Engagement!

“When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  And He began to teach them many things.
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’”                                                          Mark 6:34 and John 14:6

Do you remember back in June, we went to visit the Vidunda of Tanzania?  That visit was in preparation for a vision trip planned for August.

The August vision trip went as planned and was a great success.

Pastors from churches in the Baltimore, Maryland area formed a team in order to seek out an unengaged people group in Tanzania.  They and their congregations have been praying about God working through them to help fulfill the great commission – sharing the love and sacrifice of Christ to a people walking in darkness.

While difficulties arose on the trip – God saw them through and blessed their obedience.

While these men witnessed first-hand the physical challenge and the sacrifice of comfort that must be endured to reach the Vidunda people, they also saw the great need for the Vidunda to know Christ as the way, the truth and the life. The Vidunda need to know and understand that God’s gift of salvation comes not from the works of man but out of God’s great love.

Now these churches are joining together in force to reach the Vidunda of Tanzania with the gospel.

*Pray for God to prepare Vidunda hearts for the first of many engagement trips.

*Pray for good preparation and orientation for the ones preparing to embark on this mission.


*Pray for each person in these churches to stand beside those going in prayer and giving to make this engagement possible.

*Pray for the power of God to infuse strength and wisdom to each one that they would see the mission of reaching the Vidunda for Christ accomplished.

Praise His Holy Name!

Up the mountain -- the Vidunda of Tanzania

Visiting the Vidunda today will be a challenge – but we are up for it!  Last year we talked with people from the Vidunda people group at the market, but were not able to go up the mountain to the village – well, today is the day.

Trying to fill a trench with rock so the car can progress further up the mountain, we quickly realize we need to continue on foot.

While inconvenient, this experience  helps us understand the hardship the Vidunda face every day as they travel up and down the mountain to buy and sell goods or to reach the main road for any reason.

Reaching the first of three villages after a 1 ½ hour climb, we step into a lush, tranquil oasis.  These people are truly isolated and probably would not hear much news from other parts of Tanzania were it not for the foot traffic and the motorcycles which trek up and down the mountain.

Standing over the village as a sentinel is the Catholic cathedral, the first visible structure upon entering Vidunda village.

We spend most of the day walking around the village talking with people.

Unfortunately, we won’t make it to Chonwe, the second village, another 7 kilometers beyond Vidunda village.





We've had a good day, it is getting dark as we reach the bottom of the mountain and climb into the car.
Now we better comprehend the difficulties the Vidunda people face and we grasp the challenge it will be to engage them.

Pray for the softening of Vidunda hearts toward the grace and mercy of God through Christ.

Pray for obedient messengers to follow God’s call to reach the Vidunda with the truth of salvation given freely to all who believe.

Pray for cooperation in the Kingdom to reach Vidunda hearts.

Vidunda of Tanzania

Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath.  Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, He displays His glory in Israel.  Isaiah 44:23

Isaiah is prompting the people to glorify God, who has the victory and gives us the victory, through our faith in Christ Jesus. God has redeemed us and displays His glory throughout the earth.  However, not everyone can claim this victory – not everyone knows the glorious saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Living in the mountains of central Tanzania, the Vidunda (Vee-Doon-dah) people are, according to researchers, a UUPG (Unengaged/Unreached people group).

These are the people we are in search of on our trip.  We ask questions about where they live, if churches are there, the language they speak, etc.


In our quest for the Vidunda people we meet Ezeckiel, the pastor of a GCC (Great Commission Church).  As we sit and talk in the little clearing behind his house, Ezeckiel introduces us to his neighbor; a Vidunda woman who has moved down from the mountains and made her home here in Mkamba village.

During our conversation with her, Jerry asks how to greet in the Vidunda language and writes the words down for future reference. Ezeckiel confirms for us the fact that there are no churches in the mountains among the Vidunda.

Many people see the Vidunda as somewhat backward and are indifferent toward them, “Oh those people – they live in the mountains.”  Because of this attitude and the fact that it is difficult to go where they live, there is no road – you must climb the mountain, people turn a blind eye to them.

As we fellowship together, we discover that some Vidunda people come down the mountain to sell their goods; bananas and beans, at the market on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Guess what today is – Thursday!  Off we go to the market in hopes of meeting other Vidunda people.

Scanning the market, we make our way to a man and woman selling bananas and sure enough they are Vidunda. Jerry greets the woman saying, “Chiwaso”  (Chee-wah-so), she is so excited, she hops over her piles of bananas and begins dancing on the path – someone is greeting her in her language!

She takes us over to a friend who is selling cooked bananas.  The flavor is quite unique as they stuff them with small fish and fry them.

In our conversations we learn that this Vidunda man has walked two hours down the mountain to bring his bananas to market.  He will use the money his bananas bring to buy goods needed in his village and carry them back up the mountain in the evening.

We did not make it up into the mountains on this visit.  Previous commitments make it impossible to spend the two or three days it would take visiting with the Vidunda people.  But now we know where they live – we have seen for ourselves the remoteness of the area and the high probability that they have not heard the Gospel.  We will make plans to return to the Vidunda.

Ask God to open the hearts of the Vidunda, even now-- that the soil of their hearts would be tilled and ready for the seeds of the Gospel message.

Pray for a person of peace to come forth when we return that the door would be open to us.

Pray that the Vidunda would lay heavy on our hearts until either we return, or someone in our stead, to share the Gospel with the Vidunda of Tanzania.

Sing to the LORD, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. Psalm 96:2-3