Like the widow knocking, Tanzanian team hopes for return

By Tohru Inoue | Tanzania in East Africa

Stock from Unsplash by Jack Sharp.

Since December 2019, SIM’s Tanzania team has been longing to serve again in the place God has called them. They have prayed and waited … and prayed and waited … and prayed and waited. The lapse of time has ground away at their initial confidence that they would be returning to the country soon.

Tanzania is a beautiful place to minister in. The weather is temperate for most of the year. It is quite visitor friendly; the sand beaches of Zanzibar, snow-capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro and plains of the Serengeti where the wildebeest migrate are all very inviting. The test of faith for SIM workers comes from the long-postponed return to the country and its communities.

Month after month they have persevered in prayer alongside supporters for the same thing: a breakthrough that will allow them into the country.

It takes a certain toughness to keep praying the same old prayer. Like the widow in Jesus’ parable knocking on the judge’s door, yelling, “I know you’re in there! I’m not leaving!”

And the team keeps knocking on God’s door because the work is not yet done in Tanzania. The good news has not yet made inroads along the coastal regions. There are many places where there is no significant witness of Jesus. So, the team prays for the doors to be opened.

With the same breath, they pray for their Tanzanian friends. They pray for the churches where they’ve worshipped to spring into areas where there is no witness of Him. They pray for the mothers’ groups they’ve worked with to keep leaning into God. They pray for Tanzanians to take the good news into communities where He’s least known. Even from afar, as the team anticipates rejoining the work, they pray for the Spirit to rush through the open windows and fill thousands of upper rooms where his people are gathered.

Maybe the Tanzania team have to wait today and even wait for our entire generation. But even in the waiting, with eyes of faith, they trust the doors will not be closed forever. They will open again someday. So, they keep knocking.

There is a widow’s hope that the door will be opened to people from all the nations to come and preach the good news in Tanzania.

Like the widow, they’re not quite deterred yet. Because they know there is someone home. And they know He can hear them. If you feel the same way, would you knock on the door for them too?

Pray

- For our team to be able to return to Tanzania soon.

- For Tanzanian followers of Christ to continue testifying joyfully to the risen Christ.