Change! Introducing Makifu Parish

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This spring we received news of a big change coming to our Tanzanian partnership:  Tungamalenga Parish has become two independent congregations.  The congregation has grown enough that it can split and each congregation will be able to support pastors and operational costs. Bwana Yesu Asifiwe – let us praise the Lord Jesus!



The original parish is comprised of 18 village congregations along two intersecting roads (see the map, originally hand drawn by Pastor Alfred Kikoti and SOTV traveler Randy Hurley). The new congregations will each take half of the preaching points, and will be divided geographically.  Makifu is the center of the new congregation along the road from Makambalala to Kisilwa, while Tungamalenga will remain the “main station” of the original congregation, from Namelok to Idodi.

Shepherd of the Valley has been asked by the Iringa Diocese to remain partners with both congregations, and we have enthusiastically said yes!  We are grateful that we have been blessed with an abundance of resources and that we can maintain the relationships we have built with all our partners over the past twelve years.

Knowing this was in the long range planning stage, our travelers discussed the logistics of this new partnership last summer when we visited. Future visits will include not just one, but two partnership meetings, one with each Tanzanian congregation’s committee.  Good communication will be the key to addressing the needs of each partner.  Tungamalenga’s partnership committee members were quick to dismiss concerns that the two congregations might compete for SOTV’s resources, saying that the new congregation “is like a child born from the mother congregation, and the mother would feel bad if the child were ever in need.”
nearly finished interior, Makifu Chapel
photo by Lyn MacLean
 

exterior, Makifu Chapel, under construction
photo by Lyn MacLean

office, attached to Makifu Chapel
photo by Lyn MacLean

This spring, the congregation is putting the finishing touches on construction of the chapel that will be at the center of Makifu Parish, with a gift of $4500 from Shepherd of the Valley.  Pastor Diane Sponheim and a dozen SOTV travelers look forward to worshipping in the new sanctuary this August.

Makifu’s next great need is to build a home for the pastor, and there will be a need for a motorbike so that the pastor can easily travel among the nine village congregations – several are off road, and the general terrain is hilly and rough.

But the first and greatest need of our partners is your prayers.  Please pray that God blesses the work of each parish, that the Gospel of Christ continues to be preached and lived in the villages of Makifu and Tungamalenga Parishes. Thank you for your faithful support of this partnership ministry.

Comments

  1. FirewalkerRevMay 25, 2013 at 9:16 AM

    I recognize that graphic!
    (Still trying to get the lay of the land in Kiponzelo -- too many hills and twisty-turny roads!)

    ReplyDelete

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