Pastor Training in Tanzania

Tanzania is a nation of 40 million people on the east coast of Africa. African Leadership has been training Pastors and church leaders there since 2004. As of March 2008, we have 160 students attending 17 classes at 13 training centers, with over 400 graduates who are active in church ministry.

Our National Director for Sudan is Yohana Botano. Yohana organizes and administrate the AL learning centers, in this country that is roughly the size of Egypt, twice the size of California. Yohana's Swahili-speaking co-director is Paradiso Lema who works with non-English speaking pastors, teachers, and students, and his assistant is Jackson Atsango.

In Tanzania, pastor training is essential for the health and growth of the church, for her leadership to be supportive in propagating the gospel of Christ, where 35% of Tanzanians follow indigenous and traditional beliefs, 35% are Muslim and 30% Christian. Facing challenges beyond the imagination of most people living in developed nations, people lack basic needs such as clean water, food, adequate shelter, education and health services. The BTCP students attending pastor training classes need support in every way possible, so they may complete their courses, and minister to their congregations with biblical maturity. All 5 classes, and developing new classes, need financial support for feeding the students, support for teachers, and for travel costs. It is simply a wondrous work of grace that so many pastors find the strength for attending training, as the truth of the Gospel is the only hope for most of these people, living in one of the poorest nations in the world.

Five of ten students learning the AL program in Ushirika Shinyanga, which is 1200km from AL main office in Dar es Salaam, were recently visited by Director Yohana Batano and they were very happy to express their emotions to Donors, and those who pray for the classes in Tanzania. These are the words they wanted to share "in His wonderful Name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ." They speak representing the class:
"Dear friends, Greetings. Our testimony is about textbook number four. Before learning we were struggling and we didn’t know how to prepare and preach Biblical messages. We spent our time, mind, and energy just for searching through the entire Bible for a single verse to preach at a Sunday worship. After learning this manual, our teacher emphatically took us back to manual number One, putting into effect the rules of interpretation, and our struggles were over. Our job now is to go through the selected book of the Bible. We just look at the context, or other rules of interpretation, and do word study using our Kiswahili Bibles, Mafafanuzi ya Biblia (Kiswahili Bible Commentary) and Kamusi ya Biblia (Bible Dictionary) and then we come up with the Biblical Message. In so doing we save our time and utilize the three questions been asked in textbook one- What does the Scripture say? What does the Scripture mean? And what am I ought to do?
So now, to those who pray for us and donate their thoughts, money, and efforts, may the Lord our gracious God tremendously meet their real needs and make their joy complete! For He is alone the one Who can complete our faith in His Son Jesus."

African Leadership is thankful to have a presence in Tanzania. As African Leadership equips National Directors like Yohana and his colleagues to spread the Gospel in churches and communities throughout Tanzania, we are grateful for the support of our donors who make this national transformation possible. As we travel to visit our African Directors and attend graduation ceremonies, we are amazed at the dedication of these pastors. They usually work full time jobs in addition to their pastoral workload, while attending classes 2-4 days a week. Their desire to be better teachers and preachers is reflected in their joyful completion of the 2-year program, which provides comprehensive training in all phases of church leadership, equivalent to a foundational-level seminary or Bible College degree, utilizing a 10-course, 2,500-page Bible centered curriculum, developed and translated by African Leadership.

Please pray for Yohana and his family and staff, as they labor to bring hope to the communities of Tanzania, by increasing the impact of the Gospel through training of pastors and church leaders. African Leadership-Tanzania hopes to graduate some 80 students each year, who, when their training is finished, will periodically attend alumni training for HIV/AIDS issues, Islam apologetics, and financial management. Hopefully, from the networking of these alumni and teachers, new classes may be established, spreading the word about our Training Program, resulting in more pastor registrations, and expanded educational outreach for the maturity of the Church.

With such immeasurable need for training of Pastors and church leaders, African Leadership is working to bring accessible, affordable training to Tanzania for the vitality and health of the Church. The African Leadership team members and teachers face extreme travel difficulties, with dependable vehicles always in short supply, as they travel crude roads to organize and teach their classes. Please consider how you might lend your support, as you pray for Yohana, Paradiso, and Jackson, and their families and staff, as they labor to bring hope to the communities of Tanzania, by increasing the impact of the Gospel through training of Pastors and church leaders.