What's Happening in 2015?

Bwana Yesu Asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!)

I have been back in Tanzania since mid January and have been putting together plans for 2015. The Anglican Church of Tanzania now has a new General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Johnson Chinyon'gole. We also now have a new Mission and Evangelism Committee led by Chairman Bishop James Almas from the diocese of Masasi and we are working together to put into pratice our new departmental strategic plan which we hope will help us to focus and co-ordinate our work more effectively. We value your prayers for all the activities that we have planned for the year. With God's blessing and in His strength we believe that we will be able to carry out His work that He has planned for us. We also ask that you prayerfully consider supporting us in this work and if you are able to do this please make a donation on the just giving link above. If you would like your donation to go towards a specific project just let us know.

Some of the work we have planned for the year is as follows:

19th - 23rd May:  Conference of Diocesan Mission and Evangelism Co-ordinators, meeting together for sharing, learning, planning for the future and mutual encouragement

15th - 21st June: Week of Prayer and Evangelism. This week the whole of the Anglican Church of Tanzania will join together in prayer for our church, our communities, our country and our world. There will also be a focus on evangelism and teaching during this week.

9th August - 4th September:  School of Music and Worship, training Christian musicians to develop their skills and their ministry.

24th - 28th August:  We will be joining together with Crosslinks from the UK to deliver a seminar entitled "School of biblical Training" to train church leaders and teachers.

15th - 21st September: Training of Lay Evangelists of the Southern Zone. This follows on from the training which we delivered last year in Western Tanzania. this year the seminar will take place in Masasi and involve dioceses of the Southern zone.

We are also continuing to develop our bible distribution project to enable people to obtain bibles at low cost in areas where it is difficult for them to access them. We are also trying to develop plans for the establishment of an Anglican Church Radio Station.

Many thanks for your prayers, support and encouragement. God Bless you.

Training of Evangelists in Kibondo, Western Tanzania

We praise God for the training course for evangelists of the Western Zone of Tanzania, which took
place successfully from 11-16 June 2014. This was the first of a series of training courses to take place in all 5 zones of Tanzania.

Evangelism training school, Diocese of Kibondo


The course took place in the diocese of Kibondo, and evangelists attended from 5 different dioceses (Kibondo, Western Tanganyika, Kagera, Lweru and Tabora). In total 54 evangelists took part.





Trainers, Canon N. Kilaha and Canon D. Haji

In the mornings teaching was given about mission and evangelism and the different methods and techniques which can be used, as well as about the importance of the Holy Spirit in evangelistic work. The main teachers were Rev. Canon David Haji of the Dodoma Evangelistic Association, and Rev. Canon Naftali Kilaha from the diocese of Kibondo.

In the afternoons students put the teaching in to practice and carried out door 2 door evangelism for 2 days and open air mission events for 2 days. Many people gave their lives to the Lord and others were healed of sicknesses and demons.

The course was a huge blessing to all involved. The students said that they had been greatly encouraged and built up in their ministry and were fired up to return to their dioceses to continue in God's work with more confidence and knowledge, and in the strength of the Holy Spirit.

Please pray for us a we try to prepare and raise funds and resources for similar courses around the country. If you are able to support us with a donation please donate on our just giving page (link above)

Please also pray for the provincial mission and evangelism department which will be without a co-ordintor for the next 6 months as Christine Salaman, is preparing to return to the UK for 6 months.

 

Mission and Evangelism Co-ordinators Conference May 2014



Diocesan Mission and evangelism Co-ordinators with Chairman, Bishop Elias Chakupewa (centre) and Provincial Mission and Evangelism Co-ordinator Christine Salaman (right)

 

From 13th to 17th May 2014 we held our second Mission and Evangelism Co-ordinators Conference, gathering together Co-ordinators from the dioceses across Tanzania. The conference was held at Mtumba teaching college near Dodoma. This time 19 out of 27 dioceses were represented. It was once again a wonderful time of sharing, learning, fellowship and encouragement.

 

The conference began with a day of sharing of experiences and plans from all the dioceses, a valuable way to learn and encourage one another in our work.
 



Rev. Canon David Haj

On the second day various speakers came to teach us about some important aspects of mission and evangelism in Tanzania. The speakers were Canon David Haj, Canon Johnson Chinyon'gole, Samson Nduwamungu and Febronie Mukarunyange


Febronie Mukarunyange




Rev Canon Johson Chinyon'gole
 

 

 

On the final day we met to discuss future plans of the department and develop ideas for projects and activities. The general secretary of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, Canon Dr. Dickson Chilongani also came to share with us, and we finished the day with a communion service together, pictured here led by Bishop Elias Chakupewa, chairman of the ACT Mission and Evangelism Department and Rev Canon George Chibwale, representative from the Diocese of Central Tanganyika.

The conference was a great success. We would like to thank all those who have contributed financially to make this possible and all those who continue to pray faithfully for our work. Please pray for the evangelists who attended that they may return to their dioceses refreshed, inspired and encouraged to continue in God's work. Please pray too that God will provide to enable us to carry out many projects and ideas that came out of this meeting, and to continue to be able to meet like this on an annual basis.

We are now preparing for a training course for evangelists from the Western zone of Tanzania which includes 6 different dioceses. This will take place from 11th - 16th June in the diocese of Kibondo. Please pray that this event will build up and encourage those who attend so that they are enabld to work more effectively for mission and evangelism in their dioceses.

If you would like to contribute financially to support our work please contribute through our justgiving page on the link at the top of this blog.

Music School March 2014/ Week of Prayer April 2014

 

Second year students song- writing

We praise God that we have just completed our third church music school at St. John's University of Tanzania which took place from 9-27 March 2014. As usual it was a huge success.




Teacher, Evangelist Musa Njagamba


The school aims to teach practical music skills and also aspects of music ministry and how these skills and gifts can be used to glorify God and to encourage and build up local churches as worshipping communities.




Teacher Meraby Kaimukilwa

This year students attended from 17 of the 27 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Tanzania together with representatives from the Lutheran Church and Roman Catholic Church.


This year there were also more students than ever, with a very large first year class and a smaller class of students who were furthering their studies. We were joined by teachers Meraby Kaimukilwa from Ruhija Music College in Bukoba, and Evangelist Musa Njagamba from Singida.


We would like to thank all those who contributed financially to support this music school. If you are able to support us in the future with this or our other work please contribute on the link above.





Teacher and Mission and Evangelism Co-ordinator, Christine Salaman,
with students

Please pray for this ministry as we continue to develop similar schools in the future and also begin to develop plans for a possible longer term course.

 

Time of Prayer for students

From 21st -27th April 2014 we will be holding a provincial week of prayer of the Anglican Church of Tanzania. Please pray with us for the work of the church across all 27 dioceses of Tanzania. Pray for God's blessing on projects in development, evangelism, health and in all sectors of the community such as youth, women, children etc.

Pray for God's guidance for the leadership of the church that there may be unity and peace within the church and that the Gospel may be preached in all areas of Tanzania. Pray also for the country of Tanzania and for it's leadership, that the country may be governed with wisdom and that peace will continue.

The whole music school with certificates
 

Plans for 2014

In December 2013 a meeting of the Mission and Evangelism working committee was held to develop plans for 2014 and beyond. Some of the main events that will take place this year are as follows:

1. Music and Worship School 9th-27th March
2. Week of Prayer of the Anglican Church of Tanzania 21st - 27th April
3. Mission and evangelism Co-ordinators Conference 13th - 17th May
4. Training of Evangelists from the Western Zone, meeting in the Diocese of Kibondo 11th - 16th June

Please pray for all these events, for the planning, for all the people who will be involved in organising, teaching and learning, and for God's provision to enable us to fund these events.

If you are able to assist us with a contribution towards any of these events please donate on our just giving page (link above)

Mission and Evangelism Co-ordinators' Conference Oct 2013

Rt. Rev Elias Chakupewa



Rev Charles Unjiro

From 8th -11th October 2013 we held a conference of Mission and Evangelism Co-ordinators or representatives from dioceses across Tanzania. 15 dioceses were represented and Bishop Elias Chakupewa of the diocese of Tabora was also present as the chairman of the department.









There has not been a meeting of this sort for at least 6 years so it was a wonderful opportunity to meet together, share experiences, encourage each other and share in fellowship together.

Rt. Rev Francis Ntiruka

Representatives from Kibondo and Kagera

During the conference there was teaching from Rt. Rev. Elias Chakupewa of the diocese of Tabora, Rt. Rev. Francis Ntiruka, chaplain of St. John's University and Rev. Charles Unjiro of the diocese of Mount Kilimajaro. Seminars included teaching on church planting, discipleship and bible study. We also had the opportunity to share our work and plan together for the future.

.... Masasi and Zanzibar

There are some wonderful, committed evangelists in Tanzania who work very hard to spread the Gospel in challenging situations.

.... Kiteto and Mara

We ask that you pray for them as they serve God in this way, whilst facing difficulties of lack of finance and resources.
 
 

... Central Tanganyika, Mpwapwa and Kondoa

.... Kondoa, Tarime and Kagera

 
 

 

 




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Music and Worship School 2013

We praise God that our 4 week music and worship school has been successfully completed. 35 students attended respresenting 14 different dioceses of the Anglican Church in Tanzania, together with some representatives from the Catholic, Pentecostal and Lutheran churches. The students are all leaders in their choirs, churches, deaneries and dioceses, and even some pastors attended. So, our hope is that they will return to teach, encourage and build up others.

All those involved were greatly blessed by the school. As well as learning about music theory and pratice, they also learnt more about the importance of their ministry and how to be effective in God's service using the gifts he has given them. We also had some powerful times of worship, prayer and learning from God's word together.

One of the challenges which we set was to write songs from a passage from the book of "Songs of Songs". This was to practise their song writing skills and also to practise trying to interpret difficult parts of scripture and write meaningful songs about them. The students did this in small groups and later we went to the studio and recorded our two favourites. the clips below show groups singing these two songs at church on the Sunday morning.


We ask for your prayers as we further develop this important work, both through schools like this one and shorter seminars in the dioceses. There is a huge need and demand for training of this sort and music and choirs have such an important role in the church in Tanzania. It is important that we develop skilled musicians who truly have a heart for serving God through their ministry and enabling others to worship God through music and song.


Thank you so much to all those who supported us financially to make the school possible. Students paid fees to attend but without the subsidy that we were able to give them they would have had difficulty finding enough money.








Our Teachers Evangelist Musa Njagamba and Meraby Kaimukilwa
















Guitar Class

Praising God together
















In the Recording Studio

Song Composition

Worshiping together

















Video Clips:-