Msilimbe
Josephat Hambije "Please remember us in your prayers as the work we have is heavy, but we are able to do it all through him who gives us strength"
Msiliembe is another rural farming community, heavily dependent on tobacco as its main income-generating crop. The village leaders of Msiliembe invited the Anglican Church to come and plant a church in their village after Water Aid (which the Diocese of Tabora development department is the local agent) dug several wells in the village and surrounding communities.
Josephat Hambije was sent to this village. The church was started in a local school. The first service was attended by 21 adults and 17 children. Shortly afterwards, there was a weekend of evangelistic meetings and seminars combined with the showing of the Jesus Film, which brought many to faith in Jesus. There was then steady growth for a while. However recently many of the key people have moved away to other villages for various reasons and this has meant that numbers have begun to drop.
Josephat has, however, started another church in the village of Mpungu, about one hour by bicycle from Msiliembe where he currently lives. Mpungu has no other church of any denomination. Josephat began in March with 12 adults and 7 children and has seen steady growth since. He has also used the Jesus film meeting as part of his evangelism strategy. Mpungu has become the stronger of the two congregations and we are considering whether he should live there instead of Msiliembe as it has the advantage of being on a main road and the village itself is growing.
Bishop Francis confirmed five people from these locations this September.
Both villages now have temporary church buildings of mud and sticks with
grass roofs. The main obstacle to people coming to faith in these villages
is the deep-rooted grip of traditional religious beliefs and practices.