With Christmas approaching, our pastor preached on Jesus as Saviour. After all, this is what is announced at Christmas time. “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born; he is the Messiah, the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Both Mary and Joseph receive separate instructions that he is to […]
Our pastor opened his sermon yesterday by talking about the importance of names. Most Tanzanian names have some kind of meaning. Sometimes these meanings are positive e.g. Amani (peace) or Furaha (joy). Sometimes they’re neutral, for example, you can be named after the day on which you were born. And […]
In speaking with my friend about the wellbeing of women, we got onto gender roles in marriage. I wanted to push him on the idea that however you configure hierarchy, women are still vulnerable. Everything for them depends on the goodwill of their husband if he is over them in […]
As we enter December, how do you assess the year? Did you succeed with the goals you set? Did your plans come to fruition? If they did not, are you feeling hopeless? This was the issue the preacher was speaking into yesterday at church. It was a sermon about not […]
Arthur and I have put a lot of energy over the last 6 years into blogging about a Tanzanian understanding of prosperity. In part that’s because it is everywhere. If you talk to Tanzanians about the things that matter to them, success and prosperity dominate. We also believe that western […]
“If you want a sermon to learn about riches,” said the preacher, “go elsewhere, because we are talking about the pathway to our permanent home.” Then he spent the rest of the sermon talking about attaining success. It was one of those moments when I realised again that what westerners […]
We were at church for the commissioning of a new children’s ministry team. There were all the usual Tanzanian positions: head teacher, teacher, secretary, treasurer, etc. The entire team was women, and the pastor commented on why. Men were not excluded from being on the team, he said, but none […]
Meet Jesus at uni 