The South East of Lake Victoria (Tanzania) began a two year training program in August for Pastors and Deaconesses. Bishop Emmanuel Makala, working in conjunction with the Mid-South District, The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and Concordia Theological Seminary, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, developed a 2-yr training program.
Dr. Peter Scaer is coordinating this training that will consist of 16 quarterly courses and 2-week intensive residential sessions. The training was conducted in the new Negezi Training Center, initially built for an area Mission Training Center but it has now been converted into the diocese training center.
It is located in a rural area outside the city of Shinyanga. There are currently 24 men and 7 women enrolled in the program from through-out the diocese area. We believe this is the first deaconess training conducted in Tanzania. Dr. Peter Scaer, of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Deaconess Sandra Rhein, Emmanus Lutheran Church in South Bend, Indiana taught the classes.
