Report on Sabbatical Month June 2006
1. Aims of sabbatical 2. Stories of the journey 3. Outcome 4. Possible suggestions of things to do 1. Aims of sabbatical a. To spend time in prayer, study and reading b. To explore the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, especially its structures and mission and evangelism strategies c. To make contacts with Lutherans in Tanzania, and improve exchange of information and cooperation d. To improve my skills in speaking and writing Kiswahili. e. To find out why churches in Tanzania are growing rapidly, while churches in Europe are closing their doors 2. Stories of the journey Tanzania is a large, beautiful country. The coastal area around Dar es Salaam is hot and humid; the central area is more arid; the mountainous areas are lush and fertile. During this month I managed to visit Dar es Salaam, Morogoro (a town 3 hours drive west of Dar), Moshi and Arusha in the far north, near Kilimanjaro, Lushoto and Irente in the northern Usambara mountains, and lastly Bagamoyo, a coastal town near Dar, formerly a centre of slave-trading, and famous as the last resting place in Africa of Dr Livingstone. The people I met were almost universally welcoming and kind. Among the extraordinary experiences I had were the time spent at Kariakoo Lutheran Church. This is a city centre parish in Dar es Salaam, previously Tumaini’s church home, and where her husband, Felix, is still an active and prominent member. I met with the church elders, with the Mission and Evangelism Committee, the Women’s Group, and 3 of the 6 choirs. Kariakoo has around 3000 members; the attendance at each of the two services on Sunday morning (7 am and 9.30 am) is around 1000 - 1500. The afternoon fellowship service is slightly less well-attended, but still several hundred. In addition, there are fellowship and counselling meetings, Bible studies, classes and choir practices going on almost continuously at the church, despite the fact that it is in a predominantly commercial, Muslim area of the city. In fact, the name of the area derives from the 1st World War Carrier Corps that supported the British Army in its battles with the Germans in East Africa. One Sunday, Pastor Kibona, the Pastor in Charge at Kariakoo since Pastor Lyimo took up his new post at the Diocesan Offices, took me with him to visit a smaller sub-congregation of Kariakoo. This was at a place called Yongwe, about 30 miles from Dar, but very remote and rural. The congregation there was started by a handful of Lutherans living on local farms; initially they met for worship under a cashew tree, but in the intervening 5 years they’ve managed to build a simple church building. They are looked after by an evangelist who lives locally with his wife and 4 children. There is no electricity supply, and no prospect of having one (the nearest lines are some miles away); no running water. But on the Sunday we visited there were 10 baptisms; there were 50 people in the congregation, all of whom had walked to church, some for an hour or more. And there were 3 choirs: Youth, Women and Children. On almost my last day, I visited Kinondoni, where Pastor Ron and Ruth Englund and their family lived and worked in the 1970’s. The church that was built in Pastor Ron’s time has been expanded twice sideways, but is going to be rebuilt completely next year, as it is simply too small. The Englunds are still very warmly remembered, and the present Pastor hopes very much for a return visit from them!
I met with several very interesting people, including Bishop Alex Malasusa, the Bishop of the Eastern and Coastal Diocese, which includes Dar es Salaam: Rev’d Frederick Shoo, Assistant to the Bishop in the Northern Diocese, and responsible for Mission and Evangelism; Rev’d Hoyce Mbowe, who is Area Pastor ( Dean equivalent) of Kinondoni, and one of the best known women pastors in Tanzania; Adam Pyuza, who is an agriculturalist and friend of Robert Lyimo living in Moshi, and who told me a great deal about how agriculture and investment works in Tanzania. Perhaps the core of the visit, though, was the time I was blessed to be able to spend at Irente Orphanage. This was my second visit to Irente Orphanage, which is home at the moment to around 30 children under 2 years old. Many of them have lost their parents to AIDS; quite a few are HIV+ve themselves. Some of the babies were born to mothers who died of eclampsia, a preventable death with adequate pre-natal care. The work there is hard, with no running hot water (imagine washing clothes, nappies and bedding for 30 children in a stone trough in cold water….). It is not unknown for the babies to die, of course, and for many of them the future is, at best, uncertain. The Orphanage tries to place them with a family at 2 years of age, ideally someone from their own extended family, otherwise someone from the Lutheran Church is found to foster them. Philip Yancey wrote once of a leprosarium that he had expected to admire the staff who worked there, but ended up by envying them. This is close to how I ended up feeling after 5 days at Irente; there was so much joy, prayer, laughter and beauty, despite the tough conditions and hard work. The Matron, Mama Endemu, said that this is deliberate: the work would be intolerable if the surroundings were not so beautiful, if the work were not always surrounded with prayer, and if the community did not live together in faith and joy. Each morning end evening the nurses in training there hold a prayer service (Lutheran morning and evening prayer, in effect); they sing hymns and pray for each other and for the children continually. Back in Dar es Salaam Bishop Malasusa suggested that the LCiGB and the Eastern and Coastal Diocese develop a formal relationship, partly because we have so many members from Tanzania, and also because Dar es Salaam and England have many natural connections and shared history. 3. Outcome How were the aims fulfilled? - To spend time in prayer, study and reading: I am immensely grateful that I was able to set aside a considerable time each day for prayer and for Bible study. In addition, I read a wonderful book called ‘What is the point of being a Christian?’ by Timothy Radcliffe, part of a commentary on Revelation, and a book about the Benedictine rule. This was a real blessing and made me realise how much I need to continue to do this, despite the business of life here. It is the fundamental role of every Christian to pray: but in the hustle and bustle of life, it can easily be pressurised into a smaller slot than it deserves.
- To explore the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, especially its structures and mission and evangelism strategies. This was an interesting exercise, and brought out several insights into the role of mission and evangelism in the ELCT. For instance, in most dioceses (if not all), the Msaidizi wa Askofu (Assistant to the Bishop or Dean) has responsibility for mission, and that makes up the main part of his ministry. At Kariakoo, the Mission & Evangelism Committee is the main decision making body of the church beside the Baraza wa Wazee (the Elders Committee, equivalent to a Church Council). All decisions about music, the role of the pastor, Sunday School and so on are considered to come under the purview of Mission and Evangelism. Thus mission is not part of what the church does, but everything that the church does is part of its mission. Rev’d Shoo in Moshi told me about evangelism drives in rural areas: people from the congregations go out, walking behind a brass band, with singing and music, going from village to village, staying with local people, and just telling them about Jesus, answering questions, taking part in local projects and so on. This bears great fruit, with people being baptised & new Lutheran congregations being born.
- To make contacts with Lutherans in Tanzania, and improve exchange of information and cooperation. This was such fun, I have to say. People everywhere were very welcoming, happy to answer my questions, which were often pretty inane and phrased in inadequate Kiswahili. The contacts made with the church structures were useful in reminding them that we exist (I left copies of a brochure about the Swahili service at St Anne’s everywhere I went); and we discussed various possibilities for active co-operation, such as a partnership with the Eastern-Coastal Diocese, with Makumira University and the central offices of the ELCT in Arusha. It was also good to renew friendships at Kariakoo (who would welcome any other visitors from St Anne’s!)
- To improve my skills in speaking and writing Kiswahili. Kweli sasa naweza kuongea na kuandika kwa Kiswahili vizuri zaidi kuliko mwezi jana.
- To find out why churches in Tanzania are growing rapidly, while churches in Europe are closing their doors. The answer to this is more complicated than it’s possible to deal with in a short report. However, reasons that immediately spring to mind are the following:
I. we in the West live a life of comfort and affluence. It is at least conceivable that this provides us with spiritual and emotional ‘insulation’, so that we are less conscious of our need for God, and our dependence on His grace and love. Our lives are also more cluttered and busy, leaving less time to be aware of God, less time to build a relationship with him that involves both speaking and listening to him. I’m not for a moment suggesting that poverty is a blessing: for many people living in Africa life is hard, short, and blighted by the twin curses of poverty and AIDS. However, I do think that affluence can also be a definite curse, and that we need to think creatively about finding a middle way that relieves the agonies of those living without access to safe water, adequate food and medical care. II. perhaps this is just a part of God’s plan to shock us out of our complacency. The Holy Spirit is not to be neatly confined in human planning, but He will blow where He will, and He will move people to faith according to God’s will and not our own. This is not to be fatalistic, but to encourage us to pray, work and pray again for the renewing of the Spirit to return to our churches, so that we too begin again to grow in numbers and in faith. III. the Christians that I met in Tanzania have a great faith in the power of God to really do things in their lives, and in the lives and souls of others. This is what enables them to go out and proclaim the Gospel with confidence and passion. IV. worship, prayer and Bible study are absolutely central to the lives of the most committed Christians. Services routinely last for 2-3 hours (without anyone particularly obviously looking at their watch!); prayer takes as long as it takes, and the Bible is foundational to all that happens. The Church is not just something you do for an hour or two on Sunday, but the central influence in one’s life. 4. Possible suggestions of things to do For myself personally, I would like to re-examine the priorities in my ministry, to ensure that I am spending enough time ‘pastoring’ rather than carrying out administrative tasks (more people contact, less computer time, in other words). For St Anne’s the Evangelism Committee that we have been talking about now seems to me absolutely essential; and I also think that we should try to foster in ourselves and in the congregation a greater depth of dependence on God. If anyone has a couple of weeks free, I would also suggest that you go and see for yourself: the feeling of worshipping in a congregation on 1500 – 2000 people is one I would not have missed for the world. Also we should take advantage of the coming visit of the Upendo Group from Kijitonyama in Dar to set up an outdoor concert/mission in the garden outside St Anne’s. Whatever else is to come will be made clear for us by God, if we take the time to listen to him. And finally a list of thanks: to the Church Council at St Anne’s, and my colleagues, especially Pastor Margrethe, George, Tumaini and Pastor Eliza for making this journey possible; to everyone at Kariakoo for making me so welcome, particularly Pastor Kibona, Charles Macha, the evangelist, Imanuel Group, Kina Mama, Kwaya Injilisti, Judith, Mama Meta, Mrema family and Walter; Felix Kallaghe for his skilful guiding and driving, and his endless wisdom and good humour; Mama Endemu, Mama Happiness and all the staff at Irente (asante sana sana, Felicia!); Rev’d Joyce Kibanga and Rev’d Dr Annette Munga for setting up that visit; to the staff at Luther House for endless patience and lovely nyama ndizi; to the congregations at Yongwe and Soni (especially Pastor Sosthenes Kibanga) for wonderful worship and hospitality; to Goodluck Mboya’s family in Morogoro for their hospitality at the wedding; to Pastor Lyimo and his family for fascinating discussions. And, of course, thank you to Janis, Laila and Anna for allowing me to leave them for almost a month. Jana Jeruma-Grinberga 8 July 06 |
