What Are We Doing?

The road to Tanzania has been a long and complicated one. It began last May when we first began to discuss the opportunity for a mission with a teaching and evangelical emphasis. We were invited to teach in Renk, South Sudan, at the Renk Theological College, by our friend and former classmate, Principle Jacob Panchol Majok.

Due to unexpected events, the initial mission to Renk was canceled due to unrest in the country. For all of January, we anxiously watched as the circumstances in South Sudan worsened, and we could do nothing but pray. There were talks of rescheduling or re-imagining the mission to South Sudan, but the situation never improved; the fighting intensified to civil war, and the mission to Renk became hopeless.

However, in February, a new opportunity appeared: a chance to teach and evangelize in Tanzania. With the tireless help of the faculty and staff of Virginia Theological Seminary, as well as some people on the ground in Tanzania, a new opportunity for mission surfaced.

At lightning speed, we worked to revise our curriculum, learn about the culture, history, and people of Tanzania, and reflect on the cultural, missional, and evangelical theologies that form our understanding of mission. We were less than a week away from leaving for Tanzania, when we learned the most valuable lesson a missionary can learn:

MISSION: Subject to Change Without Notice!

To better meet the needs of the Anglican Province of Tanzania, the Archbishop of Tanzania requested that our mission be relocated to St. Philip’s College in Kongwa, Tanzania.

With a transformed mission, a new destination, and fuller understanding of the fluidity of mission, we are about leave for three weeks in Kongwa, Tanzania.

We are excited to meet the needs of the seminarians and faculty of St. Philip’s in the best way we can. We have been working nonstop to accomplish these tasks in just a few days. We are excited to share our experiences with you, as we walk through this journey into the unknown.