Abstract:
This study was intended to investigate the understanding of missions among
various leaders of Africa Inland Church Tanzania Pwani Diocese (AICTPD). So it is a
descriptive research in which 62 leaders from AICTPD churches were consulted.
These leaders include the bishop, the assistant bishop, general sectary, pastors and
missionaries with their wives, one evangelist, two church elders and AICTPD partners
in the diocese. These partners are AIM Regional leader, TIMO leader and BFC leader.
Among these leaders, 7 of them were interviewed in Arusha, the other seven were both
interviewed and asked to fill the research questionnaire in Morogoro, and the 48 filled
the research questionnaire. A questionnaire and interview were the two combined
methods used to collect data.
The research discovered that the predominant missions activities include
training in theology, improving existing churches, sending work reports, reaching out
to unreached, encouraging pastors and missionaries and training in missions. The main
challenges among others are inadequate support to missionaries, inadequate missions
training, extreme size of geographical area of the diocese, lack of strategic planning
priority, vision and creativity. All this provide the grounds for the recommendation
that is given below. The data also revealed that the church achieved some successes
which are the establishment of IBM, evangelism and discipleship, reaching out to
Muslim communities and initiating strategic planning. In order to maintain these
successes, the leaders suggested that they will involve the entire church in missions,
reduce the size of the diocese, hold annual conferences and allocate resources into the
diocese. Other areas will include providing missionaries with opportunities to share
their testimonies with churches, develop positive attitude towards missions, cultivate
more partners and improve training in the IBM.
Based on these research findings, the diocese had never been able to develop a
master strategic planning until the year 2010, when they put one in place. AICTPD,
therefore, has survived without concrete, measurable and tangible goals and
objectives. The diocese needs to develop missions strategic planning that could be
integrated into the master plan of the diocese. MAPANA (Missions Awareness
Program for African Nations Abandoned) strategic planning has been recommended,
which if well supervised and coordinated will bring efficiency into the entire church
structure. Missions training and involvement from individual believers, local church to
top leadership of the diocese, needs to be given priority as other church ministries.
