Need For Prayer

africa_mapIn the turbulent times of the Anglican Church, mission ministry in Africa has suffered.  African churches are most often Scripturally faithful.  Their faithfulness puts the Africans at odds with those parts of the Anglican Church which are not Scripturally faithful, but revisionist in their application of the Gospel message.  Without financial support from revisionist Anglican churches, African churches suffer.  Bible colleges close.  Ministry to the poor, to those orphaned, and to victims of HIV/Aids, suffers.  In many cases, financial aid from revisionist churches comes with conditions that African churches find unfaithful as they see it.

So, times are hard, again.  OFM cannot replace those lost dollars.  OFM tries to help Africans themselves to do what needs to be done, through education of church leaders.  We ask you to pray for the work of OFM, which suffers in these times of economic hardship.

Prayer:

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light, look favorably on that wonderful and sacred mystery of your Church, especially your mission ministry of OFM.  By the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility your plan for salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are now being raised up , and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by Him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

AMEN.

Dispatch # 5

Dispatch 5 – Last Dispatch for this trip  From Station Dar es Salaam in Tanzania

Summer 2008 Fr Francis Wardega
I am at the airport, awaiting the flight that will begin my journey back to home in Michigan. The work here is finished for this trip. We heard so much, “Please come back. This was so good. Stay longer.”
Dodoma Class Picture

Dodoma Class Picture

The work finished with five days of teaching at Buigiri Bible School. The plan was that I would ride back and forth in Bp Chidawali’s Toyota Hiace minivan. The plan fell apart when the minivan fell apart. I ended up making the journey to/from the school in what is called a “dolla-dolla” a small bus. A small crowded bus with all seats and the aisle full.

My Bus

My Bus

A small crowded bus with all seats and the aisle full that often included people and chickens and ducks! Thank God cows were so big that they required two tickets! Because the law prohibits standing in the aisle, the people doing so would sit on the floor whenever we were stopped at a police checkpoint.

Classes ran much better than the minivan. There were seven full time students, one child, and one frequent drop in student. Their names were Timoth, Rhoda (and her five year old son, Nicodemus), Leticia, Aloyce, Japheth, Sospeter, Enoch, and Eliah.

Final Exam Taking

Final Exam Taking

Who were they? One person described himself as a part time priest and a part time peasant. (In Tanzania, every July 7 is a holiday called Peasants’ Day) Another person was a carpenter. Most lived in simple mud and stick huts with dirt floors, no electricity, and cooked outside over an open fire.

Buigiri School

Buigiri School

Their Anglican faith was the bright light in their life. They learned the basic beliefs and practices and teachings of the historic Anglican Christian Church. They had many misconceptions. They also learned of the ethos of ordained ministry and how that is different from that of an independent minister. Their excitement grew every day. They sensed what was happening – they were learning new things and understanding them. It was making a differencein their thinking. The class on ordained ministry was especially moving to the priests, life changing. They were eager to return to the their parishes and deaneries and pass on what they had learned.

On Sunday Aug 31, I celebrated the liturgy and preached at Christ the King Cathedral in Dodoma, with Bishop Chidawali.

Bishop Chidawali

Bishop Chidawali

Actually, the Holy Spirit celebrated. In very clear ways, the Holy Spirit affirmed the complete love of the Father for the people there, poor, hot, struggling, people of God. It was glorious. Music here was different than in Mwanza – a different rhythm, mainly in minor keys, almost a mournful, wailing tone.

There was much contact with local Anglicans who were vitally interested in the details of the Jerusalem GAFCON gathering and in the details of the Lambreth Conference. We talked long about the future of the Anglican Communion and possible steps that they could take as faithful Anglicans in a diocese where the bishop was not faithful.
I would be remiss if I did not pass on to all of you who have supported this ministry and this mission trip the profound thanks and grateful hearts of the people who have been served here. Everyplace I have been told – pass on to the ones who sent you here how grateful we are to them and how much we appreciate what they have done for us. What we have learned will be immediately used and will have a long lasting affect on our churches and our people. Thank you so much!
Thank you for your support. God and you make this possible. Please keep on supporting this mission. Please sustain this good ministry. It works! Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord!
Fr Francis Wardega Office of Foreign Missions
Missionary Priest in Africa 18401 Canal Rd
E-mail: jambofrfrancis@yahoo.com USA-248-345-2651

Tanzania 2008 – Dispatch 4

Dispatch 4 From Dodoma Station Tanzania

Liturgy team, St Peter Anglican Church Igogo, Fr Richard & Fr Francis and others

Liturgy team, St Peter Anglican Church Igogo, Fr Richard & Fr Francis and others

Summer 2008 Fr Francis Wardega

This week was a time of transition. The work finished for this year in Mwanza. There was a journey to Dodoma. Then the work for this year began in Dodoma.

For this trip, the teaching work finished in Mwanza, Diocese of Victoria-Nyanza. It has been well received. The eleven clergy students saw their ministry transformed not just by new knowledge, but also by new

Bishop Boniface Kwangu

Bishop Boniface Kwangu

values and attitudes and deeper ways of thinking and evaluating. Renewed priesthood. All from the Scriptures. The men witnessed to that renewed priesthood as we celebrated the closing of class in worship and song. One spoke of how he didn’t know how much he didn’t know. Another spoke of a journey from a ministry of laws and rules to a ministry of love and service. Another spoke of loneliness as a priest alone in a distant village and how he now had brothers to work with. Many mobile phone numbers were exchanged and many pictures taken. Over and over again, “thank you for coming. Come again! Stay longer! We will tell our brothers!” Handshakes were replaced by hugs.

Other service in Mwanza. Assisting in the eight day diocesan spiritual revival – the first one in sixteen years, led by retired Bishop Alpha Mohamed and Lay Canon David Hodge, both former Muslims. New blessings, new healings, and new freedoms of “Roho Mtafitika” – the Holy Spirit. Parish visits to St John in Nyamanoro and to St Peter in Igogo. Both parishes are searching for twin parishes in America – to become friends with. Any St John’s Parish or St Peter’s Parish out there want a friend in Africa?

At the APA Synod in Belleville, a deacon from St Stephen in Louisville gave his own pectoral cross to bless a brother in Tanzania. Rev Captain Nestor Muheta, secretary to Bishop Kwangu, now sports a new pectoral cross and says thank you!

The work of renewal in this diocese continues. SOMA-UK has arrived in this diocese in Mwanza to further clergy knowledge of Anglican ministry. We all met together to share, plan and pray – Bishop Boniface, Bishop Alpha, Canon Hodge, SOMA Team (2 Anglican Priests and wives from England, two Anglican priests and wives from Uganda), and me. (SOMA – Sharing of Ministries Abroad – international Anglican Mission

Bishop Alpha Mohamed & Lay Canon David Hodge, ACT African Evangelistic Assoc

SOMA UK Team & Fr Francis

ministry)

Bus journey to Dodoma – 12 hours in the bus! Five hours on bumpy and dusty roads, the rest on paved roads. Many Africans on the bus wrapped themselves in special cloths they brought – wish I had known that – DUST! Arrive exhausted in Dodoma – met by Bp Chidawali and friends. Taken to hotel – a place of rest – very acceptable. Shower, eight hours sleep and morning devotions gave renewed strength! Met with Fr Elia, principal of Buigiri Bible School to plan course of instruction.

Class has started. Students included uneducated clergy and some others preparing for ordination and leadership and teaching. Seven full time students in the class, including the wife of a pastor who leads a church school and a young single woman who is preparing for a ministry in teaching. Initial classes went well and people were amazed at how much they learned. Their hope – my visit will give new life to the school. The school received with joy the donation from APA Holy Spirit Church in Alabama.

Thank you for your support. God and you make this possible. Please keep on supporting this mission. Please sustain this good ministry. It works!

Fr Francis Wardega Office of Foreign Missions

Missionary Priest in Africa 18401 Canal Rd

www.connectionkenya.wordpress.com Clinton Twp MI 48038

E-mail: jambofrfrancis@yahoo.com USA-248-345-2651

Tanzania 2008 – Dispatch 3

Proud members of Class #1, Nyakato School of Theology

Proud members of Class #1, Nyakato School of Theology

Dispatch 3 From Station Mwanza in Tanzania

Pastor Erasto puzzles about the deeper meaning of Ezekiel chapter 37.  Notice the copious notes that he has taken in his notebook.

Pastor Erasto puzzles about the deeper meaning of Ezekiel chapter 37. Notice the copious notes that he has taken in his notebook.

Summer 2008 Fr Francis Wardega

For many, mission ministry has a sort of exotic glamour to it. Such work includes large crowds, healing services, hospitals built, schools visited, and similar events. Such work is very good and very blessed. This ministry is different. We teach. We teach the teachers. We teach the preachers. We teach the leaders. We teach the ones who had no real prior opportunity to learn. There are many such people in Africa.

The bulk of the work is done daily. The schedule: teach 9 am to 7 pm. Teach ministry subjects to the depth that they are useful to the leaders of the parish. Do this every day, less an occasional rest day. The students quickly adapt to the schedule. They write down more notes than is needed. They listen and ask insightful questions. This is a two-week investment in a life that bears fruit in a parish for the next twenty to thirty years. Not glamorous – just effective.

This week, we finished up the class on Ordained Ministry and moved into Fundamentals of Sacred Scripture. Then we ended with Sacramental Theology. These eleven students are different. They have absorbed so much. They talk about different things. They have a whole new and deeper appreciation of the Bible and their personal Bible. Everyone preached once and was affirmed and critiqued. They want more. “Can you stay for three months?” Sorry. They were very proud to pose for their class picture.

As available, I go to local churches to meet the people there and celebrate the liturgy. Last Sunday, I visited St John in Nyamanoro. I preached in both Sunday liturgies. Each service had a 25 person choir, a different choir for each service. They worship with contemporary African worship music, choreographed. It is Motown gone Jesus! Such music keeps the young people in the Anglican Church instead of being attracted to other, more seeker friendly churches.

The work this trip will soon be finished in this diocese, until next year. Next on the schedule is a ten hour bus journey to Dodoma, the national capital in the center of the country where I will be working with Bishop Daudi Chidawali again. I will be teaching at his Bible College in Buigiri where I taught last year.

One unusual experience. I was invited to dine with Bishop Kwangu and a visiting bishop. As we sat and

Fr Francis preaches at St John Parish in Nyemanoro, Sunday Aug 17

Fr Francis preaches at St John Parish in Nyemanoro, Sunday Aug 17

talked, I realized that somehow, many red fire ants crawling on me. I tried to be a good guest as long as I could but the others noticed my discomfort. I ended up trying to stand still while two Anglican bishops and one bishop’s wife killed so many ants that were feasting on me! That was my lesson in humility that day.

Thank you for your support. God and you make this possible. Please keep on supporting this mission. Please sustain this good ministry. It works!

Fr Francis Wardega Office of Foreign Missions

Missionary Priest in Africa 18401 Canal Rd

www.connectionkenya.wordpress.com Clinton Twp MI 48038

Africa e-mail: jambofrfrancis@yahoo.com

Tanzania 2008 – Dispatch 2

St. Nicholas Cathedral

St. Nicholas Cathedral

Dispatch 2 From Station Mwanza in Tanzania

Your mission support is beginning to bear fruit again in East Africa on the southern shores of Lake Victoria. People here in Mwanza, a part of the Anglican Diocese of Victoria Nyanza, were excited to start this mission.

Bishop Kwanzu and Fr. Francis at Holy Eucharist

The mission started with liturgy on Sunday Aug 10, at St Nicholas Cathedral, one block away from the lake. The lake breeze made the temperature most comfortable. I preached and assisted the bishop, Rt Rev Boniface Kwangu, at the service. The bishop asked me to distribute the Holy Eucharist to his people. One young woman was confirmed at the service. This liturgy, one of three liturgies every Sunday, was the English service – the other two services are in Swahili.. It was very powerful to hear the Words of Institution, prayed by the bishop in his British accented, East African English. “Thees ees my boudy, brrroken for you.” Different and the same. Holy.

Our ministry is primarily a ministry of teaching. The need here fits precisely what we do. Here, there are

many priests ordained over recent years with little or no ministry or priestly education. Here, education is hard to get. Bishop Boniface brought eleven priests together to receive the teaching that God has called us to give.

Who are these men. All but two are in their fifties. The other two are in their sixties. All are ordained priests and are pastors of parishes in the diocese. Two came from the island of Ukerewe in Lake Victoria. Here in East Africa, they are addressed as “pastor.” Their names sing an African song, grounded in Scripture, colored by British history. Their names: Japheth, Erasto, Stafford, Zephania, Julius, Boniface, Jesse, Solomon, Iohanna, Abednego, and Josiah. Josiah has a bible school diploma and an M.Div from Cambridge in England. Solomon will be beginning studies at a bible school in Uganda. The rest have a 7th grade education at best, some less.

They bring to the class many good qualities. A daily prayer life, ministry experience (some have been ordained for over ten years), a desire to learn, and an ability to work. Good investment for your prayers and for your donated dollars. These men will be here for two weeks. These classes are a major step in their lives, and an answer to their prayer.

This week, they learned the basics of the faith – they learned new things. Things like Jesus is both God and man. Things like Jesus died on the cross to forgive our sins. Things like the liturgy that they do is a 20th century version of what the apostles did.. They are like sponges continually soaking up the waters of new life. They also learned the meaning of what it is to be a priest – a calling from God, not a weekend job. They learned that God calls them to higher standards – the highest possible by grace. Their priesthood is being transformed. Their bishop, who sits in on many of the classes, is excited. More is happening much quicker than he expected.

Thank you for your support. God and you make this possible. Please keep on supporting this mission. Please sustain this good ministry. It works!

Fr Francis Wardega

Missionary Priest in Africa

www.connectionkenya.wordpress.com

Africa e-mail: jambofrfrancis@yahoo.com

Tanzania 2008 – Dispatch 1

MISSION DISPATCH NUMBER ONE:  Mwanza, Tanzania, Saturday, August 9

The mission trip has started.  I landed yesterday, Friday, in Mwanza, a city on the southern coast of Lake Victoria, after a journey that started very early Wednesday morning in Detroit, and took four airline flights.  It is hot-90 degrees-and humid, normal life in Mwanza.  Rt. Rev. Boniface Kwangu, bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Victoria-Nyanza (DVN) was there to welcome me personally.

Today, I rest and accommodate to the time change – eight hours ahead of the time in Detroit.  Tomorrow, I celebrate and preach at the English service at the downtown cathedral.  Monday, I begin teaching at the theological school.  In Tanzania, there are two official languages; Swahili and English.  There is often a third language – a local tribal language – also.  I teach in English and it is interpreted into Swahili.

Tanzania is normally a peaceful land.  Its first president, Julius Nyerere, called Mwalimu – the teacher – taught the people that they are family, ujamaa in Swahili.  He taught a spirit of cooperation that transcended tribal animosities and history.  It worked!  It has stood the test of time.

Tanzania is a union of Tanganyika, old German East Africa, and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba (clove capital of the world).  It is approximately evenly split between Christianity and Islam.  The largest Christian group is the Anglican Church.  Rt. Rev. Dr. Valentio Mokiwa, the Anglo-Catholic Bishop of Dar es Salaam, was elected primate of Tanzania in February of this year.

I will spend the next approximately 19 days teaching clergy and lay leaders.  I will teach basics of the faith, introduction to liturgy, introduction to ordained ministry, fundamentals of sacred Scripture, and sacraments to those who are the main teachers of the diocese.  Every student will receive a copy of every lesson plan, building up personal ministry libraries in a land where there are very few libraries at all.

So the work begins.  I thank you all for sending me here.  I will work hard to make the most out of what you and God have given.  I give thanks to God for overcoming all obstacles to get me here.  I give thanks to all of you, the donors of the years, friends, who have been faithful supporters through all the fitful journey of church in recent years.  I give thanks to my bishop, Rt. Rev. Frederick G. Fick.  I am also grateful to Most Rev. Walter Grundorf, Deaconess Tina Jenkins of the Missions Office, and the people of the Anglican Province of America who have supported this trip mightily also.

May the blessing of God Almighty be with all of you.

Fr. Francis Wardega, MSJ

Mission Trip to Tanzania August 2008

logovictnyanza.jpg

Insignia of the Diocese of Victoria-Nyanza

The Rt Rev Boniface Kwangu, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Victoria-Nyanza in Tanzania, has invited Fr Francis to come to his diocese and teach clergy and lay leaders. Details are being worked out but the trip is tentatively scheduled for August of 2008.

The general plan is for Fr Francis to go to several selected locations within the diocese and teach smaller groups (less than 20 people) of the clergy and lay leaders in the diocese for four-five days each.

The Anglican Diocese of Victoria Nyanza covers the regions of Mwanza and Shinyanga in northwest Tanzania and is essentially, the southern shore of Lake Victoria. The diocese encompasses an area of 7,373 square kilometers. Mwanza is the second largest city in Tanzania and one of the major ports of Lake Victoria.

bismarkrock1.jpg

Bismarck Rocks in Mwanza Harbor

The Diocese is divided into 6 achdeaconries, 8 deaneries and 50 parishes. It has 208 churches, 55 Pastors and 208 Evangelists.

Please note that American usage of the words “parish and church” may mean basically the same thing. That is not necessarily true in Africa.

In Africa, a parish will usually have a pastor. A church may have a pastor or more often it may have an evangelist or church teacher as a lay leader. Churches may be under the coordination of a local pastor from a different parish or may be under the coordination of an archdeacon or a dean.

Priests and deacons are ordained ministers. Evangelists and church teachers are commissioned ministers. It is rare for Eucharist to be offered every Sunday in most places.

We ask your prayers and financial support of this mission. Estimated costs of this next mission are:

Air travel to Africa: $2500
In country travel: $1000
In country expenses: $1000
Classroom materials: $ 750
Total: $5250

Not all can travel to Africa for Gospel work. Yet all can share in the work and the graces by being a part of the mission through prayer and financial support. As a mendicant missionary society, we beg for your support.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health; I know it is well with your soul. 3 John 2

Fr Francis Wardega
Canon Missioner
Missionary Society of St John
Anglican Province of America
248-345-2651
jambofrfrancis@yahoo.com

Mission Ministry in the Kingdom of God

Shirley Williams
Shirley Williams missionary in Senegal

The Kingdom of God is bigger than and includes more than any one denomination. The people of OFM desire to serve in the Kingdom of God. OFM serves in Anglican churches and in other churches, which desire to learn of the historical Christian church. Denominational boundaries then become doorways to ministry.

An example.

Shirley Williams, a member of Anglican Church of the Most Holy Trinity in metro Detroit, is an experienced missionary. In the past, she has served God in Africa and in Serbia. More recently, she served on a mission team that went to the West African country of Senegal, a former French colony, which is largely Muslim. She joined a team of people from an Independent Baptist Church and from a Pentecostal Baptist Church. They served people in Senegal from similar churches. OFM was a major financial supporter of this mission trip.

Her almost four weeks in Senegal were split into two separate mission tasks. The first half was devoted to visiting six different villages and giving open-air concerts on the village squares in an effort to lead people to Christ. There she met people from many different African lands including Nigeria, Ghana and the Congo. The people learned gospel songs and together offered worship to the Lord.

A special memory from those first weeks was the visit to Goree Island, the historic outward-bound depot for slaves being shipped to the western lands of North and South America. The still blood stained rock floors gave witness to this tragedy of history.

The second half of the trip was spent in a poor village in the interior of the country. There she lived in a little hut with no running water, and no electricity. She assisted in the operation of a medical clinic and loved the people who came.

Their stories were heart wrenching and touched all the missionaries. Poverty, sickness, starvation, and death were daily visitors. There, she listened to the women who came; they told their stories of abuse, rape and murder, grateful just to have survived. It was unforgettable.

Special memories included caring for and holding a newborn baby girl while her mother recovered from difficult childbirth. The local tradition is not to name the baby until it is four weeks old. Maybe, God will tell Shirley what name was given to the baby.

God blessed this work and this team of His disciples from several churches. This is an example of mission work in the Kingdom of God. Denominational boundaries have become doorways to His service.

Who Are You? – What Do You Believe?

The author of this essay has served God in Africa six times over the last few years. Each trip lasted at least a month and included significant contact with God’s people in what we would call the most rural areas.

God’s people in such rural areas do not have the instantaneous communications that we have in America or that many Africans who dwell in the major cities have. Internet access is limited or non-existent in the rural areas. Electricity is limited or non-existent in the rural areas. Television is limited or non-existent in the rural areas. African newspapers are more focused on local politics or their national political happenings. It takes a while for people to get the news.

International church happenings rarely if ever, make the local news in African rural areas. Thus it has been surprising how important it has been to rural African Christians whether I was a faithful Anglican priest or was I a supporter of the homosexual agenda.

Wherever I went, I was welcomed and then sat down in a private area and grilled. Who are you? What do you believe? Will you teach my people about the acceptance of the homosexual agenda? Are you a part of the group that advocates homosexual bishops? Are you a part of the group that supports God’s blessings for same sex “marriages?”

What happens in the mighty churches and large cathedrals of America has an effect in the little mud churches of African villages.

Most African Christians would describe themselves as a people faithful to God’s Word. That precludes acceptance of the homosexual agenda.

Some African Christians have another reason to oppose the homosexual agenda. In their countries (Tanzania and Nigeria among them), Africans Muslims use the homosexual agenda of Christians in America in their Muslin evangelization programs. They tell African Christians – “you are a part of the church that promotes the goodness of homosexuality.” Muslims quote prominent American Christians who are vocal in their support of the homosexual agenda. Since homosexuality is so abhorrent to Africans, to maintain that Christians support it is an invitation to leave Christianity.

We encourage you to support faithful missionaries who go to Africa and offer support to God’s faithful ones there. Let their voices be added to the cry of the faithful in Africa.

Munguu arabariki (God bless you in Swahili).

Fr Francis Wardega
African Missionary

Fr Francis preaches in Tanzania during AdventFr Francis preaches in Tanzania during Advent

Tanzania: Dispatch Six

Bishop Mpango

New Challenges

The time with Bishop Chidawali has ended. There was a last celebration of the Liturgy at the cathedral of King of Kings. Following this the last distribution of things were made; lesson plans, books, and thank you notes with little girls. There were tearful good-byes, “please come again. Your visit was so good”. It brought hope and expectation that the future would indeed be better.

It was a long bus trip to Dar es Salaam. I arrived during rush hour and 98 degree weather. My stay was in a hotel there on the seventh floor – a hotel without a lift (elevator)! I won’t be staying there again. Now I transfer to the next task of ministry.

The next task is to pay an official church visit to the Diocese of Western Tanganyika, the biggest diocese in the Anglican Church of Tanzania, under the leadership of Bishop Gerard Mpango. The Bishop was in Dar and we met at dinner with his wife, Margaret. It was delightful. He has traveled extensively in the USA and Margaret went to school in Michigan. The purpose of the visit to the diocese is to become familiar with the bishop, the diocese and the the people there and for them to get a flavor of who we are in order to begin a long lasting, mutually supportive relationship.

Later I found myself on the flight to Kigoma on the southwest corner of Tanzania. It was a three hour flight. I arrived on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. Across the lake, in plain sight, is Congo (old Zaire). Further south along the border is Zambia (old Northern Rhodesia). It is a stable country. Their first president, Kenneth Kaunda, was one of the bright stars in a time of rising democratic African leaders that included Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenyatta of Kenya, Obote of Uganda and Nkrumah of Ghana. Further down the river you will find the country of Mali, which bears no relationship, other than a name, to the ancient historic African kingdom of Mali which was located in western Africa, above Nigeria. Then comes Mozambique, most famous now as the coastal country along the Indian Ocean which produces and bottles Coca-Cola for this part of Africa. Read the rest of this entry »

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