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AIM is starting a new team in Kondoa beginning in July 2020, partnering with the Africa Inland Church Tanzania.
Led by Jared and Megan Hood, AIM missionaries from the US, the team will focus on lifestyle and proclamation evangelism and discipleship. As they learn Kiswahili, the team will intentionally seek to partner with and mobilise local believers and local churches in outreach and discipleship to their unreached neighbours. They will encourage new believers to join already existing congregations, as they work closely with multiple denominations and with local believers.
Could you be called to Kondoa?
The town of Kondoa is 100 miles north of Tanzania’s capital, Dodoma, on the main trade route from Cairo to Cape Town. It’s a small town of 14,000 people, populated with traders and merchants, as well as government workers and business people drawn by industry related to Kondoa’s role as the administrative centre for the district. Historically, the Kondoa highlands were a cultural backwater until ivory traders arrived between 1850 and 1880 and founded a trading post. The first mosque was built in 1885, and the first Catholic church in 1910.
Currently 75% of the town are Muslims. There are a number of different people groups, however it’s estimated that the Rangi people make up around 60% to 70% of the population. Of the Rangi, the Catholic church state that 5% are Catholics. A local pastor working among the Rangi stated, “We do not have a Rangi pagan, every Rangi is either a Muslim or a Catholic.” But there is also a significant Protestant minority in Kondoa with Anglicans, Lutherans, the Tanzania Assemblies of God, the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania, some smaller Pentecostal churches and a Seventh Day Adventist Church all present. As such, the vision of this team is not to plant new churches, but to work in partnership with the existing local church; training, mobilising and supporting them in their mission efforts.
Longing to share the gospel
There will be opportunities for team members to become involved in a wide range of ministries, using their gifts, talents and experience to edify the local church and create platforms where they can meet locals, build friendships and begin to share the gospel. There will be opportunities in farming or agricultural work, as many people living in Kondoa tend to have small plots close to their homes and then larger farms outside the town. There are opportunities for teachers in a local school, to teach English as a second language or to get involved in sport ministries, as football is very popular in Tanzania.
Ultimately, we need people on this team who long to share the gospel with the people of Kondoa so that they may be brought from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Pray that God would begin to soften hearts ahead of the team starting, so that people will be ready to accept Jesus. We look with eager anticipation to the day when people of Kondoa are welcomed into the Kingdom of Light for all eternity.
To find out more about this opportunity to serve, click here.
