Mennonites in Southern Tanzania - Needs, Opportunities, Vision

Our recent travels have included three cities in southern Tanzania where there are Mennonite churches. From Tabora, we drove 365 miles (600 kms) south to Sumbawanga near Zambia. From Dodoma, we drove 365 miles south to Mbeya near Malawi. And from Dar es Salaam, we drove 365 miles south to Masasi near Mozambique. In each place, we traveled with diocese leaders who find it difficult to visit these areas because of the distance and expense. And in each place, we were invited to give a seminar to local leaders to begin a local program to train their congregational leaders in Bible knowledge and ministry skills, what we are calling “diocese-based TEE.”

The road to Sumbawanga. Average speed - 26 mph for 14 hours

We have been “on the road” since mid-January and have driven about 3,000 miles (5,000 kms) – on good roads, on bad roads, on new roads, on unfinished roads, and on “no roads.”  Fortunately, our vehicle has been dependable, although it has received some maintenance along the way. And we have traveled safely with no incidents in spite of the trucks, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, people and animals that we frequently encounter along the way. But our main focus has been on the churches and their leaders in those areas. Here are some of our observations.

1. In all three of these areas, the Mennonite presence did not begin with an evangelist coming to form a church, but by local persons who heard about the Mennonite faith and came to Mennonite leaders for more information. The leaders followed up with sending experienced pastors to help them get established, and Mennonite fellowships emerged. This is different from church expansion across northern Tanzania, where persons with Mennonite background moved to other cities for jobs and gathered together to form local churches.

Leaders in Mbeya study the materials they will teach others,
as in 2 Timothy 2:2.

2. Leaders of these churches are struggling to provide leadership and nurture. In most cases, the leaders have come from other denominations and are not well informed of Mennonite history, faith and practice. They are asking about “the Mennonite way” to baptize, marry, bury, and other practices. Most of them expressed feelings of being isolated from the larger church and feel neglected. We sensed a desire for relationship, and also for mentoring in ministry.

3. These churches are asking for partners to walk alongside them, including expatriate missionaries. We have discussed this with leaders of each of the dioceses represented and they are affirming the requests. From our perspective as missionaries, this is an opportunity for our churches to walk together in ways that will strengthen both the African churches and the American churches. The focus of the request is not on material resources, although there are many economic needs, but on walking and working together to strengthen God’s kingdom in both Africa and America. Churches in both places have much to offer in the way of spiritual and relational resources. The vision of the bishops is to place a local leader and a missionary who will form a ministry team to strengthen churches and mentor local leaders in these outlying areas. Pray for the conversations that will continue around this opportunity.

Bishop Stephen Mang'ana, Dar es Salaam, and the local
evangelist baptizing a new believer in a stream near Masasi.

We have seen a growing sense of mission among Tanzanian and Kenyan Mennonite leaders. In most of the Mennonite churches in East Africa, church growth was among people where the first missionaries began, from the Lake Victoria area. But in the recent areas we visited, most of the believers are local. Some of the bishops have asked for training in cross-cultural evangelism and church planting, because they have noted that “what works in Kisumu does not work in Mombasa.” Bishop Stephen Mang'ana, of Dar es Salaam, explained their vision to evangelize and start churches all along the East African coast, from Mombasa to Mozambique.