Walk Thru Stories: Tionge’s Story

Tionge Sitima lives a life well invested. She has spent the last 10 years of her life teaching Walk Thru the Bible’s otLIVE (our big picture overview event that teaches the storyline of the Old Testament) and ntLIVE to thousands of public school children in Malawi.

Sometimes, when Tionge is walking down the street, she meets some of the children she teaches and their parents. The children tell their mothers, “ ‘This is the teacher who comes to my school to teach the Bible,’ ” Tionge says. “The parents then go on to thank me for coming to their school to teach their children. They tell me they see a change in their children, even in their behavior. This gives me the strength to keep going.”

But Tionge knows she cannot do this in her own strength. “This is not easy,” she says. “I need prayer. I often work in areas that are dominated by another faith. It is such a grace from God to be allowed to work in these areas and see how even children from other religions listen to and enjoy the lessons I teach them from the Bible. And after going through the lessons, many are able to conclude that Jesus is the Truth and the Living God.”

At a school in one of those areas, Tionge and her team approached the principal for permission to teach otLIVE and ntLIVE at his school. He replied, “To me, I have no problem, but I fear the community.” Tionge explained that “we don’t teach a Religious Education [course] but instead teach the Gospel and the Word of God clearly.” And then they left him to consider his options. “We went to a neighboring school where the principal received our program and allowed us to teach. The kids from the first school heard about the lessons at their neighboring school and started challenging their principal. They said, ‘We hear from our friends what they are teaching at that school. Please let them also come here.’ So the request came from the children themselves, and the principal contacted us, saying: ‘If you have a chance please come to our school,’ ” Tionge says.

God has put this calling on Tionge’s life. More than 10 years ago, with the birth of her first child—in which she almost died—she dedicated her life to Christ. “I saw God working with me very intensely during this time. I knew fully that it was a situation in which no one but God could save me. I prayed as never before, and He brought me through it.

“I decided to leave behind my career in business management, and I went to the Walk Thru the Bible training on the Old Testament. I said to myself: Can I teach children in this way? Is this what I should be doing? What made me decide to go ahead and start teaching otLIVE and ntLIVE in schools was that it would give me the chance to teach the gospel and the Bible to children. I am not a pastor, but I realized that with this, God can use me with children. This is my time! So that is how I came to leave my business back- ground, and I love my job now,” she says.

Before every class that she teaches, Tionge prepares carefully, and she writes her lesson plans. She wants to be sure that the children have a meaningful Bible lesson that is fun and memorable.

But there are challenges, she admits. And sometimes, she wants to give up, but she knows that it is God Himself who fights for her. “Sometimes people ask me why I don’t quit to earn a larger salary elsewhere. But I tell them, ‘No, this is my purpose. It is God who I serve. He knows my challenges and He will look after me.’ ”