SELVD – Tanzania
The mission of SELVD is to connect all people to Jesus so they can inherit eternal life. They do this through preaching the gospel from the Word of God and the Lutheran confessions as it is in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania South East of Lake Victoria Diocese.
The Mid-South District’s Support in 3 Major Areas
The Mid-South District began a relationship with the Sukuma tribe in Tanzania located in the Lake Victoria region in 2003. This tribe is the largest ethnic group in the country and many still practice ancestral worship. Due to growth, a new diocese formed in 2012 known as Southeast of Lake Victoria Diocese (SELVD). The Mid-South District in convention in 2013 resolved to continue to assist the SELVD by sending mission teams from the district and helping to support in three major areas.
Pastoral Training – The SELVD had 20 pastors and 4 men in pastoral training in 2012. In 2014, a partnership between SELVD, Concordia Seminary Ft. Wayne and the Mid-South district formed. Professors from the seminary went to Tanzania to teach pastoral ministry and biblical hermeneutics at a training center established within the diocese. Because of this effort, we now have seventy pastors serving the region, and the program also trains deaconesses and evangelists. Advanced degree opportunities have allowed 3 pastors to receive their doctorate and 2 to complete their master’s degree at Ft. Wayne.
Mission and church planting – Since 2013 the Mid-South district has been sending mission teams of lay people to Tanzania to share the gospel message in remote areas of the diocese. These teams have worked hand in hand with pastors, evangelists and lay-people of the SELVD to plant churches in remote areas of the diocese that had never heard the gospel message. The number of parishes grew from 34 to 72 and sub parishes from 113 to 124.
Over 11,000 baptisms have taken place during these trips.
Humanitarian efforts– Members from the district have supported many projects. From the purchase for motorbikes and bicycles for pastors, deaconesses and evangelists, materials for church roofs, schools, wells, eyeglass clinics, tuition for pastor’s children education, job training for widows, support for orphans and albino children are some examples of these benevolent efforts.
Contact Information
South East of Lake Victoria Diocese
P.O. BOX 333
Shinyanga, Tanzania
Website: elct-selvd.org
Facebook: SelvdElct
General inquiries: elct.selvd@yahoo.com
USA Contact Bob Allen: rjallen@prodigy.net
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