The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT;
Swahili: Kanisa la Kiinjili la Kilutheri Tanzania) is the federation of
Lutheran churches in
Tanzania and one of the largest
Lutheran denominations in the world, with more than 6 million members, or 13% of the Tanzanian population. It is the second largest
Lutheran church in the world and the largest Lutheran church in
East Africa.[3][4]
The ELCT is an organization which reaches out to the people of Tanzania offering
worship opportunities,
Christian education, and numerous social services, including disaster response, healthcare, and
AIDS education and relief.[5]
History
The first Lutheran missionaries arrived in what was then
German East Africa in 1887, when the Evangelical Missionary Society for East Africa (EMS), based in Berlin, Germany, established a missionary station at
Kigamboni,
Dar es Salaam. The second group of missionaries was also from Germany, entering via South Africa and settling in the
Southern Highlands region of Tanzania. Similar missions from Germany continued to arrive in the region continuously throughout the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. This mission activity continued in spite of the interruption of the
Hehe Wars in 1891, the
Maji Maji Uprising of 1905–1907,
World War I, and
World War II.
In 1938, seven Lutheran churches were loosely gathered into the Federation of Lutheran Churches in Tanganyika. The member churches then merged to become the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.[6]
In 1964,
Johannes Lilje, then presiding bishop of the
United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany, consecrated Stefano Moshi, who had been elected as the first president of the newly formed church body and who had been an advocate for the establishment of episcopacy, as the first presiding bishop of the ELCT.[7]
Organization
The seat of the church is in
Arusha. It is financed mainly from collections and donations as well as through project grants from churches in the
Global North.[8]
The ELCT is led by a
presiding bishop, or "Mkuu", who is elected to serve four year terms,[9] and 24 bishops who preside over their local
dioceses. The presiding bishop is elected for a four-year term from amongst the bishops of the dioceses. The ELCT's current presiding bishop is Alex Malasusa.
The ELCT employs 1360 ordained
pastors (28 of them overseas), 3000 lay
evangelists, and 300 community officers to aid the work of the church (2014 figures). Women are not ordained in all ELCT dioceses; however, as of 1990, the national church does ordain women. Ordination of women is a sensitive topic in the ELCT and the church is largely split. Currently, local dioceses make their own decision on whether to ordain women or not.
The ELCT is one of the fastest growing churches in the world, with an annual growth in
baptized members of around 8%.
Social services
Social service programming is central to the mission of the ELCT. The social services offered by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania include the following departments:[12]
Education (Secondary and University)
Finance and Administration
Health and Medical Care (21 hospitals and numerous local pharmacies)
Mission and Evangelism
Planning and Development
Social Services and Women's Work
HIV/AIDS Program
Disaster Response
Dioceses
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania consists of the following regional dioceses:
Like other Lutheran church bodies, the ELCT confesses two
sacraments: Communion (or the
Eucharist) and
Holy Baptism (including
infant baptism). Confession and absolution is often included as a sacrament; however, as it is a return to the forgiveness given in baptism, strictly speaking, there are only two sacraments.
With respect to the eucharist or communion, the ELCT holds to the Lutheran doctrine of the
sacramental union, that is, that Christ's body and blood is truly present "in, with and under" the
bread and wine.[38] All communicants
orally receive not only bread and wine, but also the same body and blood of Christ that was given for them on the cross.[39] Members of other denominations sometimes refer to this as a belief in
consubstantiation. Lutherans, however,
reject the philosophical explanation of consubstantiation, preferring to consider the presence of the Lord's body and blood as mysterious rather than explainable by human philosophy. The Lutheran belief in the holy mystery character of the consecrated bread and wine is more similar to that of
Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox belief than to the views of most Protestants. In contrast, most Protestant church bodies doubt or openly deny that the actual body and blood of Christ is eaten in the Lord's Supper.
Relations with other churches
The ELCT decided to establish a relationship with the
North American Lutheran Church, and both churches approved a "Memorandum of Understanding" at a convocation held in August 2013, paving the way for
full communion between the two churches.[40]
^"ELCT Press Release". News Releases. Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. 2015.
Archived from the original on 2016-02-21. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
^"ELCT". www.elct.org.
Archived from the original on 2022-01-23. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
^"A Short history". Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. 2007.
Archived from the original on 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
^Nehemia Godwin Moshi.
"Stretching the Drum Skin"(PDF). Åbo Akademi University Press.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 2020-03-09. Retrieved 2020-03-09.
^"ELCT". www.elct.org.
Archived from the original on 2021-10-22. Retrieved 2021-10-23.