First United Methodist Church of Lancaster has been supporting Rev. Mutwale wa Mushidi and his wife Kabaka Ndala Alphonsine in Methodist evangelism for many years. Rev. Mushidi and his wife Kabaka have made several visits to First Church (the last visit in 2017) and consider us as their “mother church” for our long time support.
Twenty years ago there was no United Methodist Church in Tanzania. Today there are 63 churches and several thousand members. This past year the Tanzania area has become a Provisional Annual Conference with a goal to become a Full Annual Conference with an Annual Conference Center to include a church, conference office, school, women’s center and guest house.
Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey Conferences sponsor Rev. Mushidi and his wife and partner together to fulfill their goals. We have been actively involved in the purchase of land through the skills of a church member and providing the instrument to survey and insure accurate measurements for land purchase.
First Church Missions continue to support Mutwale Ntabmbo wa Mushidi with a relations of $2500 for a calendar year of 2019. We have supported him for many years and from time to time he visits us, and provided quarterly newsletters. In additions, the Mission Team posts updates on the Mission bulletin board (in the hallway that leads to the chapel). The significant Tanzania news of the year was that Kita Jean-Marc Mutwale, son of our Tanzania missionaries Rev. Mutwale wa Mushidi & Kabaka Alphonsine, has enrolled at Drew Theological School in New Jersey. He enrolled for the September semester with a full scholarship for tuition. Our mission team, with support of our pastors, provided him with funds to defray costs of his living arrangements.
Mutwale and his wife, Kabaka, visited First Church last in 2017 and have told us that they will visit soon. The couple is supporting many outreach ministries across Tanzania, and they are leading the UMC District Conference there. John Spear of First Church has been instrumental in monitoring the four year construction of the Guest House and a separate kitchen that was started in 2015. The Guest House was officially opened and dedicated in June 2018. The construction team installed solar panels for electricity and has drilled a well so the site has a better source of drinking water. In addition, they extended the public electricity grid to the complex. They are doing wonderful things.