Lutheran Church at Kikarara

This is the Lutheran Church in the village of Kikarara where we worshipped last Sunday. In Tanzania the church is named for the congregation it serves. In this case the church is called the Ushirika wa Kikarara (Congregation of Kikarara) as part of the Jimbo la Kilimanjaro Kati (Central Kilimanjaro Region). The congregation is under the authority of the Dayosisi ya Kaskazini (Northern Diocese) of the Kanisa la Kiinjili ya Kilutheri ya Tanzania (KKKT), or Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania.

The church was built in 1984. The latter part of the inscription shown below is translated as follows: "The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Dr. E. N. Kweka, May 13, 1984."

The church offices (first picture) and the pastor's house (second picture) are located behind the church.

Behind the church is the Sunday School area. During the week it is used as a kindergarten. The kindergarten is run by the church, and is open to both church and non-church members. In Tanzania there are very few kindergartens, so the church is serving an important need.

These are bathrooms being built for the kindergarten (right behind the Sunday School/kindergarten building). At the present time the children be taken about 30 yards to the church bathrooms (this is quite challenging during the rainy season from March to June).

The church is also working to improve the church grounds. There are plans to add gates at the front of the church (first picture) and the back of the church grounds (second picture). This will help with security - in Tanzania police protection is pretty much unknown, especially in rural areas. The brick-paved area will also be extended to the main road (first picture) and to a secondary road (second picture), which will help during the rainy season.

Many thanks to Jackson Kaangwa, who is shown in several of the pictures. Mr. Kaangwa is an evangelist (a kind of assistant pastor) who serves the congregation. The staff of the church consists of the pastor, the evangelist, and a parish worker.