According to the Lutheran World Federation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania is now the world's second largest Lutheran body, after the Church of Sweden, which has 6.75 million members.
2007: 4,632,480 members
2008: 4,956,731 members
2009: 5,302,727 members
How do you knock on someone's door and invite them to worship? In Tanzania, you simply say "Hodi," a Swahili greeting that is, literally, a door-opener. Your host will reply "Karibu" (welcome). In this culture, church visitors are usually welcomed, even if the host rejects the message.
To set people at ease, laity and clergy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania use cultural ice-breakers. When people meet, they already know each other, not in a "who is who" manner of leadership positions or financial muscles but rather in terms of whom to communicate to and how.
A youth choir sings at an open-air evangelism meeting in Rukwa, Tanzania. Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania see evangelism as the backbone of the church's mission.
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