults that stand in opposition to the gospel of Christ. Sports Friends first visited this region in 2014 to cast vision for reaching out to...
Precious in His Sight
Half of Malawi’s population is younger than 15 years old. Fifty percent of girls are married by age 18; nine percent are younger than 15 when they are wed. The young men are prone to leaving (even their wives and children) to find better work opportunities in South...
Faithful in the Flood
In January 2019, it started to rain. One tropical cyclone after another pounded southeast Africa, the most notable being Cyclone Idai, which made landfall in early March. Rivers rose quickly, and entire villages were simply erased from the landscape. Family members...
Hope for a Heavy Life
“Malawi is a land of extremes: extreme poverty, and extreme joy.” -Fostance, Country Leader, Sports Friends Malawi Sports Friends has been present in Malawi for seven years, and the ministry continues to grow. In 2018, Sports Friends Malawi saw more than 700 young...
Enock’s Bravery
Sports Friends coordinator Enock's* courage after a violent machete attack proved to be a powerful witness to the gospel in Malawi. He was due to lead a Sports Friends camp on the eastern side of the country when a hostile group of men brutally beat him. They left him...
The Least of These
When I see the words “the least of these” in the Bible (Matthew 25:40), my mind often drifts to images of runny-nosed Malawian children and the many sports ministry leaders whom we have invested in over the years. Last summer, my family and I had the...
The Heat is On
How would you like playing your favorite sport when the temperature is 118°F? Blistering heat is just one of the challenges that coaches like Mary face in the remote villages of southern Malawi. Other Sports Friends netball coaches might get 15-20 girls at every...
Blessed Are The Persecuted
17-year-old Suzeni is in some deep waters: persecution from her own father. Suzeni’s father believes in African traditional religion. His daughter follows Jesus, and she knows that she is a daughter of the most high God. But her earthly father is angry about this...
The Light of Friendship
Patrick is an 18-year-old young man in Malawi’s northern region. He was an excellent student and was at the top of his academic class with high hopes for a promising future. Because of this, his parent and teachers loved him. Despite being an outstanding student,...
No Longer Fatherless
“How can God be a good and loving Father if he took mine from me?” These were the words of 17-year-old Rachel from Malawi. After her father died, she was raised by her mother who worked hard washing clothes, fetching water, and cleaning pots to earn enough money...
The Cinderella of Malawi
Abigail Mbungwa is a 16-year-old orphan who lives in Balaka, Malawi with her grandparents. Three years ago, Abigail was invited by her aunt to live with their family in the city of Blantyre so that she could start school. But once she moved, things didn’t turn out...
The True Vine
A few months ago, 100 very excited girls descended on Blantyre - a city in the south of Malawi surrounded by beautiful mountains. These girls traveled from far and wide, some even came from the neighboring country of Mozambique, to participate in a four-day...
When Losing is Winning
In 2012, I (Luke) wrote a blog called “When Winning is Losing.” The post was about a time when a few of the boys of Lyzee United Football Club lost their cool in a tournament and got into a fight. It resulted in quite a scene where many other teams saw the boys fail...
#InternLife: Am I Truly Worshiping?
By Daniel Chang, SF Malawi Just two weeks into my time in Malawi, I found myself hurtling down a small road in a minibus to a town called Liwonde. I had just begun to find my bearings in Blantyre, and now I was headed to a new place with a bunch of Malawian Sports...
#InternLife: From Urbana to Blantyre
By Daniel Chang, SF Malawi In December of 2015, I traveled with my family and a good friend to St Louis, Missouri for Urbana, a five-day student missions conference. I was getting ready to start my final semester of college, and I had no plans for after graduation. In...