Can you imagine walking 4-5 miles each Sunday to attend worship? Can you imagine walking that far with young children or an elderly relative with you?
Nkiraawanga is the church Southwood is helping to build in Tanzania. It is in a remote area in the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Today, members in that area walk hours to attend church and worship at Uswaa, our sister church, which is 4-5 miles up the mountain. For the elderly and the sick, it is too great a distance, which means they are rarely able to attend worship. Southwood is assisting in building this new church to help these members attend worship as well as reaching out to non-Christians in the area.
Today, approximately 60-100 men, women and children are worshiping in a kindergarten schoolhouse until the Nkiraawanga church building is completed. Upon completion, the church will seat 800 people (similar in size to Southwood’s sanctuary).
To date, Southwood has assisted in the cost of building this church by purchasing the land, erecting the church columns and walls, and pouring the concrete flooring. The next two phases are to complete the roof and furnish the church.
Through prayer and generous giving, Southwood has supported the building of Nkiraawanga, but the people o f Uswaa have also been supporting the church building project. Each member of the Uswaa congregation was asked and expected to make a contribution (similar to a capital campaign). Most were asked to pledge $12 per year or one dollar per month.
Unfortunately, this is beyond what most families at Uswaa can afford when the average person in Tanzania makes $1 a day. Can you imagine trying to support not only yourself but a family on this wage?
Another way the people of Uswaa have been contributing is by doing manual labor at the church building. Now picture this—it is your free day on Saturday. You know you need to work at the church, so you walk the 4-5 miles up the hill (Most of us consider walking 4-5 miles a good workout). Then you spend the day doing manual labor only to turn around and walk home. That is a commitment to Christ and an example of a Servant Heart.
When you leave the service today you will be given the opportunity to “Build Hope” by helping to build this church in Nkirawaanga. On your way out of the sanctuary, you will be handed a building block with some information on it. We are asking that you return these building blocks next week, May 1, with a donation of $12. Our goal is to collect 1,500 blocks.
For the people of the Uswaa Parish, God’s presence is their greatest comfort and hope. Through this special offering you can make it possible for more people in the parish to worship every week. Your $12 gives hope to a family by taking away the debt on the building that they feel they owe and allows them continue to give with their hands. This truly gives them a hope and a future.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV©2011)
Donate Online Today by giving through Southwood's secure Online Giving and entering "Church Project" into the "Other" field.
Yesterday I walked four miles, partly to walk off my Easter dinner and partly to relate to the distance traveled in Nkiraawanga to attend worship. Since I live here in Lincoln I took my cell phone with me, just in case I couldn't make it I could call my son to come pick me up. Good News, I did make it. But while I walked I thought about how often I would do this to attend worship, I thought of my mother and the fact that she could never walk this far and would not be able to attend worship. I thought about how much I admired the commitment of the people in Tanzania and their desire to worship. I am thankful for the opportunity to help these people build a place to worship closer to their homes.
Posted by: DeEtte Turgeon | Monday, April 25, 2011 at 11:33 AM