by Tabitha Plueddemann
‘We were born Christians. They were born in another religion — so let them die in that religion.’ This had been the deep-seated sentiment of minority Christians living on the southern coast of Tanzania.
When SIM’s Tan and Izumi Shimizu travelled from Japan to Tanzania in 2002 they began to seek out and challenge local churches with a vision to share Christ with their neighbours. But opposition to the idea was harsh. That is, until one church, led by Rev. Kengela, responded wholeheartedly.
In early 2005 the Swahili pastor, some church members and Tan visited a nearby village, and immediately the people asked for Bibles. From that moment, a weekly outreach began.
One year later, a man from the village began to walk an hour each Sunday to attend Kengela’s church. In 2007 this man and three of his friends publicly announced their faith through baptism. The event took place along a stretch of pristine coastline of the Indian Ocean. ‘They didn’t keep their faith within themselves,’ says Tan. ‘They instantly started to share with their families, friends and neighbours.’
The following year, three more were baptised, all friends of the first group. In 2009, six men and women were baptised, family and neighbours of the first and second groups.
Building the Church
Due to the long distance into town, Tan and Izumi encouraged the growing community to hold services in villages where they’d begun outreach. ‘But don’t expect us to fund a church building,’ Tan said. ‘Help one another build it.’ Soon a man offered space in his yard. A simple shack was constructed of four wood posts, and a roof was made of empty cement bags stitched together. When the new believers gathered to study and worship, it was as glorious as any cathedral.
Later a slightly larger shack became their house of worship. Today a new thatched building of sun-dried brick has been erected with the help of Rev. Kengela’s church in town — just one example of the ongoing love and care between the communities.
Of course, the real church lies not in bricks and straw but in the villagers themselves. Its building materials are the Swahili Scriptures and the living presence of the Holy Spirit, both introduced through a visionary partnership between the Shimizus and Rev. Kengela.
From Japan to Tanzania
Tan Shimizu was born and raised in one of the least Christian countries in the world, Japan. The son of a pastor, Tan experienced a call to mission in high school. Izumi was raised in Indonesia, the daughter of Japanese missionaries. The two met during university in Osaka, Japan. After marrying, it took years to find a mission willing to send Japanese, but in 2000 they were accepted by SIM to serve in East Africa. After visiting no less than 150 churches in Japan, they were sent out for mission work.
While the Shimizus long to see a mature church flourishing on the coast of Tanzania, another vision lies just around the bend: to see more missionaries sent from Japan and to see Tanzanian missionaries sent back to Japan. Dr. Howard Brant, SIM’s Champion for New Initiatives in Missions (i.e., emerging missions) upholds this vision, commenting that SIM is not just a church-planting mission but also a ‘mission-planting mission’.
This story is far from over and, by the grace of God, the Shimizus’ vision will continue to unfold.
