History

The first Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to Tanganyika (then German East Africa) were W. Ehlers and A. C. Enns, who were sent there in 1903 by the German Union, under the leadership of L. R. Conradi. Arriving in Dar es Salaam in December, they went to the Pare district in northeast Tanganyika, where they established Friedenstal Station, and studied the language while slowly gaining the confidence of the people. Other stations were opened in the Pare district: Kihurio, Suji (Vuasu), and Vunta. The first baptism was held in 1908, in which six were baptized.

One of these was E. Sengoka, now a retired worker. Others arrived, some of whom—Ernst Raessler, Gustav Saunders, and Mrs. H. Drangmeister and her child—laid down their lives.

In 1909 a station was established at Busegwe, in the Lake Province, 20 miles (50 kilometers) east of Musoma. Three years later Dr. F. W. Vasenius, of Finland, the first SDA physician in Tanganyika, and V. E. Toppenberg, of Denmark, arrived.

As the work advanced, organization was effected, and three districts were established: Northern, Lake Shore, and Usukuma. During 1910—1914 the following recruits came, mostly from Germany, to man the various local stations: R. T. Stein, E. Dominick, O. Wallath, J. Persson, F. Bornath, W. Seiler, Auguste Mertke, V. E. Toppenberg, F. Winter, H. Palm, F. Schurich, W. Koelling, R. Munzig, K. Kaltenhäuser, R. Lusky, L. Aberle, and Dr. F. W. Vasenius. Six of these men came with their wives, and one or two single nurses also came.

World War I and Its Effect. When the British forces advanced into Tanganyika in 1914, many of the German missionaries left. Between the departure of these missionaries and the arrival of the British, most of the SDA missions in Lake Province were looted and destroyed.

By 1916 most of Tanganyika was occupied, and German civilians had either been interned or repatriated. Despite disruption, V. E. Toppenberg (a Dane) and his wife stayed on for a time at Busegwe Station. H. Palm, R. Munzig, and O. Wallath lost their lives in the war. Isaya Fue, Petro Mlungwana, Daniel Mwenda, and Phillipo Sekisago, four African workers from Pare remained faithful for six years at their posts of duty, alone and unsupported, at four schools in Usukuma in a strange land and among an alien tribe.

In 1919 Tanganyika was assigned as a mission field to the British Union. When SDA missionaries were allowed to reenter the Lake province in 1921, among the first to arrive were E. B. Phillips, R. H. Matthews, and W. Cuthbert. Stations were reopened at Busegwe, Utimbaru, Majita, Ntusu, and Mwagala, and headquarters were established at Ikidzu (later spelled Ikizu).

Development of Local Stations. Busegwe Station (established by Ernst Raessler in 1909), 20 miles east of Musoma, in the Lake province, had suffered little during the early part of the war, and although evacuated it had been well cared for by the Africans, at least until V.E. Toppenberg returned briefly in 1916. Yet in 1920 the 76 members who had been there could not be found.

In 1921 E. B. Phillips was appointed to reestablish Busegwe Station. For a time it operated on the old site, but in 1938 new buildings were erected on a new site a short distance away.

Majita Station (opened 1909) had three churches by 1913, but after the war, in 1921, only 10 members could be found out of a former membership of 78. Under the care of a number of missionaries and African workers, the work has subsequently prospered. In 1960 the Majita area was organized into the Majita-Ukerewe Field under African leadership—S. D. Otieno, president, and N. Elisa, secretary-treasurer. The name of the field was changed in 1967 to Central Nyanza Field.

Pare Station. It was in northeastern Tanganyika, in the Pare area, that the first SDA stations-Friedenstal (Mamba), Kihurio, and Suji-had been established. Shortly before World War I, H. Kotz, with the help of Petro Risase, had completed the translation of the New Testament into Chasu, which was published by the Advent-Verlag in Hamburg with the approval of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The missions in the Pare Mountains suffered less than those in west Tanganyika as a result of World War I. Some of the German missionaries had remained at their stations until the British came, and before being interned they had ordained elders in all churches. Despite the fact that public meetings had been forbidden, Christians continued to gather for worship in their huts. The African workers, although bereft of their White missionaries and deprived of all financial support, were not idle. S. G. Maxwell, on arriving in 1921, found fully prepared candidates who had been waiting for baptism for six years. He also found that of the 277 members in 1914, 246 were still practicing SDAs.

In 1926 the first camp meetings in Tanganyika were held in the Pare area, and the first Seventh-day Adventist Africans of that section were ordained to the ministry (P. S. Kilonzo and E. Manongi). In 1930 a clinic was opened at Suji, and the school there conducted a strong industrial program.

A number of the Pare workers went out as pioneer missionaries throughout East Africa. For example, when S. G. Maxwell went to open work in Uganda, P. Risase and A. Mweta accompanied him; later A. Msangi also went to Uganda and died there. P. Risase later pioneered the work on Mombasa Island. Pare missionaries held responsible positions in different parts of the East African and Tanganyika unions. In 1960 the Pare area was organized into the North-East Tanzania Field, under African leadership, with Y. Lusingu as president and T. Samuel as secretary-treasurer.

Ntusu Station (opened 1912) in the Usukuma country, where R. Lusky was an early missionary, had 300 pupils and 10 baptized believers before the war came. It was here that the four Pare teachers mentioned earlier stayed on at their schools without salary. W. Cuthbert arrived at Ntusu in 1922, and H. Robson arrived in 1924 and remained until 1939. Ntusu was the site of the first girls’ school established in that country. In 1960 this area was organized into the West Lake Field, with R. E. Dale as president and S. Okongo as secretary-treasurer. In 1963 S. Magembe and S. Okongo were elected president and secretary-treasurer, respectively. The name of the field was changed in 1967 to South Nyanza Field.

Utimbaru Station was opened in 1912 by V. E. Toppenberg, who was followed by Ernst Raessler, then J. Persson. During World War I its site became a battlefield. To this mission came F. H. Muderspach and his wife a short time after they went to Africa in 1925. After many missionaries came and went, Muderspach was again director of this mission at the time of his death in 1960. In that year Arthur L. Davy was elected the first president. This later became the East Nyanza Field headquarters, with M. Rutolyo, president, and A. Fue, secretary-treasurer.

Mwagala Station (opened before World War I) was a difficult station for Europeans to operate because of its isolation and its unhealthful climate. E. B. Phillips directed it from 1927 to 1931, and then W.C.S. Raitt until 1934. Later the station was put under African leadership, and with its district formed part of the South Nyanza Field, administered from Ntusu.

Mbeya Station (established in 1938 under R. Reider) is situated within 1.5 miles (four kilometers) of the town of Mbeya. It is thus not isolated from civilization, but it is removed from other Seventh-day Adventist work and workers. The climate is cool because of the high elevation. Progress has been slow because of frequent changes in missionary personnel.

Development of Organization. From 1903 to 1913 all SDA mission work in Tanganyika was under the direction of the German Union Conference. From mid-1913 to the outbreak of the war in 1914 it was under the new European Division, with headquarters in Hamburg. By 1912 the Tanganyika missions had been divided into two general sections-the South Pare Mission Field in the east, and the Victoria Nyanza Mission Field in the west, along the shores of Lake Victoria—with general headquarters of all German East African missions at Shirati, on Lake Victoria.

When the country became a British mandate after World War I, the British Union was asked to administer the territory and rebuild the mission program. Tanganyika and Kenya were formed into the British East African Mission, directly responsible to the British Union Conference executive committee. W. T. Bartlett was the first president, and his headquarters were at Gendia Mission in Kenya. In 1922 the mission was enlarged to include Belgian East Africa as well, and was named the East African Combined Mission. In 1923 the administration of these areas passed to the European Division, and in 1928, when the European Division was split into four, the East African Union Mission was assigned to the Northern European Division.

In 1933, at the request of the Central European Division, Tanganyika was reassigned to that organization and became the Tanganyika Mission.

When it became impossible for the German Union to support and administer missions immediately before and during World War II, Tanganyika became part of Section II of the Central European Division, which was fostered by the General Conference. In 1940 this mission was made part of the Southern African Division. Then from 1943 to 1960 the Tanganyika Mission Field was part of the East African Union Mission in the same division.

Work in Zanzibar and Pemba. Colporteurs from Pare, in Tanganyika, had sold SDA books on Zanzibar as early as the 1930s, and later a regular colporteur and his family had lived and worked on the island for more than five years. In 1945 W. Marais, a South African missionary in Kenya, went to solicit Ingathering funds on Zanzibar, and other workers have since made similar annual visits and have also sold many SDA books. In 1956 an African colporteur evangelist and his family were sent to Zanzibar from Tanganyika, and his work resulted in the first baptism of Shirazis, in 1958.

During the decade of the 1970s, SDAs made further attempts to enter Zanzibar. In 1974 Israel Kumbo, a layperson who had worked in Zanzibar, was sent to assess possibilities of contacting government officials with the hope of establishing SDA work there. After a promising start, the plans failed to materialize.

In 1986 Lukwaro, a literature evangelist, was sent to Zanzibar.

In 1987 permission was given to open a dispensary because of a favorable contact with an official who had been treated at an Adventist institution. Literature evangelism continued, resulting in the baptism of nine in 1989. In 1990, 12 more were baptized.

In 1991 Ibrahimu Alex Juma, a literature evangelist who had been working in Zanzibar, received permission to visit Pemba. During meetings held in a local church, the pastor and six of the members decided to become Seventh-day Adventists. Five were baptized.

In 1992 a church of 70 members was organized in Zanzibar, and in Pemba 32 people are worshiping on the Sabbath day.

Reorganization. In 1960, to facilitate the administration of the rapidly enlarging membership and to meet the changing territorial conditions, Tanganyika, together with Zanzibar and Pemba, was organized as a separate union, with C.T.J. Hyde as president; M. W. Cuthbert, secretary-treasurer; and H. K. Mashigan, R. F. Medford, and F. Muganda as departmental secretaries. With a membership of 13,237, it was organized in five fields: North-East Tanganyika (Suji), Majita-Ukerewe (Majita), West Lake (Ntusu), East Lake

(Utimbaru), and Tanganyika General. The last named included all areas not allocated to the other four fields, and also Zanzibar and Pemba.

The Tanzania General Field (organized 1960) embraces mostly the unentered territory, including the centers of population, and therefore was originally administered by the union officers from the headquarters station at Busegwe. In 1967 the headquarters for this field were moved to the town of Morogoro, Tanzania, which was a more suitable location from which to administer the rapidly growing membership. Colporteurs pioneered in its towns, selling books and establishing branch Sabbath schools.

These were followed by resident ministerial graduates who carried out a house-to-house visitation program in Tabora, Tanga, Iringa, Morogoro, and Dar es Salaam. City evangelistic meetings were held in Morogoro (1959), Dar es Salaam, and Tanga (1961) by two African evangelists. In Dar es Salaam, the capital, E. E. Cleveland, of the General Conference Ministerial Department, conducted an evangelistic campaign in 1963 that served the double purpose of winning converts and providing evangelistic training for a team composed of workers from several unions.

The continued rapid growth in Tanzania through the 1980s and 1990s precipitated other organizational changes.

The Tanzania Union also administers Tanzania Adventist Seminary and College and Parane Secondary School. The union headquarters moved to Arusha in 1974. The city has an international airport and desirable communication facilities. All the conferences and fields are under national leadership. This is also true of the union leadership.

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