The Disciple making Minister.
The Need for Discipleship
Tanzania as one the world’s poor, pastors and church leaders generally have little access to solid Biblical teaching material in their mother tongue or national language. The Christian literature that is sometimes available is usually that of money-making books that had a large western appeal but are lacking in scriptural content. One of their greatest needs is to be better equipped for ministry through biblical teaching.
Equipping the Disciple-Makers
Pastors Fellowship Mbeya began with a focus on training Pastors and Christian leaders by means of leadership conferences and seminars. Sadly, many Pastors and Christian leaders in Tanzania are being seduced by unbalanced and misleading radio and television preachers who broadcast nationally and internationally. Those Pastors and Christian leaders subsequently become the proverbial “blind leading the blind,” to borrow Jesus’ expression. Biblical teaching through organised seminars and conferences taught by sound Bible teachers would helps Pastors and Christian leaders in Tanzania to reclaim their biblical calling to make disciples who obey all of Jesus’ commandments.
Local Missionaries Ministry
The driving force behind this ministry is Christ’s commandment to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations. We believe that the best way
that Pastors Fellowship Mbeya can be involved in fulfilling the Great Commission is through partnership with those who are already “on the
ground”—particularly those upstanding indigenous evangelists and church planters who are already successfully labouring for the sake of the gospel.
What we seek to do
Indigenous missionaries need a means of financial support, whether through their own job or business, or through contributions from others.
We feel that it is generally best for local missionaries to be fully supported by the contributions of those whom they directly serve. That, however, is
not always possible, and when it is, it may take time to achieve, and so we seek financial support for a limited time period. Also, although we don’t
want to hinder local missionaries by saddling them with businesses that rob them of all their time, we do find that it can be a real blessing to help
them establish income streams from part-time businesses. To that end, we seek to offer them (or their spouses) micro-loans to help them start
small self-sustaining businesses, such as raising pigs or chickens, cows, goats gardening and so on.
We also seek to serve local missionaries by several other means, such as by offering them biblical training to deepen their scriptural knowledge,
motor cycles and bicycles to take them further, and lanterns to extend their preaching into the night.
Critical Medical Ministry Needs
Medical Care Desperately Needed
Untold numbers of the Tanzania’s poor suffer debilitating and life threatening illnesses with no hope of medical care. They feel blessed if they can meet their family’s most basic needs of food, shelter and, for those a little more fortunate, an education for their children. Pastors Fellowship Mbeya exists for them. Most members of our spiritual family Tanzania have no medical insurance, and many cannot afford even a visit to a doctor—if there is a doctor in their region. Hospitals, when available, often require advance payment.
What we seek
We seek to come to the aid of very poor brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the Tanzania who are suffering critical medical conditions. To
fund the removal of infected appendixes, gall bladders and cataracts, and the repair of cleft palates of babies who could not otherwise nurse. We
seek to pay for tumours to be removed, broken bones to be reset, and for lifesaving antibiotics, as well as medicines to treat wounds, infections and
diseases like TB, HIV Aids and malaria. We also seek to underwrite campaigns in Tanzania to remove jiggers—tiny fleas that burrow into the
bottom of children’s feet and feed from their bloodstreams. He sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. – Luke 9:2
Orphans Ministry
Parent-less and Vulnerable
One of the greatest contributors to the vulnerability of children in Tanzania is separation from the love, care, and protection of a family.
Poverty, disease, disability, abuse, conflicts and disasters are but a few reasons why children find themselves out of parental care. Pastors Fellowship Mbeya exists to care for vulnerable children by preventing their unnecessary separation from family, strengthening family care and reducing the numbers of children on the streets. We believe that God designed and ordained families to care for children. Psalm 68:6 states that
“God sets the lonely in families”. We need to build some orphanages to meet an orphan child’s physical needs as only option available to vulnerable children in Tanzania.
- Providing full or partial payment for tuition, uniforms, and school supplies for Christian families financially unable to meet their children’s educational needs.
- Providing support for Pastors Fellowship Mbeya-sponsored Christian schools that, through our help, can provide discounted or free tuition for their students.
- The creation and support of vocational training centres that teach job skills to young and mature adults who need better jobs.
- Providing graduated vocational students with grants or loans to help them start their own small businesses.
- Food is one of life’s most necessities, but sadly, it is in chronic short supply for some members of our spiritual family who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. For others, short term food insecurity arises due to conflict, disasters, drought, persecution, and other circumstances beyond their control.
- We seek to help feed the hungry by providing them with food sources that naturally replenish, such as goats that provide milk and meat, chickens that provide eggs and meat, and seeds to plant. Besides nutrition for their families, small business income is generated by selling the surplus.
- We also seek to help feed the hungry by providing vulnerable ones such as destitute mothers, children, the sick, and elderly with nutritious staple foods such as beans, rice, corn, vegetables, fruits, and milk.
Widows and Abandoned Women
Widowhood: A Curse?
In Tanzania, losing a husband can be a guarantee of lifetime poverty. Christian widows in rural areas of Tanzania find themselves labouring 10 to 12 hours a day in fields owned by others just to earn a meagre income—and only during seedtime and harvest. Younger Christian widows with children at home find life even more difficult. Many of the widows we seek support have been cast out of their communities and families because of their decision to follow Christ. Their own grown children even ignore them. Fellow Christians in their churches and villages share what little they have, but it’s difficult for impoverished people to help impoverished people. These women are among the poorest of the poor in the world. Many live in poor houses with mud walls, dirt floors and thatched roofs, and may need to sacrifice food for themselves so that their children can eat. These Christian widows have no one to help them; they need our help.
Abandoned Women: Left Behind
We seek also to assist women who’ve been abandoned and left destitute by their husbands. That usually means that they, along with their children, are left with nothing. Such women share the same sufferings as widows. They can’t meet their family’s most basic needs. But because they are not widows, many Christian organizations ignore them.
Micro loan Ministry
In Need of an Opportunity
Opportunities easily accessible to developed nations that they take for granted are often extremely limited for many in the world’s poorest places. Generations of people are locked into the poverty of subsistence farming or working for slave wages—with no alternatives. They can only dream of gaining skills or capital that would make it possible for them to participate in their local economies at a higher level and lift themselves
from poverty. People who start businesses must have some capital to begin, and so most need a business loan. But what if you were so poor that you had zero collateral and no banks would give you a loan? Such is the plight of many of Tanzania’s poor, including millions of honest and hard-working followers of Jesus. Banks won’t even lend them $50. We fellow believers, like us, should trust them with a $50 loan or more?
Safe Water Ministry
Why is Safe Water Needed?
Hundreds of thousands of people in Tanzania today have no access to clean drinking water. Many thousands of them suffer illnesses because of it—and hundreds of those die from waterborne diseases. It is estimated that 40% of diseases in Tanzania result from unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation. Waterborne illness kills almost 70 people every day, most of them children under the age of 5 Safe drinking water is a rare commodity for many of the “least of these” whom we seek to serve in Tanzania. Their water sources are often muddy, polluted, and parasite- and bacteria-ridden, causing chronic illness and even death.
Providing Safe Water
We seek to provide water where there is no good local source of water by:
1.) drilling wells in rural villages, and 2.) installing rainwater collection systems and cisterns. We also seek to provide emergency water whenever a disaster strikes—such as an earthquake or major flooding—that wipes out people’s source of safe drinking water. We seek to help provide abundant clean drinking water in many poor regions of Tanzania.