Curate’s eye-opening African experience
Swapping St Mary’s for Tanzanian diocese
CURATE Angela Tarry swapped the medieval masonry of St Mary’s for new-build ‘flat-pack’ churches in Tanzania on a fact-finding mission in Africa.
The minister at Hinckley’s Anglican parish church, which has links with churches in the East African country, took part in a two-week visit to two Tanzanian dioceses along with 10 other curates from across Leicestershire.
The visit to Kiteto Christian College and Tarangire National Park was organised by the Leicester diocese of the Church of England.
Rev Tarry said: “We got to know the dioceses and what it means to be a christian in Tanzania: How they do church, evangelism,what challenges they face.
“It’s obviously very different from Hinckley.”
During her stay, the biggest problem faced by the communities they stayed drought.
The curates prayers for rain when it started, rooms flooded.
One of the most striking differences is in the church buildings.
Rev Tarry said: “There are lots of evangelists who go out to villages and preach.
“When a few people start coming they meet under trees, then they string up some fabric for a shelter, then they save up to build a church.
“New churches can go up in 20 days from scratch, like a flat pack.
“They built about 10 last year, using locally sourced materials.
“(In England) We have really old buildings that people don’t want to change.
“Over there, if they need more space they knock down a bit and build another. “It’s very practical. “It’s definitely made me think again about how seriously are we taking evangelism?” with was
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