Visiting ministry sites

Our visit to the Central Diocese of Tanzania was put together in two parts: The first was the dedication of the Bishop Regina Girls Secondary School on Saturday, January 24, followed by Sunday morning worship with people of the Central Diocese at Immanuel Cathedral.  Beginning on Monday, January 26, our focus shifted to visiting our ministry partners across the Central Diocese, which includes churches, dispensaries, and schools.

Each visit is unique with their needs, challenges and successes.  At the same time there is a ritual or practice that happens at each site.  So today we’ll provide a brief overview on ministry visits before talking about the specific ministries and sites in the days ahead.

Visit background

As our team visited various ministry sites, there are representatives (General Secretary, pastors, diocesan leaders) from the Central Diocese who accompany us.  As our delegation arrives, we are greeted by the leaders of the specific ministry.  At the dispensaries, there is always the local pastor, an evangelist, and a doctor and nurse or the headmaster and teachers at the schools.  After joy-filled greetings and informal introductions, we are ushered into an office where we are asked to sign the registry, sort of like a guest book that lists the people who have visited the ministry.  Each ministry keeps this record, with some having many books from over the years showing all who visited and the date they came. It takes several minutes for all thirteen of us to sign!

We then gather for formal instructions and a welcome from the staff. We also get to introduce ourselves so they know who we are and whether anyone is from a congregation that shares a partnership with the specific ministry.  Following this, the leaders provide us with a short history and a tour of the ministry.  Most of the time we are also given a report of the ministry: their goals, successes, challenges and requests.  The report is not only to let us from the SEMN Synod know about the ministry, but it is an opportunity for them to give a report and make requests directly to the representatives from the Central Diocese who accompany us.

Following the formal presentations, we gather for a meal they prepared for us and, as we eat together, there is an opportunity to ask questions about the local ministry site.  At the end of the visit we thank them with a small gift as they often do for us.  These visits are a blessing to us as much as they are for them.

Next posting: Dispensary visits