Tanzania Trip

Labour Day Monday, Pastor Aki and I went to Dar-es- Salaam where the start of the mission seminar awaited. The participants were 32 Tanzanian pastors who got a spark from the previous courses. They wanted to hear how the work is started in practice.

Pastor Jonathan from Finland and Pastor Shierley from Indonesia had already arrived there over the weekend. In addition to the seminar preparations, they were assigned a mission to a village of the Zaramo tribe.

Zaramo Mission

The rain is a blessing in Africa, but not warmly welcomed for outdoor events. Thankfully, during the afternoon we were able to spread the Good News in Dar-es-Salaam’s outskirts in Chanika. The rain was always put to a halt right before the event started.

The crowd, including Zaramo people, gathered in front of the opening of Pastor Mtenga’s church on three afternoons. We shared about Jesus through songs, prayers and preaching. We also taught two acts to the young adults of the church through which the Word and Jesus’ love and forgiveness was portrayed to the listeners.

The altar call was firstly received by the children who wanted to give their life to Jesus. Secondly, many women who were in bondage felt a deliverance, but sadly there were only a few number of men.

Zaramo tribe is one of the hardest people groups in Tanzania to evangelize to. Among 1.3 million of them, about 95% are muslims. We need a lot of prayers that they too will be touched by the Word.

Pastor Mtenga was one of them who participated in GNN’s mission training in 2019 and 2022. Since then, he has focused great efforts on his own area in reaching the Zaramo people. He rejoiced about this three-day campaign. The church got new members and even after our series of meetings, people approached him to stay connected. Pastors from surrounding areas also become interested in missions in the future, all glory to God!

Seminar about starting missions

In Dar-es-Salam’s Sending Seminar, we focused on equipping church leaders to start their own mission work. GNN’s culturally diverse team this time included Pastors Arto Sädeaho, Aki Miettinen and Jonathan Lemmetti as well as Pastor Shierley. This way we were able to shed light on different perspectives.

Pastors from previous courses already had basic knowledge about the work of unreached people groups. This continued seminar gave them a practical approach and tools to use for starting mission work in their home churches.

The Holy Spirit’s presence had made a big impact during the course especially during prayer. Frederick, former member of the parliament, expressed how he felt a great way of joy and peace as if something had uplifted him.

Pastor Demetrio already works with the Zaramo people. He came to the seminar with a handful of questions and had received answers during the week of the seminar!

Many felt greatly inspired hearing Pastor Shierley’s latest stories about the work with the Indo-pioneers amongst the unreached people groups.

This was the first seminar of its kind that GNN has organized. If the Lord permits, it will not be the last!

Pastor Shierley’s Impressions

The seminar week was a great learning opportunity for all of us! We had an enthusiastic and open-minded team. Inspiring lectures imparted practical knowledge from life experiences.

GNN – Good News Networking has great hope that the Gospel can be shared even to the most difficult people groups.

 

Uganda Trip

 

Along with Aki Miettinen, we represented the team in Uganda’s mission work. Pastor Aki reports below aboutthe nearly three- week long work in Uganda.We arrived in Entebbe around midnight of 12.4 where we had meetings that same morning. On Saturday, the police chief, Brian, picked us up from Kampala’s surrounding area in Nansala province. There we held a six- day vision casting and leadership seminar in the World Mission International center. The long period of blackout disrupted the program, although my speech continued even without the microphone.

On Tuesday, we visited Major General Akawalo’s area in a center called ‘Operation Creating Wealth’ which situated in Kampala. He also leads in the ‘Joint Forces for Christ’ organisation (military, police and prisons). During our time together, Major General Akawalo expressed his interest in continuing with the GNN trainings in the future. We heard about an area called Karamojong that is rich in natural resources, but the tribe living there are belligerent.

On Thursday we distributed certificates to 25 participants at the Nansana seminar and the following day to the police barracks in Entebbe airport. There we had an interesting session where we heard how “men and women in uniforms” take the Gospel to Somaliaa among others.

Sunday morning in Kampala, Pastor Arto spoke nearby Luzira prison in Gospel Mission Church’s service while I spoke in Uganda’s largest slum area (100,000 inhabitants) in GMC’s Kasongola slum church.

Venue changed due to heavy rain

Due to the heavy rains, the soft pavement on the way to a two-hour journey to Nagasongola’s military barracks turned into a five-hour drive to Mubende in west Uganda where we stayed in our familiar accommodation place.

The week in Mubende covered 5 radio programs and daily coaching for the director of the shelter from Kenya and a village meeting at a coffee plantation.

Mission seminar was held on Saturday for 47 pastors. After the Sunday service, we had lunch and left to Entebbe for the night.

Despite the challenges and changes in the program, the core purpose of the trip was fulfilled.

 

Summer News 2023

The first half of 2023 was surprising and multifaceted. Towards the end, changes turned into blessings. In this newsletter, we share about the four week mission trip in Africa, Pastor Jonathan and his family’s migration back to Australia and how God has lead new workers into GNN to continue the work. It appears that God has answered before we even asked, we thank Him for that.

We are also grateful to you, who support our work in one way or another and who pray for its work to be fruitful.

Arto Sädeaho

Vantaa International Christian Fellowship – VICF

On Saturday 11.2, we had invited around thirty active church volunteers from our ministry teams for a private buffet lunch. We wanted to appreciate them for their efforts made during the past year in order to make things in VICF flow smoothly. Our volunteers have come from a dozen nationalities. Therefore, the main language for communication was English. Joy and unity in the spirit could be sensed in the atmosphere.

How will it be when we gather for the King’s wedding, people from all tribes with joy inexpressible?

It’s something worth waiting for . . . 

Francis Coming to Finland 22.3. -9.4.2023

Our partner, Ps. Francis Tusiime, is a warm-hearted person whose preaching touches the heart and whose prayers are powerful. His itinerary for his upcoming three-week trip is almost fully booked.

Before his return back to Tanzania, he will be the main speaker in our Easter Encounter-program held in VICF, Tikkurila.

Faith Can Even Move Mountains!

Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” (Mk 11:22)
Then He clarified to His disciples that faith which does not doubt can even move mountains!

This is the kind of faith Ps. Francis (left photo) from Uganda had, to move the mountains of challenges he faced a decade ago when arriving to Dar es Salaam at midnight with only 5,000 Tanzanian shillings (2 euros) in his pocket along with a blessing from his sending church. Under the mentorship of his spiritual father in Uganda, Bp. Wilson Ssentongo, he had planted over 10 churches in that nation before heading to the unknown in Tanzania in obedience to his calling.

I knew him as an excellent interpreter in our Ugandan seminars, until he disappeared somewhere. I later heard that he had gone to Tanzania. We met again years later as he was visiting his mother’s home. After repeated requests from him, I decided to visit Dar es Salaam for a week, following a trip to Uganda (2018). We held a ‘vision seminar’ which opened the door to Tanzania and Francis became ‘our man’ there.

The following year, as we held our mission training course in ‘Dar’, many pastors who participated, formed their local GNN Tanzania team. Its focus has been to take the Gospel to unreached people groups (UPG).

 

Inspired in prayer, from the beginning of 2021, we added children’s ministry seminars to these mission trips the team was making to different regions. Local church workers are always invited to join these seminars.

This addition has been necessary because there are 27.5 million children under the age of 15 in Tanzania. Children are the largest unreached people group in the world. For some reason, the churches there have adapted an idea that children cannot be saved as they are too young.

And so, yet again, in February 2023, the GNN team went on a two-week mission to the north, this time to the regions of Mara and Mwanza.

My co-worker Ps. Jonathan had arranged zoom connections during these team missions to allow us to be present in these seminars online. These seminars have GNN has already become more known around Tanzania.

Jonathan reports:

The GNN Tanzanian team is coordinated by Ps. Francis along with Ps. Jane Wambi, a Tanzanian. Over the past couple of years, this team has visited 14 regions throughout Tanzania holding Gospel crusades amongst the unreached along with children’s ministry seminars.

In total, there have been 22 children’s ministry seminars with 1,500 participants, including pastors, Sunday school teachers and bishops across various denominations.

The teaching series is shown in Swahili. The idea for this series became a reality through the video recording of missionary veterans, Mamas Mirjami and Raili, teaching in their homes. These ladies still speak the language they learned from their years in Kenya. They were present via Zoom for the ‘Q&A’ hour at the end of each seminar.

Certificates given at the end of the seminar

 

Challenge

Throughout the seminars, participants have raised a request to have concrete source materials for teaching. During their years in Kenya, the two missionaries, Mama Raili & Mama Mirjami, created practical Sunday school materials called Mwanga (Light) in Swahili.

A couple of years ago, based on an idea, I had video recorded these sisters’ teaching in Swahili. It proved to become enthusiastically received all over. After the Children’s ministry seminars held, child evangelism was awakened in churches. Starting at churches, they began reaching children even in the surrounding villages.

We plan to print the first 3 of this 6 book-series (the 1st tutorial and 2 workbooks). These will be a great help when preparing lessons. We are currently checking printing costs.

Would you support reaching Tanzanian children? Reference number: 3560

 

Here’s recent feedback from the course participants

“I thank the Lord for your coming. You have made us to realise the value of children. I learnt that a heart of a child is good soil to plant the seed while they are still young. I am going to plant in the hearts of the children while they are still young.”

Sis. Veronica (Elim-churches)

 

“I have learnt a lot of things from this seminar. For quite a long time, we could not see the issue that the children need the Gospel, and they need salvation too. Our children have just been taught the laws, of how to behave. Many of the children we have had, have not been born-again. Now we want to take the Gospel to the children.

In this seminar, my understanding has been braoadened. I believe that the church will be full of believers. The children are the ones coming up. We have had many crusades and many preachers have come to preach the Word of God. Then, when the children put up their hands for salvation, they are taken behind. Only the older people were allowed to come. We find that we are not helping the children. At the end of it, the children just disappear. This has been a sad story. After listening to this teaching, we have seen that we have sinned against the children. Surely, we need to repent.”

Ap. Elia (Evangelical Church)

 

“I thank the Lord for the teachings we have received through GNN. Personally, they have changed my life. I did not value children before. Through the teaching, my attitude has changed. Now, I want to deal with them. I have used a lot of energy and resources to gather older people. I have realised if I invest that into children, the outcome will be so big. Even with Sunday school classes, I was not concerned at all, but now my perspective has changed. I want to have a crusade especially for the children.”

Georg Mambiro (FPTC-churches)

Prayer Topics for 2023

  • Training Uganda’s Christian ‘Joint Forces’
  • Follow-up training for the Tanzanian GNN team
  • Children’s ministry seminars in northern Tanzania
  • Autumn mission seminars planned for southeast Asia
  • Indo-pioneers facing challenges in remote areas
  • GNN economy development to enable future tasks
  • Wisdom and guidance for implementation

A Review of the Past Year 2023

WE WISH YOU A WONDERFUL YEAR 2023!

Tanzania

In February, Pr. Jonathan had a mission trip to Dar es Salaam. He inspected the school facilities to be used for the June 2022 mission course. During that week, the local GNN team leaders also interviewed pastors applying for the course, over 30 of them registered.

Pr. Jonathan visited nearby towns. In one Zaramo village, he dedicated a well we had built. During dry seasons it gives access to water also for other villagers nearby. With the Tanzanian GNN team, Pr. Jonathan also visited the Maasai people in Morogoro for a couple of days.

He coordinated a follow-up seminar held regularly for the active pastors (25) who were part of the previous GNN mission course. Zoom enabled the rest of the teaching team to be present on live video streaming from their home countries. This way we can keep the UPG vision alive and strengthen our calling.

The Tanzanian GNN team arranged 2-day children’s ministry seminars throughout the country in order to equip workers to reach children that are often omitted. Since 2021, there are already 21 seminars held, with a total of 1,390 participants.

In June 2022, in Dar es Salaam, a 3-week mission course was held for 44 pastors, evangelists and bishops throughout Tanzania. The course focused on the unreached people groups, of course.

After completion of the course, participants inspired by the vision began to put words into action. In a new Maasai tribe inhabited area, 70 young warriors, women and children decided to follow Jesus. The local pastor there rejoiced because he had been praying for years for an evangelistic team to visit his area.

In 2023, we plan to arrange discipleship teaching for those new believers.

 

Uganda

For nearly a decade now, we have been supporting evangelistic radio broadcasts from Mubende reaching even to neighbouring countries in East Africa. With the outbreak of the pandemic, we increased our support and there was a surprise in the number of calls that came into the studio, around 20 listeners are saved weekly.

 

At the end of May 2022, we arranged a Vision and Leadership seminar. 50 church leaders from various denominations in western Uganda and Bryan, a Christian police captain and intendant for the Kampala district, also attended.

He later sent an invitation letter signed by the Major General to Pr. Aki Miettinen, GNN’s representative, who went in November to teach Christian officers in the army, police and prison staff about spiritual leadership.

 

 

Southeast Asia

I travelled with Pr. Aki firstly to Singapore. We had arranged a meeting with GNN Missions Advisor, Dr. Paul Ng. He extended an invitation to Vietnam. Its realisation in Autumn 2023 is an important prayer topic!

There are still 68 unreached people groups living in that country of almost 100 million people. The church movement we cooperate with has a vision for the unreached peoples even to neighboring countries.

After the weekend meetings, we had our annual teaching week at the Bible school in Sumatra. Despite some blackouts, we completed 18 teaching hours. In March 2023, this course will send out tens of pioneers again. Last year, 22 pioneers were supported to new areas and 16 were among the unreached tribes.

The last pioneer alumni seminar was a 4-hour drive away from the school (inland Sumatra). They were the first students ever sent from the Bible school. They had already established their pioneer ministries.

 

Domestic Mission

Throughout 2022, Vantaa International Christian Fellowship (VICF) church has partially supported our missions and sending support for Jewish kids for their return migration (Aliyah) to Jerusalem from Ukraine.

The church also sent support to JCBT (Jerusalem Centre for Bible Translators). Students from around the world are initiated to original Biblical Hebrew and geography enabling them to make more accurate translations for languages amongst unreached peoples.

In October, we had visitors from HeliMission. Its international leader, Simon Tanner along with his wife Prikena, came from Switzerland. During the visit, I suddenly recalled having seen their helicopter standing next to the MAF hall in Wamena, Papua, in the late 80’s.

We learned about the importance of the helicopter ministry in the impenetrable areas of Indonesia and Madagascar. VICF sent a love offering to support their ministry. During our October mission in Jakarta, we also met the Indonesian leader, Pak Carter, from this organization.

During 2022, we held vision casting events in northeast and east of Finland. Our ongoing topic has been the urgency of reaching the unreached peoples.

GNN Leadership and Visionary Conference

Fifty key leaders recently gathered at a hotel in Mubende, Uganda, for a two-day Leadership & Visionary Conference. The theme, “That they would hear!” (Romans 10:14), is also the motto of GNN Finland (Good News Networking). The GNN team was responsible for the teachings in partnership with local host, Bp. John Magaba.

Bishops and pastors alike were deeply challenged about the Ultimate Calling of the Church to reach all people with the Gospel. They were shown the current situation of world missions as well as the great need there is to still go and preach the Gospel. Out of every 100 missionaries sent cross-culturally, only 3 will go to unreached areas, although these people groups account for 42% of the current world’s population.

There was a lot of thinking going on after the teachings about Jesus-style servant leadership and the importance of character in leading. The price that needs to be paid to keep following Jesus and taking the Good News to all is big, but worth it!

Real-life powerful testimonies of pioneers reaching unreached people groups in South-East Asia also left participants in awe of what can be done when people decide to fully surrender and obey God’s call to fulfil the vision of reaching the unreached no matter their age or physical ability. Participants were reminded that it is about vision and not a program!

These two days helped stir up the vision of missions and get the participants out of their comfort zones.

Let us continue to work together to take the Gospel to the unreached!