40 Years in Wax and Color: The Missouri-Mozambique Partnership in Batik

This year we celebrate 40 years of the Mozambique initiative. To commemorate the partnership between Mozambique and Missouri, Bishop Sambo tasked Ezequiel (Ezy) Nhantumbo with finding a batik that summed up the 40 years of shared ministry between the two groups.

Ezy commissioned two artists in the city of Maputo, Manuel Tembe and Augusto Checo, to create the batik. The batik highlights the ways the partnership has grown over these 40 years. Every color carried meaning: earthy browns for humble beginnings, vibrant blues for living water, radiant yellows for hope, deep greens for growth.

The art shows the full history of the partnership, featuring donkeys and motorbikes, worship under trees and chapels, women walking miles for water, solar towers lifting wells into the sky, school buildings, pastors and communities.

The batik was completed in three days by Tembe and Checo. When it was finished, Ezy prayed over the cloth: “May this cloth speak of transformation, from donkey to motorbike, from open sky to sanctuary, from thirst to living water, from isolation to communion.”

The batik then began its journey to Missouri, crossing thousands of miles to St. Charles, where it was revealed at the Mozambique mission lunch at the Missouri Annual Conference on June 5, 2026.

Bishop João Sambo and Ezy presented the batik to Bishop Farr and the Missouri Conference churches and individuals that have been involved in the Mozambique initiative. The Mozambican choir was also part of the presentation and commemorated the celebration with a 40-Year Celebration song written by Joel Mauele and Ezequiel Nhantumbo.

This batik is more than just a gift from Mozambique to Missouri; it serves as a physical reminder of how the partnership has grown and changed and serves as a promise of continued partnership in the future. From cloth, wax and dye to 40 years of partnership renewed.