Last weekend I went to a different church than I normally to help distribute Bibles. This is a newer church (about two years old) that has a unique background. In Kiswahili it is called KANISA LA MLIMA WA MAJIBU TANZANIA which my best Translation is Mountain Church of Answers. It is located in Kikatiti, Tanzania which is on the highway between Moshi and Arusha just on the Arusha side of the Kilimanjaro Airport. This area has been growing significantly in the last 10 years with a boom in housing since my last visit about 6 years ago.

My friend, Heff (my safari guy) is the church secretary and recently asked if I could help provide Bibles for the growing congregation. Many of you sent messages willing to help and we covered the costs quickly. I thank everyone willing to help, especially those who were willing to donate their contribution to our school Christmas gifts after we had enough for the Bibles. In fact they bought the Bibles and hymnals and some Children Sunday School materials.

I mentioned the church has a unique background. The young pastor is a converted Muslim man. Several of the children, as I understand it, are from Muslim families that prefer they come to this church. To say this is unusual is an understatement. I have mentioned that in most rural areas the differences between Muslims and Christians is not as much as you read about in the newspapers or hear on the news. They get along and are often more about helping each other through the need to survive. It is common here to find Muslims that have attended Christian style private schools (like Tumaini Evangelistic) because they are the best schools. This continues until college many times with some of our teachers being Muslims that went through Catholic colleges. In the end, you find many Muslims that sing Christian hymns and Christians who participate in Muslim ceremonies/fasts. It speaks of a world I wish we could all live in without the hate. Unfortunately this does not always extend past the rural areas into the cities where there have been crimes committed by both sides in acts of hate.

The picture above is the current church meeting place, though we all know that church is really where people gather to worship not a building. With that being said, I happy to announce that I will be lending my building knowledge to help them come up with a plan and a budget to build a building to suit their immediate needs and the future. I have already met with the church leadership to discuss the need for them to start a fundraising campaign internally which they started on the day I worshipped with them.

Please think about this church, their future growth and ministry to their community. Pray for their success, the building and their members.