Tanzania

Answer to Prayer

The strong church planting movement in Tanzania has, since the 1980s, birthed new agencies within the country and a greater level of partnership between nationals and expatriate missionaries. There is a strong focus on planting new churches and reaching the remaining unevangelized peoples of Tanzania, with much fruit evident in recent years among animist and Muslim populations.

Challenge for Prayer

Growth in the mainline Churches has been good but sporadic. Renewal movements in Lutheran, Anglican and Catholic churches bring life to traditional congregations; most of the bishops are evangelical. Some problems that limit further growth in numbers and spirituality are:

a) Extensive areas where churches have stagnated and where many potentially open villages remain unreached. The need is great for more evangelists and church planters.

b) African worship patterns, choirs and collections combined with Western cultural forms have taken priority over biblical teaching.

c) Swahili is used in fully 96% of church services even though it is not the heart language of the majority. Pray for the development of songs, teaching and resources in the first languages of all Tanzania’s peoples.

d) AIDS continues to spread and affect many. It has now afflicted over 1.7 million (8.8% of the population) and orphaned over one million children. Tanzania’s social fabric and economic structure are deeply affected. There are several initiatives led by religious and church communities for prevention, counselling and care. Pray for these programmes to be followed through and to have a powerful positive impact.

     For an additional 9 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.