“It seems that people want to eliminate the environment,” shared Sinesio. “On the farm we do the opposite; we are restoring the environment."
When Sinesio David inherited his family’s land, God deepened his love for creation and planted a new ministry in his heart.
Raised in the Zambezia province of Mozambique, Sinesio David grew up visiting his family’s farm, an area of approximately 590 acres just six km from Mocuba, Sinesio’s hometown. His parents farmed the land a little but never invested enough to make considerable gains. Mostly, it was a place for leisure and enjoyment. Sinesio didn’t know it as a child, but one day God would lead him into a much bigger vision for the land.
When Sinesio was 20 years old, he met a young man named Duilio while working on an entertainment project together in the city of Beira. Duilio invited him to attend a service at Baptist of Bosque, a church in the area. Sinesio went and that day heard Jesus died for him: “After that, I was curious to learn more, and each day my attraction to Jesus deepened,” said Sinesio. Later he went to a three-day event held by the church; he left with a different worldview.
The church received support from Youth With A Mission (YWAM), and this allowed Sinesio multiple opportunities to interact with missionaries and learn about missions. In 2013 he surrendered to Jesus. At that time Sinesio had a vision and he knew that God was calling him to something. Shortly after, Sinesio expressed interest in missions with YWAM and was invited to Brazil to participate in training with them for a year.
Land inspired by God
Sinesio returned to Mozambique in 2019 and became connected with OM through acquaintances. In 2020, he became a training facilitator for the organisation, and the following year was appointed as Interim National Director of OM’s work in Mozambique.
Around the same time, Sinesio’s mother suffered from a stroke and his parents needed to step away from the farm. Sinesio assumed responsibilities for them in 2020 and began making plans to make it more sustainable. At the time he was 100% invested in discipleship, but realising he could not do both things well, he stepped aside from his work with OM to concentrate on the farm. God moved Sinesio’s heart with a new vision: “I aspired to build a kind of Eden; a land inspired by God,” he said.
With that heart, Sinesio has several projects underway, and many more plans for the future. One such project is in cooperation with the government and financed by the World International Bank, and focuses on planting a variety of trees for different purposes, such as paper production and timber.
The project also included planting forests to help with climate control, and Sinesio recalled that this lined up with his goal of making the farm a land of Eden: “I realised the tree project aligned with the vision I carry for my farm as a small piece of land that represents the Kingdom of God.” While other landowners have allotted small portions of their land for the tree project, Sinesio and his team have planted 60,000 trees in the past two years. Many did not understand why he allocated so much land for this purpose, but as a Jesus follower, he said: “We seek to emphasise that we cannot love God and not love or care for what He created.”
The land also provides for the local community. In 2015 when a flood hit Mocuba, many families lost their homes and property. Sinesio’s family ceded an area inside the farm to house 400 families. At first, it was a temporary arrangement, but eventually, they decided to indefinitely offer the land as a ministry to the community. Sinesio said: “The government organised it into plots, opened a road and turned on a supply of electricity. Eighty-five per cent of the employees I have on the farm come from this same community.”
Additionally, Sinesio is allotting a portion of his land as a cashew farm and is hoping to plant 10,000 cashew plants in 2024 and eventually process the cashews on site, which according to Sinesio, yields four to five times more revenue than raw cashews. He is encouraging others in the area to plant cashews as well, ultimately providing more income for the entire community.
Serving the Lord in areas of influence
At the beginning of last year, Sinesio grew an even deeper understanding of how he can point others towards caring for creation. In Malawi, he attended a one-month agricultural training that emphasised conservation farming. Prior to the training, he farmed using traditional Mozambique methods, some of which are harmful to the earth. “It seems that people want to eliminate the environment,” shared Sinesio. “On the farm, we do the opposite; we are restoring the environment. People arrive at the farm, and it is as if they are in another world. I always thought being a Jesus follower is one thing, and being an agricultural engineer is a different thing,” Sinesio said. But through the training, he began to see by farming God’s way, he could replace destructive practices and serve the Lord in his area of influence. Now he wants his family to be used as a model for conservation farming.
The entire community knows the farm is owned by a follower of Christ. Sinesio hopes that by demonstrating a love for creation, it will help people connect nature with its creator. He says: “The farm has been a way of preaching the gospel without opening our mouths or displaying religiosity. …We understand that we must be practitioners of the Word everywhere, and in the things we do, we cannot just be listeners. We also understand that we are there to serve people, not just meet them, and that makes all the difference.”
Ultimately, Sinesio wants to spend his life serving God where He has called him: “Let people look and speak of me as a missionary who lived to manifest a little of heaven here on earth.”
Please pray for God to provide financial, human and material resources. Pray for the farm to be a light in the community and an example to others of what it looks like to care for God’s creation.