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Greetings from Pastor David A. Bliss
We Are Bridge Builders
One of my favorite Bible passages out of many is 2 Corinthians 5: 20
“So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal
through us; we entreat you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled with God.”
The
verses before this one state that we have been entrusted with a ministry of
reconciliation. God reconciled
us to himself through the death and resurrection of his son Jesus, and just
as God reconciled us with Him, so we are called to reconcile with one
another. 2 Corinthians 5: 20
has served as a mission statement for my becoming calling to be involved
with the Synod’s Companion Program between the Dodoma Diocese in Tanzania
and our Northwestern Ohio Synod.
It
all started in 1993 when the congregation I was serving became a companion
with a congregation in Tanzania called Lufu.
It is a remote village at an altitude of 8,000 feet in the mountains
near the center of the county.
In 1998, I became the chairperson for the Synod’s Congregation Companion
Sub-committee with the responsibility of pairing congregations from the
Diocese with those in the Synod.
But, my heart has always been with congregation in Lufu.
It
has been my privilege to lead 14 mission trips to Dodoma since 1996 for the
purpose of bridge building between the churches, the people and the
cultures. For me, reconciliation is all about bridge building between God
and people through Jesus Christ and people and people.
This
month I will lead a group of 5 people to Dodoma from June 14 to June 29.
Bob Pace and Kayla Lust, members of our congregation, are going on
this trip. The main purpose of
the trip is to go to Lufu and assess what is needed to restart a medical
clinic. The congregation
started a clinic in 1996, but it closed five years ago for several reasons: the
government built a new one seven years ago (It has sat empty the entire
time), to replace the church’s, the nurse staffing the church’s clinic left
at that time, and the building had many foundation problems leading to its
crumbling.
The
government has agreed to allow the church to use its building.
And so, there is a four year program of educating a nurse from the
village to staff it, equipping the clinic (beds, blood pressure devices,
exam tables, microscopes, etc.), providing safe water, and purchasing
medicine for it.
The
clinic is much needed. It will
serve 6 surrounding villages as well as Lufu.
Men, women and children die of diseases that are easily treatable
here. Twenty to 30 pregnant
women die each year from complications of child birth.
The nearest medical clinic is 11 miles away.
Anyone who is seriously ill is carried down the mountain on a bed by
8 men (two shifts of four) and then to the medical clinic.
The pregnant women usually don’t make it.
It
is the hope of the villages as well as myself to provide treatment and
healing and have it be done in the name of Christ.
It is our hope that it will provide a glimpse of the kingdom and
God’s abundant grace. Please
pray for us while we are on this trip.
Please pray for the people whom we visit as well as the outpouring of
God’s love in Christ Jesus. I
want to thank everyone who has contributed to the health kits which we will
be taking with us as well as all the pencils. Serving Christ with you,
THIS SMALL CHURCH IS PACKED AND STILL A FEW HUNDRED PEOPLE OUTSIDE FAMILY PICTURE |
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| IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS PICTURE IS THEIR VILLAGE | ||||||||||||||||||
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