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The Moravians, one faith, two worlds |
In a Tanzanian village thousands of miles from his Pennsylvania home, the Reverend Godon Mowrer found out why his church is shrinking in North America, but growing overseas.
U.S. missionaries find churches in Tanzania vibrant and growing despite nation's troubles
Moravian missionaries from Herrnhut first ministered in Africa in 1737, when George Schmidt arrived in South Africa. Christian missionary efforts in East Africa followed the journeys of David Livingstone a century later. German Moravian missionaries arrived in the Lake Nyasa region of Tanganyika in the early 1890s and started churches that were later to become the Moravian Church in Southern Tanzania.
European colonial politics opened the door for Moravian missionaries to begin ministry among the Nyamwezi people in the Tabora region, many miles to the north and west of Lake Nyasa (commonly known today as Lake Malawi).
The London Missionary Society had established a mission station at Urambo, east of Tabora, twenty years earlier. As a result of international agreements in 1885, Urambo became part of the German colonial territory in East Africa. German Moravians responded to a request of the London Missionary Society to assume responsibility for the mission at Rambo.
The first group of missionaries arrived on January 2, 1898.
Current Scope Of Moravian Ministry
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From its small beginning a hundred years ago, the Moravian Church in Western Tanzania (MCWT) today covers a large geographical area. From Lake Victoria in the north and the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika in the west, MCWT ministers in large cities and small villages to the east as far as Itigi and to the south as far as Rungwe. Predominantly Nyamwezi in ethnic composition, MCWT has planted churches among the Tutsi, Wakimbu, Waha and Sukuma people as well.
The church counts about 80,000 members and continues the rapid growth that has characterized its ministry for the past 25 years.
The chief ministry of the Moravian church is evangelistic outreach and the planting and nurture of new congregations.
Evangelists and pastors are trained in a variety of settings, including Bible schools, theological education by extension (TEE) and the Moravian Theological College at Mbeya, which is a joint venture of the four Moravian provinces in Tanzania. MCWT operates a Junior Seminary in Sikonge and a secondary school at Usoke.
Through its Development Office, MCWT has operated many agricultural and capacity-building programs and projects throughout western Tanzania. The church is active in women's ministry, youth ministry, and prison ministry.
Through its hospital at Sikonge and its dispensaries in numerous villages, MCWT brings a healing ministry to many people.
MCWT is actively evangelizing among the Sukuma people in the Lake Victoria region and among the Waha people in the border of Tanzania and Burundi along the shores of Lake Tanganyika.
The church has planted 16 congregations among the Sukuma people in the past 12 years. Evangelism is effected through open-air meetings led by teams of evangelists and church choirs. Persons responding in faith to the gospel receive ministries of counsel, deliverance and instruction, leading to baptism.
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Missionary Work 
