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Our Anglican Mission in Africa
Fr.
Francis Wardega's Report from Tanzania
source:
connectionkenya.wordpress.com/
Dispatch # 5 September 9, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Last Dispatch for this trip From Station Dar es Salaam in Tanzania Summer 2008
I am at the airport, awaiting the flight that will begin my journey back to home in Michigan. The work here is finished for this trip. We heard so much, “Please come back. This was so good. Stay longer.
”
Buigiri Bible School
The work finished with five days of teaching at Buigiri Bible School. The plan was that I would ride back and forth in Bp Chidawali’s Toyota Hiace minivan. The plan fell apart when the minivan fell apart. I ended up making the journey to/from the school in what is called a “dolla-dolla” a small bus. A small crowded bus with all seats and the aisle full. My Bus My Bus A small crowded bus with all seats and the aisle full that often included people and chickens and ducks! Thank God cows were so big that they required two tickets! Because the law prohibits standing in the aisle, the people doing so would sit on the floor whenever we were stopped at a police checkpoint.
Classes ran much better than the minivan.There were seven full time students, one child, and one frequent drop in student. Their names were Timoth, Rhoda (and her five year old son, Nicodemus), Leticia, Aloyce, Japheth, Sospeter, Enoch, and Eliah. Who were they? One person described himself as a part time priest and a part time peasant. (In Tanzania, every July 7 is a holiday called Peasants’ Day) Another person was a carpenter. Most lived in simple mud and stick huts with dirt floors, no electricity, and cooked outside over an open fire.
Final Exam
Their Anglican faith was the bright light in their life. They learned the basic beliefs and practices and teachings of the historic Anglican Christian Church. They had many misconceptions. They also learned of the ethos of ordained ministry and how that is different from that of an independent minister. Their excitement grew every day. They sensed what was happening – they were learning new things and understanding them. It was making a difference in their thinking. The class on ordained ministry was especially moving to the priests, life changing. They were eager to return to the their parishes and deaneries and pass on what they had learned.
On Sunday Aug 31, I celebrated the liturgy and preached at Christ the King
Cathedral in Dodoma, with Bishop Chidawali.
Actually,
the Holy Spirit celebrated. In very clear ways, the Holy Spirit affirmed the
complete love of the Father for the people there, poor, hot, struggling,
people of God. It was glorious. Music here was different than in Mwanza – a
different rhythm, mainly in minor keys, almost a mournful, wailing tone.
There was much contact with local Anglicans who were vitally interested in
the details of the Jerusalem GAFCON gathering and in the details of the
Lambreth Conference. We talked long about the future of the Anglican
Communion and possible steps that they could take as faithful Anglicans in a
diocese where the bishop was not faithful.
I
would be remiss if I did not pass on to all of you who have supported this
ministry and this mission trip the profound thanks and grateful hearts of
the people who have been served here. Everyplace I have been told – pass on
to the ones who sent you here how grateful we are to them and how much we
appreciate what they have done for us. What we have learned will be
immediately used and will have a long lasting affect on our churches and our
people. Thank you so much! Thank you for your support. God and you make this
possible. Please keep on supporting this mission. Please sustain this good
ministry. It works! Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord!
Fr Francis Wardega
Office of Foreign Missions Missionary
Dispatch 4 from Dodoma
August, 2008
This week was a time of transition. The work finished for this year in Mwanza. There was a journey to Dodoma. Then the work for this year began in Dodoma.
For this trip, the teaching work finished in Mwanza, Diocese of Victoria-Nyanza. It has been well received. The eleven clergy students saw their ministry transformed not just by new knowledge, but also by new values and attitudes and deeper ways of thinking and evaluating. Renewed priesthood. All from the Scriptures. The men witnessed to that renewed priesthood as we celebrated the closing of class in worship and song. One spoke of how he didn’t know how much he didn’t know. Another spoke of a journey from a ministry of laws and rules to a ministry of love and service. Another spoke of loneliness as a priest alone in a distant village and how he now had brothers to work with. Many mobile phone numbers were exchanged and many pictures taken. Over and over again, “thank you for coming. Come again! Stay longer! We will tell our brothers!” Handshakes were replaced by hugs.
Bishop Boniface Kwangu
Other service in Mwanza. Assisting in the eight day diocesan spiritual revival - the first one in sixteen years, led by retired Bishop Alpha Mohamed and Lay Canon David Hodge, both former Muslims. New blessings, new healings, and new freedoms of “Roho Mtafitika” - the Holy Spirit. Parish visits to St John in Nyamanoro and to St Peter in Igogo. Both parishes are searching for twin parishes in America - to become friends with. Any St John’s Parish or St Peter’s Parish out there want a friend in Africa?
At the APA Synod in Belleville, a deacon from St Stephen in Louisville gave his own pectoral cross to bless a brother in Tanzania. Rev Captain Nestor Muheta, secretary to Bishop Kwangu, now sports a new pectoral cross and says thank you!
The work of renewal in this diocese continues. SOMA-UK has arrived in this diocese in Mwanza to further clergy knowledge of Anglican ministry. We all met together to share, plan and pray - Bishop Boniface, Bishop Alpha, Canon Hodge, SOMA Team (2 Anglican Priests and wives from England, two Anglican priests and wives from Uganda), and me. (SOMA - Sharing of Ministries Abroad - international Anglican Mission ministry)
SOMA UK Team & Fr Francis
Bus journey to Dodoma - 12 hours in the bus! Five hours on bumpy and dusty roads, the rest on paved roads. Many Africans on the bus wrapped themselves in special cloths they brought - wish I had known that - DUST! Arrive exhausted in Dodoma - met by Bp Chidawali and friends. Taken to hotel - a place of rest - very acceptable. Shower, eight hours sleep and morning devotions gave renewed strength! Met with Fr Elia, principal of Buigiri Bible School to plan course of instruction
.
Dodomo Class
Class has started. Students included uneducated clergy and some others preparing for ordination and leadership and teaching. Seven full time students in the class, including the wife of a pastor who leads a church school and a young single woman who is preparing for a ministry in teaching. Initial classes went well and people were amazed at how much they learned. Their hope - my visit will give new life to the school. The school received with joy the donation from APA Holy Spirit Church in Alabama.
Thank you for your support. God and you make this possible. Please keep on supporting this mission. Please sustain this good ministry. It works!
Fr Francis Wardega Office of Foreign Missions
Missionary Priest in Africa 18401 Canal Rd
Dispatch 3 From Mwanza
A View of Mwanza City
Summer 2008 Fr Francis Wardega
For many, mission ministry has a sort of exotic glamour to it. Such work includes large crowds, healing services, hospitals built, schools visited, and similar events. Such work is very good and very blessed. This ministry is different. We teach. We teach the teachers. We teach the preachers. We teach the leaders. We teach the ones who had no real prior opportunity to learn. There are many such people in Africa.
Pastor Erasto puzzles about the deeper meaning of Ezekiel chapter 37.
Notice the copious notes that he has taken in his notebook.
The bulk of the work is done daily. The schedule: teach 9 am to 7 pm. Teach ministry subjects to the depth that they are useful to the leaders of the parish. Do this every day, less an occasional rest day. The students quickly adapt to the schedule. They write down more notes than is needed. They listen and ask insightful questions. This is a two-week investment in a life that bears fruit in a parish for the next twenty to thirty years. Not glamorous - just effective.
This week, we finished up the class on Ordained Ministry and moved into Fundamentals of Sacred Scripture. Then we ended with Sacramental Theology. These eleven students are different. They have absorbed so much. They talk about different things. They have a whole new and deeper appreciation of the Bible and their personal Bible. Everyone preached once and was affirmed and critiqued. They want more. “Can you stay for three months?” Sorry. They were very proud to pose for their class picture.
Proud members of Class #1, Nyakato School of Theology
As available, I go to local churches to meet the people there and celebrate the liturgy. Last Sunday, I visited St John in Nyamanoro. I preached in both Sunday liturgies. Each service had a 25 person choir, a different choir for each service. They worship with contemporary African worship music, choreographed. It is Motown gone Jesus! Such music keeps the young people in the Anglican Church instead of being attracted to other, more seeker friendly churches.
Fr Francis preaches at St John Parish in Nyemanoro, Sunday Aug 17
The work this trip will soon be finished in this diocese, until next year. Next on the schedule is a ten hour bus journey to Dodoma, the national capital in the center of the country where I will be working with Bishop Daudi Chidawali again. I will be teaching at his Bible College in Buigiri where I taught last year.
One unusual experience. I was invited to dine with Bishop Kwangu and a visiting bishop. As we sat and talked, I realized that somehow, many red fire ants crawling on me. I tried to be a good guest as long as I could but the others noticed my discomfort. I ended up trying to stand still while two Anglican bishops and one bishop’s wife killed so many ants that were feasting on me! That was my lesson in humility that day.
Thank you for your support. God and you make this possible. Please keep on supporting this mission. Please sustain this good ministry. It works!
Fr Francis Wardega Office of Foreign Missions
Missionary Priest in Africa 18401 Canal Rd
www.connectionkenya.wordpress.com Clinton Twp MI 48038
Africa e-mail: jambofrfrancis@yahoo.com
Insignia of the Diocese of Victoria-Nyanza
The Rt Rev Boniface Kwangu, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Victoria-Nyanza in Tanzania, has invited Fr Francis to come to his diocese and teach clergy and lay leaders. Details are being worked out but the trip is tentatively scheduled for August of 2008.
The general plan is for Fr Francis to go to several selected locations within the diocese and teach smaller groups (less than 20 people) of the clergy and lay leaders in the diocese for four-five days each.
The Anglican Diocese of Victoria Nyanza covers the regions of Mwanza and Shinyanga in northwest Tanzania and is essentially, the southern shore of Lake Victoria. The diocese encompasses an area of 7,373 square kilometers. Mwanza is the second largest city in Tanzania and one of the major ports of Lake Victoria.
Bismarck Rocks in Mwanza Harbor
The Diocese is divided into 6 achdeaconries, 8 deaneries and 50 parishes. It has 208 churches, 55 Pastors and 208 Evangelists.
Please note that American usage of the words “parish and church” may mean basically the same thing. That is not necessarily true in Africa.
In Africa, a parish will usually have a pastor. A church may have a pastor or more often it may have an evangelist or church teacher as a lay leader. Churches may be under the coordination of a local pastor from a different parish or may be under the coordination of an archdeacon or a dean.
Priests and deacons are ordained ministers. Evangelists and church teachers are commissioned ministers. It is rare for Eucharist to be offered every Sunday in most places.
We ask your prayers and financial support of this mission. Estimated costs of this next mission are:
Air travel to Africa: $2500
In country travel: $1000
In country expenses: $1000
Classroom materials: $ 750
Total: $5250
Not all can travel to Africa for Gospel work. Yet all can share in the work and the graces by being a part of the mission through prayer and financial support. As a mendicant missionary society, we beg for your support.
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health; I know it is well with your soul. 3 John 2
Fr Francis Wardega
Canon Missioner
Missionary Society of St John
Anglican Province of America
248-345-2651
jambofrfrancis@yahoo.com
MISSION DISPATCH NUMBER ONE: Mwanza, Tanzania, Saturday, August 9
The mission trip has started. I landed yesterday, Friday, in Mwanza, a city on the southern coast of Lake Victoria, after a journey that started very early Wednesday morning in Detroit, and took four airline flights. It is hot-90 degrees-and humid, normal life in Mwanza. Rt. Rev. Boniface Kwangu, bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Victoria-Nyanza (DVN) was there to welcome me personally.
Today, I rest and accommodate to the time change - eight hours ahead of the time in Detroit. Tomorrow, I celebrate and preach at the English service at the downtown cathedral. Monday, I begin teaching at the theological school. In Tanzania, there are two official languages; Swahili and English. There is often a third language - a local tribal language - also. I teach in English and it is interpreted into Swahili.
Tanzania is normally a peaceful land. Its first president, Julius Nyerere, called Mwalimu - the teacher - taught the people that they are family, ujamaa in Swahili. He taught a spirit of cooperation that transcended tribal animosities and history. It worked! It has stood the test of time.
Tanzania is a union of Tanganyika, old German East Africa, and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba (clove capital of the world). It is approximately evenly split between Christianity and Islam. The largest Christian group is the Anglican Church. Rt. Rev. Dr. Valentio Mokiwa, the Anglo-Catholic Bishop of Dar es Salaam, was elected primate of Tanzania in February of this year.
I will spend the next approximately 19 days teaching clergy and lay leaders. I will teach basics of the faith, introduction to liturgy, introduction to ordained ministry, fundamentals of sacred Scripture, and sacraments to those who are the main teachers of the diocese. Every student will receive a copy of every lesson plan, building up personal ministry libraries in a land where there are very few libraries at all.
So the work begins. I thank you all for sending me here. I will work hard to make the most out of what you and God have given. I give thanks to God for overcoming all obstacles to get me here. I give thanks to all of you, the donors of the years, friends, who have been faithful supporters through all the fitful journey of church in recent years. I give thanks to my bishop, Rt. Rev. Frederick G. Fick. I am also grateful to Most Rev. Walter Grundorf, Deaconess Tina Jenkins of the Missions Office, and the people of the Anglican Province of America who have supported this trip mightily also.
May the blessing of God Almighty be with all of you.
Fr. Francis Wardega, MSJ
Dispatch 2 From Station Mwanza in Tanzania
Your mission support is beginning to bear fruit again in East Africa on the southern shores of Lake Victoria. People here in Mwanza, a part of the Anglican Diocese of Victoria Nyanza, were excited to start this mission.
The mission started with liturgy on Sunday Aug 10, at St Nicholas Cathedral, one block away from the lake. The lake breeze made the temperature most comfortable. I preached and assisted the bishop, Rt Rev Boniface Kwangu, at the service. The bishop asked me to distribute the Holy Eucharist to his people. One young woman was confirmed at the service. This liturgy, one of three liturgies every Sunday, was the English service - the other two services are in Swahili.. It was very powerful to hear the Words of Institution, prayed by the bishop in his British accented, East African English. “Thees ees my boudy, brrroken for you.” Different and the same. Holy.
Our ministry is primarily a ministry of teaching. The need here fits precisely what we do. Here, there are
many priests ordained over recent years with little or no ministry or priestly education. Here, education is hard to get. Bishop Boniface brought eleven priests together to receive the teaching that God has called us to give.
Who are these men. All but two are in their fifties. The other two are in their sixties. All are ordained priests and are pastors of parishes in the diocese. Two came from the island of Ukerewe in Lake Victoria. Here in East Africa, they are addressed as “pastor.” Their names sing an African song, grounded in Scripture, colored by British history. Their names: Japheth, Erasto, Stafford, Zephania, Julius, Boniface, Jesse, Solomon, Iohanna, Abednego, and Josiah. Josiah has a bible school diploma and an M.Div from Cambridge in England. Solomon will be beginning studies at a bible school in Uganda. The rest have a 7th grade education at best, some less.
They bring to the class many good qualities. A daily prayer life, ministry experience (some have been ordained for over ten years), a desire to learn, and an ability to work. Good investment for your prayers and for your donated dollars. These men will be here for two weeks. These classes are a major step in their lives, and an answer to their prayer.
This week, they learned the basics of the faith - they learned new things. Things like Jesus is both God and man. Things like Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins. Things like the liturgy that they do is a 20th century version of what the apostles did.. They are like sponges continually soaking up the waters of new life. They also learned the meaning of what it is to be a priest - a calling from God, not a weekend job. They learned that God calls them to higher standards - the highest possible by grace. Their priesthood is being transformed. Their bishop, who sits in on many of the classes, is excited. More is happening much quicker than he expected.
Thank you for your support. God and you make this possible. Please keep on supporting this mission. Please sustain this good ministry. It works!
Fr Francis Wardega
Missionary Priest in Africa