We are really looking forward to getting back to church in Dar es Salaam, and once again listening to Tanzanian Christian teaching regularly. Here is a recent Facebook post from our church, with the summary of Pastor Dondo’s sermon from Sunday. My first instinct on reading this is to think, […]
I recently wrote about the things apart from family and friends which we will miss about Australia. Here are some non-relationship things we’re looking forward to about Tanzania: Having happier skin. Adelaide really dries out your skin! The little boys pick their noses incessantly because they feel so dry. My […]
Pastor Dondo’s take on the life of faith from the example of Abraham in Hebrews 11 had three elements: willingness to be patient, to be obedient, and to sacrifice everything. Today Pastor Tausi took Abraham as the example of faith once again, this time from Romans 4. He had two metaphors […]
One of Arthur’s colleagues, Eliud is getting married to former TAFES staff member Dorothea next month and he and Arthur have been talking about marriage, specifically, the Christian ideal of unity in marriage. Eliud and Doro have been thinking very carefully about the cultural views they have inherited and whether […]
After my post about mafanikio, another missionary here in Tanzania wrote to me with some questions. In her experience, people who are on the road to becoming successful are torn down by others until they stop striving, so they never reach it. Mediocrity and inertia are what Tanzanian culture produces. […]
In the English dictionary, ustawi (ooh-STAH-wee) is prosperity or welfare; mafanikio (ma-fa-nee-KEE-oh) is accomplishment or success. The latter is a very popular topic for teaching in Tanzania. The former does not feature as much, but a long-time missionary suggested it to us as an alternative to mafanikio to distinguish prosperity […]
What is the message of Good Friday? Until I lived in Tanzania, I would have thought it was fairly straightforward: the focus is the death of Jesus for our sins, in short, the atonement. But at our church yesterday, the atonement was present, but characteristically not the focus. The ‘liturgy’ […]
