Progress and Challenge

Stapling study materials in a hotel room
 in Mombasa Kenya

We are writing this from our “home base” in Nyabange/Musoma. It is very dry and many of the local gardens will fail, due to the lack of rain.

Our travel schedule the past several weeks has been lighter. With the exception of a one-day seminar in Kenya over Easter weekend, we have mostly been at home in Nyabange preparing more study materials. There are around 18-20 studies we would like to prepare, and so far we have done about 6, with a couple in process. Then they also need to be translated into Swahili.

We have not received invitations from all the Tanzania and Kenya Mennonite churches, but we have been to a significant number and the program provides training to 120 to 150 new church leaders. Some of the areas are doing well in gathering groups and leading through the study materials. Others struggle to gather their leaders even from their local area and have barely started. We are also aware of spiritual powers of evil that work to keep this program from becoming effective.

Studying "Discipleship in the Gospels" in Chepilat Kenya

Discussion in the training seminar in Mbeya Tanzania

As we look at the progress we have made and the challenges that remain, we have begun to think about how we can best use our time here. There is a need for more mentoring, along with writing or adapting study materials, and making other literature available in Swahili. One of the needs we see is developing spiritual depth, and what it means to follow Jesus in life.

We trust God’s grace to be faithful managers of the gifts we have been given as we deal with the challenges and opportunities. And we continue to be grateful for good physical and mental health. Thank you for your prayers, interest and support. 

Home again

Capetown, South Africa with Table Mountain.
Picture is from Robben Island.

After our travels through southern Tanzania, we were blessed with the opportunity to take a few days for vacation in South Africa. The initial reason for the trip was to attend part of a training at the AllNations training center in Capetown. But at that point we were ready for a break so we stayed an extra week.

Chapman's Peak Coastal Highway

Capetown is a beautiful city though windy, and the surrounding countryside and coast line is very scenic. We drove to the Cape of Good Hope, visited Aghulas Point (southernmost point of Africa), went up Table Mountain, drove the Chapman’s Peak coastal highway, visited Robben Island, visited Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, took a boat trip to Seal Island, drove through the vineyard country, and saw the penguins.

Penguin colony at Simonstown, near Capetown

Cape of Good Hope

Aghulas Point, southernmost point in Africa.

On the less positive side is the difference between the “European” side of Capetown and the townships, where the “coloreds” and “blacks” live. There is an economic divide that seems difficult to cross. But there is also optimism among South Africans since the end of apartheid about 20 years ago.

When we arrived back in Tanzania, we held a training in Morogoro before traveling to Mombasa, on the Kenya coast, where there is small Mennonite congregation just 3 years old.

Pastor Michael Lubingu of Morogoro Mennonite Church, and his mother,
 who gave land for the new Mt. of Olives Mennonite Church.

The temporary shelter for Mt. of Olives Mennonite Church,  a new congregation in the mountains above Morogoro.
 In the foreground is Genetha Rwangoga, lay pastor of the new congregation.

From there we passed through Nairobi and on to Kisumu for our last training of the trip. Now we are home, working on more study materials and “keeping the home fires burning.” We are grateful for the varied experiences we had, for the chance to see the beauty of the Tanzanian countryside, for the many committed people we met, and for safety in travel.

Elias Obuya, lay pastor of Mombasa Mennonite Church, outside the classroom where Sunday worship is held.

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.

In Sumbawanga

The new Mennonite church being built, and already in use.
The former church is to the right, and is now used for the
church sponsored nursery school.

We have heard that Sumbawanga is a town in the Harry Potter series, but we did not go to that one. The real Sumbawanga is an energetic town in western Tanzania, but cut off from the rest of Tanzania by poor roads. Even the electric supply comes from neighboring Zambia, about 50 miles away.

The Mennonite church has been there since the early 1980’s, when a group of youth read church history and were impressed with the Mennonite story. They sent 2 of their group to Musoma, the central office of Tanzania Mennonite Church for more information. They returned with an endorsement from Bishop Hezekiah Sarya and organized themselves with an evangelist, treasurer, and secretary.

Founding Pastor John Sikazwe (left), Doris Sikazwe,
Pastor Gabriel Magwega, Tabora

 The evangelist, John Sikazwe, was later ordained pastor and provided leadership until his recent retirement. The Sumbawanga churches are part of Tabora Diocese, but Tabora is 365 miles away and visits are difficult because of the cost of travel.
We were in Sumbawanga nearly a week to provide training for holding their own leadership training program. They expressed a lot of interest in the insights gained from reading the gospels to learn what the Bible says about being disciples of Jesus, not just Christians in name. The other subject which was greatly appreciated was Mennonite history and faith, which they knew very little about.

Gloria meeting with the women.

Seminar participants getting practical experience in
group Bible study.

 We were enriched by their warm hospitality. Our visit was especially meaningful to them, since we were only the second visit by Mennonite missionaries in their 30 years, and there have been few visits by local Mennonite leaders. The earlier visit was by Harold and Christine Wenger in the 1990’s. We are also challenged by their commitment to learn and teach and to bring the gospel to villages that have no church.

Sumbawanga faces economic and educational challenges. There are few persons with leadership skills and training, but they do not lack vision. Our challenge is how to empower them and develop the capacity to meet the needs around them.

At the end of the seminar, the ladies presented us with a piece
of African cloth, to be used to make a shirt and dress .

Emmanuel - God with Us!

December 2013

A little more than a year ago we arrived in East Africa – in many ways it felt like we picked up where we left off 21 years earlier. The same area, same language, some of the same people, similar work. And overall it has felt good. Not a bad way to start our retirement!

With it all, we feel a deep sense of gratefulness. For good health, for meaningful work that makes a difference (we hope!), for safety in traveling many kilometers, for the opportunity to live with people who are so welcoming and hospitable. And through it all, a sense of God’s presence – “God with us.”

We arrived late September 2012. The first 3 months (October – December) we traveled to the 8 dioceses in Tanzania Mennonite Church and 7 dioceses in Kenya Mennonite Church, to hear what the bishops and leaders feel are the training needs in the churches. We heard that many lay leaders do not have training and are not able to attend Bible school. The next 3 months (January – March) we began developing and introducing a program with simple study materials that pastors can use locally to train their lay leaders. Then in April, we met a change, when the Mennonite Bible college needed leadership, since the governing board decided to replace the principal and Joe was asked to fill in temporarily as “coordinator.” That meant we put the training program on hold for 6 months (April – September) while we stayed near the Bible college. Since October, we have been focusing on the training program again. We will be traveling to conduct training seminars for the pastors and introducing the study materials.

The Mennonite church stretches from Lake Victoria to the Indian Ocean, about 500 miles (further by road), so that means a lot of travel. East Africa is a beautiful area and we have enjoyed traveling – Lake Victoria, Mt Kilimanjaro, Serengeti plains with its wildllife, the rolling hills of central Tanzania, the Kenyan highlands with the tea fields, the hand-tilled gardens and simple houses in rural areas. We are finding the roads are much better than 25 years ago. The main roads are nearly all paved, especially across northern Tanzania and southern Kenya.

It was a special time in November to take our annual vacation in the USA to see family. The time was too short, but we were able to spend quality time with each of our children and their families (12 grandchildren) in Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina.

We enjoy working together as a couple, using our experience and training to resource and encourage church leaders. All of our travel has been together. We are both using our gifts to develop study materials, Joe focusing on biblical studies and church leadership, and Gloria on health and family issues.

We are grateful to see “God with us” in new vision and vitality emerging among churches. Leaders are beginning to talk about mission beyond their borders, some, especially youth, are searching for deeper spirituality instead of focusing on organization and positions of power. Africa as a continent continues to struggle with economic challenges, political instability, food shortages, civil wars, refugees, and occasional religious conflicts, and these affect us in various ways. But in all, the assurance of “God with us” gives hope – we are not alone, and Africa is not forgotten. We are grateful for your prayers, your encouragement, and your friendship.

Joe and Gloria Bontrager

One Year Later

We now have completed one year, and although we have spent at least 6 months of that time in activities other than what we had originally planned, we have felt God’s direction and blessing throughout this year. We are thankful for God’s grace to accept and bring us through this time.
We continue to enjoy good health and safety in all our travels. We are aware of God’s protection in so many ways. We have been blessed with many new friends and co-workers who encourage us in our work and have truly enriched our lives.
We have seen signs of commitment to mission and outreach among leadership of the churches that will present opportunities for growth. But we are also concerned about some aspects of church life and the need for a new touch of the Spirit of God to bring repentance, confession and commitment to discipleship.

The Bible College will be experiencing changes and developing vision under the leadership of Pastor John Wambura. The current semester has been postponed due to lack of funds and the present plan is for the college to reopen in January, but churches will need to get behind the college with financial support in order for that to happen.

We are leaving for 4 weeks of vacation and travel to the states in November, hoping to reconnect especially with family and friends. Pray for our safety in travels throughout the month.

Pray for our return to our scheduled training program once we return in December. We are scheduling about 9-10 Training of Trainers sessions from January to April. Pray that God will prepare these leaders for his work among them. 

Chepilat

Chepilat is a town in tea country, near Sotik on the main road to Kisii in western Kenya. Pastor George, himself a young man, is leading and mentoring a group of leaders. He says, “They call me overseer, but I am really just one of them. That is a name they gave me.” But it is clear that they look up to him and respect him. Pastor George is not Masai, but he grew up among Masai, he speaks their language and he feels like one of them. That prepared him to be a peacemaker when violence broke out in Chepilat during national elections in 2007 between the Kisii and the Kipsigis tribes. His ethnic background made him acceptable to the Kisii, and his upbringing made him acceptable to the Kipsigis, a tribe related to the Masai. He felt called to be a peacemaker so he moved his young family to Chepilat and began to call other pastors and community leaders together. The result was greater understanding among them and today there is peace in Chepilat.

Approaching an estate on the tea plantation near Chepilat

Besides his peacemaking efforts, Pastor George is a church planter. He took us to a tea plantation where a church is growing among the tea workers. The workers live on the plantation in “estates” of about 500 people each. The plantation we visited has about 20 such estates, but many of them have no church and it is difficult for people travel to a church. So Pastor George is leading efforts to plant churches on the tea estates and in the surrounding towns.  He reported that the general manager of the tea plantation encourages the church development efforts among the tea workers and has offered, if they continue, to build them a church building.

My question to Pastor George, “How many churches do you hope to plant in the next year?”

Picking Tea

“Thirteen.”

“How many churches do you have now?

“Six.”

“How many of those six are less than a year old?”

“Three.”

We met with Pastor George and his leaders to discuss training for their congregational leaders. So we are planning to return in January 2014 for a two-day training seminar where the church elders will be given training and study materials to lead Bible study and leadership study groups for their own people. It looks like they will be needing to train many new leaders.

Meeting with the leaders of the Chepilat churches