September 2015 Newsletter

"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, and to  the breaking of bread and to prayer...All the believers were together and had everything in common. selling their possessions and goods, they give to everyone as he had need. everyday they continue to meet together in the temple courts. The broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God  and enjoying the favor of all the people . And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:42-47NIV

These passages of scriptures are very important because they give us the purpose and focus of the church. The church must seriously take into consideration both it spiritual and moral obligations. In essence the church must be holistic in nature, meeting the spiritual and physical needs of the people it is called to unite. 

Community Outreach!
  Few weeks ago we had a meeting in the church with the women fellowship, who were planning their annual program for this year, since August is consider "Women Day" in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. It was a common practice that the women are to plan and execute a particular project. As usual, the women will visit an orphanage home or any other homes or village making  donation(s) on behalf of the women for a particular congregation.  When we met with the women my(Dixon) suggestion was why not look into the community this time around and invite people to share some of your possessions and gifts and to break bread with you.
This idea, the women took into consideration and invited many women and children from the community to the church on the "Women's Day" program. They had over forty(40) women and children coming to listen to the word of God and to share in the breaking of bread and fellowship. That day many who could not afford food had enough to eat and drink and they also went away with clothes and many other gift items.
since, this idea from Acts 2:42-47 was practiced by our church, we have seen great improvements in church attendance and many of these people have decided to stay and fellowship with us every Sunday.
Prayer and Fasting
Since we became part of the church in January of this year, we along with the church decided to select days in the week for prayer and Bible study. Tuesday of every week was set aside for prayers. it is a two(2) hours prayer time. This we started with just five(5) people and for the two(2) months we have seen the number risen between 15-20 people. We also selected every Saturday for Bible study and this too we have seen great improvement. For the past two months we have been studying the book of 1 Corinthians. Also, between June and September, we have had two three(3) days fasting and praying time. A time we set aside to come as a church to study, fast and pray for our many issues affecting the church and society, including our spiritual growth. Many have come to give testimonies of how they have seen changes in the praying and spiritual lives. We finished our second fasting and praying time for this year about a week ago. Through all of these we have seen great improvement in the spiritual growth and attendance of the church and we are projecting the possibility that in the next two to three years we might have to expand the church or build more churches in other areas, where many of our members come from to worship in this particular church.

Recruiting more Workers!
Our coming to Tanzania, I(Dixon) was to focus on Church Planting and Evangelism as major works I am to do. Having studies the church and have looked at the environment or the geographical location, I have realized that the church is lacking man-power as it relates to Pastors and Evangelists. It will be difficult to carry on church planting or evangelism without first of all looking at training more pastors and evangelists who will be placed in various areas where evangelism will be done on a large scale. With this in mind I(Dixon) will try to recruit people every year who will be sent to the Lutheran Bible College to be trained as evangelists and church workers. We were able to select two people this year from the local church who will begin their training next year at the Bible College. They will be schooling and serving in the place we have agreed to have our first church cited for next year.
Christy's Mother Visit!
At the middle of last month we had the privileged to have Christy's Mom visit us in Mwanza and to get to see her grand-daughter Milcah. It was the first time for Mom to travel outside of Nigeria. Although we had planned for Christy's younger sister to accompany her mother, but due to financial challenges and hick in the price of ticket from Nigeria to Mwanza, only Christy's mother was able to come.
 However, it was a wonderful reunion, since we last saw her in January. It was also a blessing having her around, helping Chirsty with Milcah and keeping her company. There were lot of things we needed to know about Nigeria and home since we last left in January. It was a blessing for Christy's mother, after working for over thirty(30) years, this was her first real break away from home into another country. Also, a real rest for her from all the other challenges of families back home. We were glad to have her around bonding with Milcah.

Christy's mom visit also came at the exact time when the women of the church decided to visit Milcah as a church. It is a tradition that the women visit their pastor as a church, whenever there is a new member added to the family of the pastor. We were glad to have them visit us and give gifts to Milcah.
Church Life
In our last newsletter we mentioned that we were able to open an account for the church, for which I Dixon is one of the signatories to that account. With this structure in place we have been able to formed various committees in the church for the smooth running of the church. One of the committee that I am the head of in the church is the "Management Committee". This committee is responsible for monitoring spending and suggesting areas of physical growth in the church. 

Prayer Requests

• For the people of Tanzania as they go to the poll to elect  new president and members of Parliament. There is a serious tension building up each day as we get closer to the poll. The day for the elections is 25th of October. 
• For the school Christy will be teaching, as of now they are still on the registration process with the government and we were told that they have now started building the science lab for the school. These are all the information we have so far.
• For our ministry as we seek to find more partners who will pray and support us financially.
• Thanksgiving for Christy's mother safe return to Nigeria.
• Prayers for Milcah as she turned 12 weeks this Sunday  and weighing 6.5kg
• Prayers for the church as we celebrate Children's Day this week, Christy and I will be special guest of honor for the children on Sunday.
• For the New Parish as she plans construction work on the floor and few rooms within the church.