Tag: Reach Tanzania: Theological Training in Dar es Salaam Page 1 of 3

Once You See It, You Can’t Unsee It

On April 4, 2024

I loved telling this story–one of my favorites from our years in Tanzania.

One of the first things that stood out to Peter and Eunice when they visited Reach Tanzania Bible School was that the teachers drank out of the same plastic cups as the students. In their denomination, the leadership would remain distant from those under them. Visiting guest pastors would choose the best hotels and restaurants. And certainly, they wouldn’t socialize with their students.

But they knew they had found a unique Bible school in Tanzania when they heard the philosophy of the director, Mark Dunker, a ReachGlobal missionary. “If you are looking for a paper to hang on your wall, this is not the right place for you,” Mark told them. “Here we teach for life change.”

Peter and Eunice were instantly hooked—this was the place they had been looking for. They didn’t realize their lives were about to change far more than they could have ever imagined.

By the time Peter and Eunice stepped into Reach Tanzania Bible School in early 2017, they had already been full-time pastors and missionaries for 20 years. Originally from Kenya, they had joined their denomination (founded by American missionaries) as young adults with a sincere desire to serve God wholeheartedly. They received some mentoring and then were sent to locations all over East Africa, evangelizing, pastoring churches and discipling others.

They were shining stars in their large international denomination, faithful to teach the truth about how to be born again from Acts 2:36-38: Repent and be baptized. Peter explained that repentance meant regularly making lists of your sins, publicly confessing, and often being publicly rebuked and humiliated in front of the church. Once you’d cleaned up your life enough, you were ready to be baptized—and you weren’t saved until that moment. And even once you had been baptized, you lived in daily fear that you might mess up too much to keep your salvation.

Like Cornelius or Apollos, Peter and Eunice feared God, earnest in their pursuit of Him. Before being assigned to his denomination’s church in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Peter took classes at a Pentecostal seminary. He agreed to go to Tanzania in 2013 with permission from his leadership that he continue to pursue Bible education, but theological education is sparse in Tanzania. So in 2017, when Eunice saw a Facebook ad for Reach Tanzania pop up in her feed and noticed it was not far from their home, they decided to check it out.

They quickly signed up and started classes shortly after, but Eunice was disappointed to see that the first required course was on Bible study methods. “I have already been studying the Bible for 20 years,” she thought. “What else are they going to teach me?”

She was about to get the shock of her life. The first of many.

Go to the EFCA blog to read the rest.

A Whole Lot of Wonderful

By Amy Medina

On July 23, 2018

In Other

Reach Tanzania Bible School Graduation, June 2018

22 students finished the first year program

7 students finished the second year program

I will make the Word of God the be the standard of my life/ministry. Meaning I will always use the Biblical worldview wisely. I will also focus on discipling the nation instead of just converting people to Christianity.

I can use my testimony to reach out to many youth in Tanzania.

The class that touched me the most was Marriage and Family. I had just got married. I learned many things like how to value your wife, how to spend time with her. I got lots of insight that changed the way I view my wife. I wanted it to be about it me, but I changed.

I have always wanted to pastor a church, but I didn’t know how to start. But coming here has helped me identify what I can really do with my calling.

Leadership starts with me. I must work on my relationship with God and keep myself humble…I am asking myself, “Am I worthy to be imitated?”

Thank you for changing my life and the way I can preach!

I learned about stewardship. Basically I learned that nothing that I have is mine, it’s just been given to me by God and he can take it away any time he pleases.

I want to start looking at every aspect of my life with Biblical lenses. Before I start to do/say anything, I want to ask whether it is biblical or cultural? And then only do what is biblical.

I have learned that I should not just preach for the sake of preaching. I should know that people are learning for the sake of life change. Also I have learned about “one-point preaching.” Many times I have preached long sermons with no meaning or impact, but from now on I will put this into practice. It has really touched my heart.

From 10 to 105 (This Is Why We Are Here)

By Amy Medina

On December 7, 2016

In Other

Freddy was one of Reach Tanzania’s students in 2014 and 2015. Recently, he stopped by our training center and shared this story:

In 2015, we started having family sessions of prayers in the evening. So we used to praise and worship God, and some of our neighbors started hearing how we were praising God and worshiping Him. So they started joining us for prayers and worshiping the Lord. And slowly I started telling them about the Good News about Jesus. And [I used] some methods I have learned about here at Reach Tanzania. For example, from the evangelism [class]. They accepted Christ and they offered their lives to Jesus. So I taught them those methods that I have learned here at Reach Tanzania and they started applying them to the places that they were going. And they won a lot of souls. So from a number of 10 people now we have grown to a number of 105, to this time. In a year. So I thank God for this school.

This is why we are here. This is why we keep staying.

Gil and some of our students recently made this 4 minute video to recruit new students for next year. Freddy tells his story in it, and you’ll hear from some others as well. (If you are reading in a feed, you will need to click through to the post.)

And if you don’t have time for that one, this one is only 1 minute, and I promise it will make your day. This is what our students do…all the time…spontaneously….just because they love Jesus and love to sing.

Finding Church (and Laughter)

By Amy Medina

On June 14, 2016

In Other

I’m pretty sure that in heaven some day, all the northern hemisphere folks are going to watch the Tanzanians worship God and they’ll say,

“Shoot, why were our Sundays so boring all those years?”

(If you’re reading in a feed, you’ll have to click to the blog to see this video.)

You know you’re in for some movement when your worship leader starts off by saying, “Okay everybody, make sure you spread out and have room for dancing.”

And this particular church? Presbyterian, people. Not even Pentecostal. When in a sub-Saharan African church, you dance. Dance or go home.

The dancing is my favorite part of church here. But other than that, church has been a struggle sometimes. We spent 10 years at international churches during our years at HOPAC. But now that our ministry is to the Tanzanian church, we’ve felt compelled to be a part of it on Sundays. Which means attending church where Gil and I are often the only white folks (or rather, I am the only white person, since Gil is a nice shade of brown). We are different in color, in culture, in language. We stick out like sore thumbs.

It doesn’t help that in our effort to network with different pastors, that means we visit lots of different churches. So it’s taken a long time to really feel connected anywhere.

Which makes me particularly thankful for this group.

A number of months ago, we joined the small group from our church that meets in our area of the city. We are the only non-Africans in the group. They’ve been meeting together for a long time, and we are the outsiders. But they have welcomed us with open arms; they have invited us into their lives and cultures.

Last weekend they planned a special dinner for couples with the purpose of strengthening marriage, and they invited us to help. It was one of those evenings with good conversation and even better laughter.

Laughter, I think, is one of those absolute necessities to fellowship. We are privileged indeed.

You Might Not Prosper….And Other Surprises From Context

By Amy Medina

On January 14, 2016

In Other

If I want to be blessed, I need to pray for Israel, right?

What about the verse “by His stripes we are healed?” Doesn’t that mean physical healing?

Won’t God grant us physical healing when we take communion?

These are just a few of the questions that have come up this week as Gil has been teaching Bible Study Methods in our pastoral training program. We are excited because we have a new class of 14 students this year–all who are already involved in ministry! Gil is teaching them, Look carefully at what the verse is actually saying. Consider the cultural implications. And most importantly, Context, Context, Context!

Then yesterday, I was reading an excellent post called God May Not Have a Wonderful Plan for Your Life. The comment section disturbed me, as commenter after commenter used Jeremiah 29:11 as proof that God does, indeed, promise us a wonderful life.

Excuse me? I know that the Christian community in general has an infatuation with Jeremiah 29:11, as it’s probably the most printed verse on Christian greeting cards and refrigerator magnets. I wonder if those who have made Jeremiah 29:11 their life verse have happened to read the entire chapter of Jeremiah 29. For example, verses 17-18:

This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror.'”

Hmmm. I’d like to see someone make that their life verse. Like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten just doesn’t look nearly so good on a coffee cup as plans to give you a hope and a future. As Gil always tells his students, it’s all about Context, Context, Context!

I’m not going to get into what this passage really does mean, because that’s not my point today. Suffice it to say that there definitely are applications in Jeremiah 29 for our lives today, but I’m confident God has promised you a wonderful life isn’t one of them. The truth is that just about all of us can use a bit more of Bible Study Methods in our lives, whether we live in Tanzania or America.

If you are a parent, this book is a fantastic place to start. Gil is taking our kids through this great book, but I think that many Moms and Dads will benefit from it too. (I know I am!)