The Eads to Tanzania

Land Acquisition

Last month, we were able to secure a piece of property for the church in Sengerema. Tomorrow, I have asked for the pastors to meet with me to give me counsel as we begin discussing a construction plan and budget. These suggestions will be what is brought to the church in Sengerema in the coming week. These are exciting times as we consider this next stage in the Sengerema church’s growth.

 

Pasaka

Pasaka is the word that we use for Passover or Easter in Swahili. We celebrated Pasaka in Shadi, where I was invited to be the guest preacher. I preached from Colossians 3:1-4, with the main thought being that Christ’s death and resurrection has caused us to die to doing sin and to be resurrected spiritually to doing good works. After the service, we were invited to eat an Easter lunch with the children at Tumaini, pilau (spiced rice) and goat. Later, we got together with our coworker Beth Roark for dinner at home.

 

Current Prayer Requests

I was recently asked by a supporting church to give a list of current prayer requests. I thought that I would include them here.

1. Praise God for the progress in the church plant in Sengerema. We have been able to purchase a piece of land, and the church has begun to meet there. The believers have been faithful in the face of their first time doing church discipline, and the new location opens up ministry in a more centrally- located area.

 2. Pray for the bi-weekly pastors' meetings that we are planning. These meetings are primarily an opportunity to encourage one another in the preaching of the Word, as we discuss the exposition of a particular book of the Bible. There are also planning sessions as we consider the direction of the ministry (i.e. future church-planting endeavors, developing a formal church fellowship, church ministry struggles, etc.). Pray that these meetings would be profitable in developing us as ministers of the Word and the churches that we are working with here.

3. Praise God for the Bible Institute's weekly Bible Interpretation meetings. I am meeting every week with two different groups of students who have been gaining a grasp on interpreting Scripture. I have been very pleased to see the students' progress and their enthusiastic response to these sessions.

4. Pray for this period of transition as our coworkers have moved away to do ministry in Central and East Asia. The transition has been smooth thus far, but we are still growing into some new roles and would appreciate your prayers in the next couple of months.

5. On the home-front, pray for Jana's continued health and safe delivery of our third child. She is due July 5th. We have found a very good hospital and doctor in Nairobi, and we will be going two weeks before the due date to wait for the baby's arrival and to handle the passport and immigration paperwork.

Cross-Cultural Servanthood

This past week, I finished rereading an excellent book called Cross-Cultural Servanthood by Duane Elmer. I highly recommend this for anyone who is involved in the missions task (and we all are at some level, right?). It would be a great book to buy for your missionary friend, or for your pastor before he goes on a short-term trip. In weeks to come, I would like to highlight some of the themes of this book, but for now, I will just quote the summary from the back of the book to give you an idea of the book’s theme.

“Missionaries could more effectively minister if they did not think they were so superior to us.”

The last thing we want to do in cross-cultural ministry is to offend people in our host cultures. Unfortunately, all to often our actions inadvertently communicate superiority, paternalism, imperialism and arrogance. How can we minister in ways that are received as true Christlike service?

Cross-cultural specialist Duane Elmer gives Christians  practical guidance for serving internationally with sensitivity and humility. With careful biblical exposition and keen cross-cultural awareness, he shows how our actions and attitudes often contradict and offend local cultural sensibilites. He offers principles and guidance for avoiding misunderstandings and building relationships in ways that honor host cultures.

Whether you’re going on your first short-term mission trip or ministering overseas for extended periods, this useful guide is essential reading for anyone who wants to serve effectively international settings with grace and sensitivity.