There is a field in Tanzania where the soil is being turned with care – where farmers are learning new ways to tend the land so that it may yield not just for today, but for generations to come. There is a gathering where hands begin to speak, and the Gospel is shared in sign and presence, and those who were once on the margins are fully seen and fully heard. There are clinics where healing is offered with compassion, and quiet prayers are whispered alongside medicine. And there are women answering God’s call to lead – preaching, serving, and shaping the future of the Church with courage and grace.
This is the living witness of the Anglican Church of Tanzania – a church rooted in Christ, bearing fruit in many forms.
Join the Global Episcopal Mission Network (GEMN) for the May 28 Mission Thursday webinar as we listen to stories from these ministries of hands, hearts and harvests. Together, we will glimpse what it looks like when faith takes root in the soil of daily life – when the church joins God’s mission of justice, healing, inclusion and empowerment.
The free webinar will take place at 2pm on May 28 on Zoom. Register here on Zoom.
Discussing the church’s work will be Bishop Dickson Chilongani of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, chancellor of St. John’s University, and dean of the province. He will be joined by Canon George Lawi, general secretary of the Anglican Church of Tanzania.
The webinar will be moderated by Canon Robin Newman, chair of the Tanzania Task Force of the Global Mission Commission of the Diocese of New York and member of the GEMN Board. Joyce and Tom Smith of St. Paul’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, will speak about that congregation’s link with Mwitikira Parish.
Joining the call will be Dr. Emmanuel Mringo, medical officer in the diocese’s Mackay House Health Centre; Patrick Matonya, leader of the diocese’s deaf ministry; Brian Medcalf, treasurer of the Tanzania Development Trust; and Dr. Henry Ziegler of Health Tanzania, which offers medical care in the Dar es Salaam area.
Estimates of the membership of the Church of Tanzania’s 28 dioceses range from 2 million to 3.3 million, making it a major province of the Anglican Communion.
Come to listen and learn. Come to be encouraged. Come to recognize in these stories something of our shared calling – because the seeds being planted in Tanzania are part of a harvest that belongs to us all.
