Disciples For Christ - DFC

AFRICA INLAND CHURCH TANZANIA – DIOCESE OF MARA AND UKEREWE LEVEL 2 TRAINING

This was our second visit to Musoma and our second training with 40 Pastors/Evangelists and their spouses from the Diocese of Mara and Ukerewe. Our Teaching team for this training consisted out of Eliada Bujiku from the Mwanza Diocese, Rev. Onesmo Masuka and Rev. Marko Mseko.
We had many returning students from Level 1, which always makes progress to the next level easier. It was five days of long hours of teaching, but once again, the participation of our students, their many insightful questions and the valuable conversations that followed on aspects like Jesus’ call to Discipleship and our new unit on Spiritual Gifts, made it all worthwhile.

On our final morning we received 35 children for our Children Outreach Program. This was the first time our students learned how to share the Gospel through the story of the paralyzed man by manipulating colored strips of construction paper. Eventhough it took some effort and practicing this technique over and over, what great joy it was to see with how much gusto and joy our students led this time of songs, games and sharing the Gospel.

DFC LEVEL 3 TRAINING KATUNGULU BIBLE COLLEGE

I can honestly say this is the biggest number of students we have ever trained in one session. 203 attending students and the spouses of some of the married students joined us for our week of training. For this training I took two of our Mwanza teachers, Malaki Bujiku and Eliada Bujiku with me for the week and what a joyful time we had teaching this big group of students! Our students filled the Chapel on all sides, but what a great joy to learn together with these students!
Chai time was the highlight every afternoon and I smiled at the simple pleasure of a good cup of Chai freshly prepared as I saw them come back and ready for another few hours of learning. Amazing how refreshing a little cup of Chai tea and a few worship songs can be after a whole day of teaching! It was a joy to serve alongside Principal Paul Lameck and our new training Coordinator, Yusuph Konzogwe. Next year we will begin a new cycle of training with Level 1 for these students.

We received a 126 children from the Compassion Project, hosted on the School compound every Saturday, for our Children Outreach Day. During the week, our students will arrive at class, either wearing school attire, but on Saturday, each of them arrived, dressed in their best clothes as they were getting ready to share four Discipleship Lessons with the children.
We focused on teaching the children what it means to be part of God’s family as well as teaching on the Bible, prayer and God’s call to disciple all nations.

Since we had more students than children, the students were combined in groups of two or three. To see these students sharing their lesson with so much love, enthusiasm and passion, even to one little child, takes my breath away! Over the years, I have witnessed this so many times, and every time when I see these dear, sweet servants of the Lord, literally coming down to the level of a little child in order to share the most wonderful story of love, grace and forgiveness with them it just brings tears to to my eyes.

PASTOR AND EVANGELIST TRAINING AICT DIOCESE OF MWANZA - LEVEL 2

Most of our students were returning Level 1 Students, which is truly what we hope for in our trainings, but I was also greatly encouraged by the number of new Evangelists who joined us for the first time. Our students numbered between 50-54 throughout the week.
Teaching students who are actively involved in our class, asking deep, penetrating questions and especially contributing to our class with their comments is a great privilege. It was good to hear how some of them have implemented the teachings of Level 1 in their church and especially to hear the wonder in their voices when they shared that it really is bringing a change in their church.
I was also deeply thankful for their honest responses to admit that when they truly consider the members of their churches, they realized a great majority still fall in the category of following Christianity just as a tradition or religion, without realizing that they are not truly saved yet through a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Without this sobering realization, our training will have little effect to change anything in their churches. We built on that by carefully considering what exactly the church is busy with most of the time and once again, our students realized their focus is currently on running programs, being involved in fundraising, choir activities and sideline businesses to take care of the basic needs of their families. Without realizing these realities, it is impossible for them to see, that somewhere along the line, the church has moved away from the true mission that Jesus gave the church, namely discipleship…

This year we conducted two Children Outreach Programs; one at the Butimba Pastorate Church and one at the Bugando Church. We received a total of 112 Children and what a joyful time we had with these kids. Our students took time to clearly present the Gospel to these kids though the Daniel story and afterwards four girls asked if they could share with the group what they learned through the story… what joy to hear their different responses. Even after the program was completed the children lingered and lingered, not wanting to leave yet… what a testimony to the investment this church is making into the lives of these children every week.

PASTOR AND EVANGELIST LEVEL 2 TRAINING – AICT DIOCESE OF PWANI

How deeply thankful I always am that God is the One who brings exactly the students who need to be at our trainings and that He chooses those whose hearts have been prepared and who are hungry for the Word of God. We received 22 Students for this Level 2 training. As we went through the week, seeing these students learning with much seriousness, asking deep and penetrating questions, asking and asking again and again until something was clear, seeing the pastors mentoring younger evangelists with so much care, and even handling differing opinions with grace towards each other, confirmed to me yet again… God was the One who put this group of faithful students together!

We took our students to the Compassion Project hosted every Saturday at the Anglican Church in Morogoro and what a great time we had with 76 kids… of whom most were between the ages of 3-5 years old. Teaching very young children is a very special task and our students truly rose to the occasion.

Mama Pendo had the kids and teachers dancing and leaping for joy with the songs she taught, before the kids played up a dust cloud with the Samson, Delilah and the lion game. After all the fun activities, our students divided into small groups and each took their little group of children to share the Gospel through the story of Daniel with the children. Seeing these pastors, evangelists and mamas work with these precious kids never gets old!

AFRICA INLAND CHURCH TANZANIA DAYOSISI YA KATI – DODOMA – PASTOR AND EVANGELIST LEVEL 2 TRAINING - ENGEDI RETREAT CENTER

I was delighted to meet with many of our Level 1 students at the Engedi Retreat Center again and to meet with some new evangelists who joined us for the first time. We received 38 students for this Level 2 training. One of my most precious experiences was to meet some of our Bible School Alumni students as they now serve in the field. For this training, Peter, one of our Geita Christian College Alumni came back with his wife to join our Level 2 training. How amazing to see how God has grown him and now use him and his wife in the ministry.

On our final Saturday morning we once again, took the road to the Enyorata Primary School to conduct our Children Outreach Day with 119 children from this school. I love it when the children begin to remember us and to meet with the staff like old friends. It is a privilege to serve alongside this school and we never take the opportunity to minister to these children of which many are Muslim, for granted.

I was especially blessed by the team that worked alongside me for this training. Many thanks to Rev. Yusuph Malahu, Rev. Constantine Mkandya, Rev. Edward Manyilizu, Rev. Emmanuel Nyamalya and Rev. Donald Dutuyi. Part of the training was the inclusion of a new unit on Spiritual Gifts and I was very thankful to see how much the students appreciated it and responded to it.

DFC Level 1, AICT Diocese Shinyanga

Our first training for the Diocese of Shinyanga was completed in the town of Kahama. Kahama is a very busy town, being a travel hub to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Fifty five Pastors/Evangelists and their spouses joined us for this training.
Many a day, I could see that we were really stretching our students with a lot of new knowledge and yet, patiently they stayed, listened, absorbed and asked many, many questions. What a privilege to teach these servants of God!
Rev. Samweli Musa and Rev. Oscar Balandya served as my Co-Teachers for this training.

On our final Saturday morning our students had the privilege of sharing the Gospel through the Wordless Book with 78 children from the Compassion International Project that is hosted at the church every Saturday. All week our students practiced and prepared and what a humbling experience to see them so passionately and earnestly sharing the Good news of Jesus Christ with many of these kids who do not know Christ yet!

DFC Level 3 Training, AICT Diocese of Tabora

Just as for the Geita Diocese, we combined all our Pastors, Evangelists with their spouses as well as twelve of our Tabora Bible College students for this Level 3 training. A total of 85 students attended during the week. Our days were filled with many in-depth discussions about the topics that were covered. Besides truly enjoying the time with these students who have walked this journey with us the last three years, I was greatly encouraged to see the spiritual growth and confidence in our Bible College students. What a great encouragement to see these students participate with greater confidence in our class and also take the lead with some of the activities that we did. Rev. Nyuma Kiyumbi and Rev. Charles Bundi were the two Co-Teachers beside me for this training.

Next year, we will begin a new cycle of training for this Diocese and are waiting for the leaders to let us know where they need us most.

We went to the Ipuli Church for our Children Outreach program and again, saw the growth of the church, even in the number of children. Forty five children, some from Muslim families around the church, joined our program this time. Our students prepared 6 different Discipleship lessons through the week focusing on aspects such as “My new life with Christ, being part of God’s family, the Bible, Prayer, Fellowship, God’s mission for the world and serving one another.” Beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!

DFC Level 3, AICT Diocese of Geita.

What an amazing sight it was to walk into the Jericho Church on our first day of training and to see all the precious, familiar faces of our students. They all came – 112 of them came from Sengerema and other areas in the Geita Disctrict. Full circle… They visited together, laughed together, got tired together and most of all… learned together, they were some days stretched to their limits, but stayed… some days even until 6:30 PM as they brought question after question discussing what they were learning. I was so encouraged to hear their feedback of how they have implemented Level 1 and some units of Level 2 in their local churches and how the training material they received have helped them to grow deeper in their own faith and understanding of God’s Word. Three years ago we met as strangers, but on our final day, we parted ways as family… What a pure privilege and blessing! How deep these Babas and Mamas have crept into my heart!

Malaki and Eliada Bujiku served as my Co-Teachers for this training. Eunice Mayeka did an amazing job of putting every detail of this training together. Next year we will start a new cycle of training in Chato.

On our final day of Training, our group divided in two as we had two Children Outreach Programs - Malaki and I stayed with half of our students at the Jericho Church where we received 78 Children from the Sunday School Program at the church. Eunice and Eliada took the other half of our students to the Mkolani Church where our students had the joy to present six different discipleship lessons to 139 children from this newly planted church.

This was my first visit to Musoma and our first training with 67 Pastors/Evangelists and their spouses from the Diocese of Mara and Ukerewe. Our Teaching team for this training consisted of Rev. Charles Bundi from the Tabora Diocese, Rev. Onesmo Masuka and Rev. Marko Mseko. Yusuph also joined us for this first training to assist the Coordinators with the day to day details of the training.
After our first day I wondered why these students were so quiet, without many questions until I realized through the next few days… It was because they were learning and absorbing so many new and deep truths they’ve never heard before. Gradually as we progressed, step by step taking them deeper into the Word, and addressing many relevant issues they deal with in their ministries, the questions came… and that offered the opportunity for engaging discussions that taught them how to look at these issues from a Biblical perspective. Over and over I brought them back to the question… “How can they hear without someone telling them?” During our closing ceremony Bishop Kisena spoke beautifully and earnestly to his leaders… they are now the sent ones… may this life-giving message not die with them.

On our final morning we received 30 children for our Children Outreach Program. It does not often happen that our students are more than the children, so this was a unique opportunity to minister to the children two by two. What great joy it was to see after a week of preparation with how much gusto and joy our students led this time of songs, games and sharing the Gospel.

DFC Level 1 Training, Diocese of Mara and Ukerewe.

I just love serving together with these amazing leaders… I’m really blessed to have Yusuph Malahu, DFC National Coordinator and Rev. Charles Bundi from the Diocese of Tabora here in Musoma with me this week. Together with Rev. Onesmo Masuka and Marko Mseko… they form and incredible team! What a beautiful thing to see how members of the different Dioceses serve together side by side as DFC minister to the pastors, evangelists and their spouses!

DFC Level 1 Training Central Diocese, Engedi Retreat Center.

It’s always so exciting to reach new areas and at the same time learn so much about the country.
Thirty four Pastors, Evangelists and their spouses traveled to the Engedi Retreat Center for our weeklong training. It was a special treat for me as this is Yusuph and Helena’s new home as they manage the center for AICT. Like Sanga Sanga, I absolutely love being surrounded by all our students as we stay together for the week.
Rev. Donald Dutuyi traveled from Sanga Sanga to join Rev. Nyamalya as the Co-Teachers for this training.
On Saturday, we took the bus to the Enyorata School where our students had the opportunity to share the Gospel with 137 children. We are very thankful to the Principal and teachers from this school who received us so graciously and granted us the opportunity to work with their students.
We are all looking forward to Level 2 in the last week of September this year.

DFC Level 1 Training - Pwani Diocese, November 2023

For our Pwani Diocese Training, we all gathered at the beautiful Sanga Sanga Center, belonging to Africa Inland Church, Tanzania. I truly appreciate the opportunity to stay together with our students on one compound.
Twenty three Pastors, evangelists and their spouses joined us for this training. It was a great to meet many returning students from our first training in October 2021. Our students rejoiced as we introduced the Christianity/Islam unit to them. This unit was developed specifically by request of these pastors who serve among many Muslim communities.
Due to school exams we were unable to conduct our Children Outreach Day.
I’m deeply thankful to Rev. John Komoyo and Rev. Donald Dutuyi who served as Co-Teachers beside me.
A special thank you also to the staff of Sanga Sanga who hosted us all.
This year, we will continue with Level 2 the first week of October.