Tanzania Update: Christopher John and Peter Andrew (pray for them) started East Africa Christian College two years ago. Training Leaders International (TLI) shares a large portion of the teaching responsibilities and also does training seminars for area Pastors. This is a small school with four living-room sized classrooms, with chalkboards and small desks. Desks and chairs need to be replaced with more durable ones and a TLI team member is seeking to raise the funds for this. TLI is also providing funds to build a second overhang where teaching can be done outside. The TLI team (5 of us) will be staying at the school. Water is intermittent and the city dump next door produces acrid smoke which irritates the eyes but otherwise the conditions are clean and safe. We will be teaching 5 hours a day for 5 days. The EACC is seeking to expand its 100 book library so a number of us will be bringing reference books and commentaries as a gift to the school. We will be flying through Amsterdam to Nairobi and the whole trip with layovers is 42 hours long. I will be leaving February 1st and returning late on the 13th. The Saturday before we fly back we will spend the day in the Serengeti National Park which will be a treat after a long week.
Here are some statistics and prayers for Tanzania. I would encourage you to read about and pray for Tanzania from Operation World until February 13th. Let me know if you are committing to this prayer time. That would be so encouraging to me. Tanzania is 54% Christian (all denominations) and 31% Muslim. The evangelical population is about 18% of the 54%. From 1990 to 2010 the evangelical population grew from 9.2% to 17.9%. Conversion growth continues. The country is very poor, life expectancy is 55 years, witchcraft and occult practices are rampant, aids afflicts almost 9% of the population, many children are orphans because of aids, and Islamic fundamentalism is seeking inroads. In spite of all this the church is growing and evangelizing. The greatest need in the church is for leadership development. There is a critical lack of trained, mature leaders, and many pastors must care for 10 or more congregations, often miles apart. 45% of Tanzania's population is under 15 years of age so the future of Tanzania is in the hands of the youth who need Jesus. Many students are being converted including Muslims and training them is essential. There are many other needs to pray for. Please join me in praying for Tanzania.
The Bible is filled with rich diamonds. Here is a diamond for you. "And for their sake I consecrate myself,[a] that they also may be sanctified[b] in truth." (John 17.19) In this verse Jesus is letting us listen as he prays to his Father about how he has fulfilled his mission on earth in obedience to the Father. Jesus says that for the sake of the disciples that have believed in him he has consecrated himself. The footnote to this verse [a] says, Or I sanctify myself; or I set myself apart (for holy service to God). That sums up the whole purpose of Jesus to God his Father. Jesus has set himself apart for God's holy service and the cross is the culmination act in this service, and he does this for the disciples. Why? So that the disciples may also be sanctified. This word is the same verb as consecrate but a different tense which looks to a future possibility. Footnote [b] says, Greek may be set apart (for holy service to God). Jesus set himself apart for God's service so that we might be set apart for God's service in truth. We can go so far as to say that the abandoned life of service that Jesus lived unto the Father was so that we might live the same abandoned life of service unto the Father in truth, so that others may be able to live the abandoned life of service to the Father in truth and so on... Here is how the Expanded Bible translates this verse, "For their sake, I am making myself ready to serve [sanctifying/consecrating myself] so that they can be ready for their service of [sanctified/consecrated by] the truth." What a radical thought. What a radical privilege. And what a radical responsibility.
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