See below
for Popular Links
VISION
STATEMENT
A communion
of people rejoicing in love and peace; blessed spiritually and
physically, hoping to inherit eternal life through Jesus Christ.
THE ELCT MISSION
To make people
know Jesus Christ and have life in it fullness by bringing to
them the Good News through words and deeds based on the Word of
God as it is in the Bible and the Lutheran teachings guided by
the ELCT Constitution.
CHURCH
FOCUS
The Church
focuses on propagating the "holistic" Gospel serving
man through spiritual, social, economic and environmental programmes
/interventions in order to have a God loving community hence fulfilling
God's mission in Tanzania. In serving human beings in a holistic
way, The Church carries out mission work within and outside the
country using all types of means and media.
It has a coordination
office responsible for financial reports on church activities.
It produces literature for Christian nurturing. The central office
has a function of Capacity building, Advocacy and Facilitation
(CAF) of the dioceses. The Church has common work institutions
including: The Tumaini University Makumira that has 6 constituent
colleges; Morogoro Lutheran Junior Seminary (LJS); Three schools
for deaf children.
It has 23
Hospitals and more than 140 health centres and dispensaries spread
across Tanzania. It is engaged in PHC, diakonia, HIV counseling,
treatment and Palliative Care at national and Diocesan levels.
ELCT has a number of water projects as well as poverty alleviation
and environment protection projects. The implementation of these
projects have had a significant impact on development in the communities.
HISTORY
The first
missionary societies in Tanganyika
The Berlin
III Missionary Society, also known as the Evangelical Missionary
Society for East Africa (EMS), was the first to send Lutheran
missionaries from German who planted the seed that eventually
formed the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. Their first
missionary station was opened at Kigamboni in Dar es Salaam in
1887.
The second
team, Berlin I, was also from Germany. They entered Tanganyika
from South Africa and settled in the Southern Highlands and opened
their first missionary station in 1891 at Ipagika or Pipagika
(Wangemannshöhe) in the area that later became ELCT Konde
Diocese.
In 1890 Berlin
III change its role and became Bethel Mission and settle in Tanga
where it established a mission station at Mbuyukenda. In 1910
the missionaries opened a mission station in Bukoba, Kagera Region
while they were planning to go to Rwanda.
The third
mission society that worked in Tanzania was Leipzig Mission Society,
again from Germany. This society entered the country in 1893 and
opened its first station at Kidia, Old Moshi in Kilimanjaro region.
This mission
activity continued to bear fruit in spite of the interruptions
of the Hehe/German War in 1891, the Majimaji war of 1905/6, the
1st World War 1914-1918 and later on the 2nd World War of 1939-1945.
Formation
of the ELCT
By 1938,
there were seven churches in Tanganyika, as the country was known
at that time. In 1938, the churches formed a federation known
as the Federation of Lutheran Churches in Tanganyika.
On June 19,
1963, the seven Churches, under the umbrella of a federation,
merged to become synods and dioceses of a single Church, known
as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanganyika. The following
year, when the union with Zanzibar produced a change of the national
name to Tanzania, the Church was renamed the Evangelical Lutheran
church in Tanzania.
DIOCESES
The Church has 26 Dioceses as follows: 1) North Western Diocese
2) North Eastern Diocese 3) Pare Diocese 4) Northern
Diocese 5) North Central Diocese 6) Karagwe Diocese
7) Central Diocese 8) Southern Diocese 9) Konde
Diocese 10) South Central Diocese 11) Ulanga/Kilombero
Diocese 12) Eastern and Coastal Diocese 13) Mbulu Diocese
14) Iringa Diocese 15) Dodoma Diocese 16) East
of Lake Victoria Diocese 17) Diocese in Mara Region 18) Diocese
of Meru 19) South Western Diocese 20) Morogoro Diocese
21) South East of Lake Victoria Diocese 22) South Eastern
Diocese 23) Ruvuma Diocese, 24) Lake Tanganyika Diocese,
25) Mwanga Diocese, and (26) West Central Diocese.
For more information, click here.
Postal
Address:
ELCT
Head Office
P.O. Box 3033
Arusha, Tanzania.
General
Information:
elcthq@elct.or.tz
For further
information contact:
ELCT
Communication Coordinator:
elobulu@elct.or.tz
Popular
Links
Other Popular
Links
Language & Orientation School
(at Lutheran
Junior Seminary Morogoro)
New
Safari Hotel
Service Office
Tumaini
University Makumira
Dar
es Salaam College
Josia
Kibira University College
Kilimanjaro
Christian Medical College
Stefano
Moshi University College
