The Diocese of Central Tanganyika
Diocesan Office :
MacKay House, PO Box 15, Dodoma
Phone : +255 (0)26 2321714, 232 2509, 232 4518
FAX :
E-mail :
mhogolo@do.ucc.co.tz
Bishop : Rt. Revd. Godfrey Mdimi Mhogolo
Phone : +255 (0)26 232 1714
FAX :
Mobile: +255 (0)754 260 925
+255 (0)784 643 548
E-mail :
mhogolo@do.ucc.co.tz
Assistant Bishop : Rt. Revd. Ainea
Kusenha
Phone: +255 (0)26 232 2509
Mobile: +255 (0) 755 433 307
E-mail:
ngombe2004@kicheko.com
Diocesan Secretary : Revd. Abneri Senyagwa
The mission of the Diocese is to communicate in word and deed the love of God to everyone in the Diocese whatever their condition, so that they:
 | may know him as Saviour |
| be committed to him as Lord |
| live under the truth of his Word |
| rejoice together in the fellowship of his Spirit |
| worship him as their Father |
| and go out with this message of Jesus Christ’s love to others. |
INTRODUCTION
The Diocese of Central Tanganyika was carved from the Diocese of Mombasa,
Kenya in 1926 and inaugurated as a Diocese in 1927 when its first Bishop,
George Chambers from Australia was consecrated. Bishop Chambers retired in
1946 and was succeeded by Bishop Wynne Jones from Australia who died in 1951
from a car accident and was buried in Dar es
Salaam. Bishop Alfred Stanway from Australia served as bishop of this
diocese from 1951 until 1971 when Bishop Yohana Madinda,
the first Tanzanian diocesan Bishop, succeeded
him. Bishop G. Mdimi Mhogolo is the current bishop from 1989.
The legal status of the Diocese is that of a charity organization which was registered in 1955 under the Societies ordinance of Tanganyika.
About the Diocese
The Area, Physical Characteristics, Socio-economic characteristics.
DIOCESAN PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES include
Pastoral Care, Christian Education, Worship, Education, Health, Development, Finance
The Area
The Diocese of Central Tanganyika boundary covers Dodoma Urban and Rural
with a population of over 1.2 million people, with a membership of over
500000 Anglicans.
Physical Characteristics
The entire area of DCT is of peneplain with hill
ranges. A warm semiarid savannah climate and the temperatures range from 20
degrees Celsius to 31. In general, the soil within the area is considered to
be of low fertility, deficient in organic materials, moderate to poor
permeability and of shallow depth. The average rainfall annually is between
500-600mm with an evaporation of over 2000 mm per annum. There is a
four-month rainfall period [December- March], which is unevenly distributed
within the area. The rainfalls are unpredictable and infrequent within the
four months that so often lead to crop failure. The people’s GDP is US$ 160
per year.
Socio-economic characteristics
The majority of the people in this region are engaged in agriculture and
livestock production. However their level of production is still of a
subsistence nature and the transition from subsistence to market economy is
very slow due to various reasons which include: inadequate social economic
infrastructures, low agricultural technology, lack of agricultural capital
inputs and implements, and a low education base. Other problems that face
people include the rapid degradation of the fragile environment due to poor
management of the soil, overpopulation, urbanization and water shortages.
DIOCESAN PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES
Pastoral Care
The
Diocese has four strong diocesan organizations whose aims are to nurture, serve, affirm and encourage
these special groups in their development into a healthy and promising
existence.
Children: To help church leaders and parents see the importance, needs and rights of children and to provide adequate teaching for both adults and children to meet these needs, and to help Christians understand the importance and implications of Jesus Christ's command: "Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." There are over 600 children's groups [Sunday Schools] in the Diocese with over 30,000 children.
Youth: To encourage, help and support young people in their growth to become responsible people within their communities, and to help young people tackle youth problems. There are over 340 groups with membership of over 9000 people.
Women: To promote equality and human dignity in the lives of women and children in society, and to assist and enhance women in development and to promote income generating projects which will enable them to care for their families. To promote family values, marriage and the nurture children in the faith. There are 230 groups with over 5000 members
Men: To meet special needs of men over 50 years most of them live in abject poverty and die without hope, we have started this organization last year 2001 with the aims of: providing material and spiritual support and help, enhance their dignity and hope, encourage them to reach their age group men with the Good News and keep their voice in the church and society going and heard. After one year we have 70 groups with a population of 2400 members.
Christian Education
In order
to be, exist and continue to be a diocese, we have to grow and have leaders
who are well equipped for the advancement of Christianity and the welfare of
all people. We have two institutions that produce men and women who carry
out God’s activities in our parishes. We aim at producing men and women who
are sensitive to people’s spirituality and can carry out effectively all
spiritual activities that enhance and humanize humanity so that the whole
creation may reach its full potential.
Worship
Our aim is
to worship the creator and not the created, the one beyond us and not human
beings or the like. We look beyond ourselves to God to find our common
identity and worth. It is God who is beyond us to whom we render worship and
give the honour and glory. As God makes humanity in all its cultural
expression, we value, appreciate and enhance all people’s cultures as they
worship their Lord. God is highly honoured when every culture in its own
setting worships according to its symbols, language and dance and hence we
must enhance everything that was and is and is going to be in creation.
Education
As Dodoma
rural and urban districts are some of the least developed in the country and
that government secondary schools are very few in the area, in order to be
holistic in our ministry, the diocese is engaged in the promotion of
education, from kindergarten through to primary and secondary education. We
aim at offering the best education that the poorest can also afford. We have
primary and secondary schools situated both in rural and urban areas to
cater for the needs of all. The ratio of boys and girls is even, although we
have paid special attention for the advancement of girls by building
dormitories for them. Our schools are Canon Andrea Mwaka Primary and
Secondary schools, Holy Trinity and Bishop Stanway Primary Schools, Buigiri
School for the Blind and Mvumi Secondary School.
Health
Our
services are both preventive and curative with training institutions
attached to our hospitals. All of our hospitals have community health
departments with special emphasis on Mother-Child Health. Although our
hospitals are self-financing, we still need capital help and sometimes some
overhead coverage from our overseas friends so that the hospitals can afford
to offer hospital services to the rural poor of the poorest. Whereas Mvumi
and Hombolo hospitals cater for the needs of rural people, Mackay House
Health Center tries to serve urban people. The government of Tanzania
supports us by seconding some medical staff and gives bed grants to our
hospitals.
Development
Because
our region is the least developed in the country, the diocese is heavily
involved in development policies and activities at grassroots levels. Our
development activities are people oriented as against institutional
orientation. We try to empower, help and enhance all people regardless of
their creed, political affiliations, ethnicity, colour, gender or religion.
Our development activities include agriculture, livestock and income
generating projects with special care and attention on the environment. The
diocese is also involved in food security programmes, the prevention of
famine, famine relief and HIV/AIDS programmes.
We do not mix evangelism with development; instead we aim at being truly professional in executing development with the people we serve. We are aware of the importance of religion in development hence we integrate and sensitive to people’s religions as we try to stand with them in bringing to them social-economic transformation.
Our external partners for development include ICCO [Holland], EED [Germany], Bread for the World [Germany], CBM [Germany], World Relief Canada [Canada], and Christian Aid [UK].
Our personnel partners include CMS, CROSSLINKS [UK], CMS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, and private individuals.
Finance
The
Diocese is self-financing for all of its work except in the development
department. Its main sources of income in the head office budget include
parish contributions [30%] and income generating projects [70]. Our
2002-2003 head office budget is just over 90,000 US$. Although our finances
are quite small, it is our policy that what we get is what we use in God’s
work. All our health and educational institutions are also self-financing in
their expenditure costs and depend on external help for capital investment.
The development departments runs its head office budget from a percentage of
programme money that is funded from our overseas partners.
