Acknowledgements
Researching on the impact of the Charismatisation of the Lutheran church in Dar es Salaam required me the agency of God, the remarkable strength of the Holy Spirit, and a whole village to help me embark on this long safari. I wrote this dissertation and turned it into a book with the help of some gentle souls who accompanied me for the entire journey, each one of them had a special mission and a special role in each season of my life during this safari. while others were with me only briefly, others walked with me until the publication of this book. Foremost, I wish to thank the Almighty God for leading me on my safari, guiding me, and safeguarding me. If it were up to my strength or power, I would not have been able to complete this task.
My motivation to write on the impact of the charismatisation of the Lutheran Church in Dar es Salaam can be traced long before I became an ordained pastor in the Lutheran Church in Tanzania. Born Lutheran, from one of the first Congolese Lutheran Pastors who after studying theology at Makumira University was sent to establish the Evangelical Lutheran Congo in D.R. Congo in the 1980s. As I was growing, I always loved to network with other denominations until I came across a charismatic group and for the first time, I had a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit and its charisma. I was then interested in finding out how the Holy Spirit was understood among the Lutherans. After I joined my theological studies at Makumira University I became more motivated to research the impact of adopting charismatic features within the Lutheran Church in Dar es Salaam as the church was facing the challenge of membership decrease. Lutherans were moving to charismatic churches in search of worship services that addressed their spiritual needs. As I was doing my Masters in Missiology, Professor Dr Andreas Heuser inspired me to do research on the Lutheran-Pentecostalism as he taught the subject of African Pentecostalism, I am grateful to him.
This safari would have been impossible without financial support. I would therefore like to thank the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) for funding not only my doctoral studies in theology at the Protestant Theology Faculty at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany but also for providing financial support for my master’s degree in Missiology from 2009 to 2011 at Tumaini University Makumira. I would like to thank the Executive Secretary for Training and Empowerment, Rev. Dr Andar Parlindungan, and Ms Claudia Schletter, the Administrative Assistant for the Department of Training and Empowerment. My safari would not have been possible without your continual attention and support.
My gratitude goes to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, the Eastern and Coastal Diocese, for allowing me to pursue my doctoral studies in Germany. In addition, I want to thank all the Lutheran Pastors and members of the ELCT–ECD who took the time to participate in the interviews. I will remain grateful for all your responses, which formed the foundation of this dissertation.
I am indebted to Ruhr University, Faculty of Protestant Theology, Department of Intercultural Theology and Corporality, to have given me admission to do my doctoral studies and giving me more opportunities to develop my teaching skills through RUB Research School for this I am grateful to be affiliated to RUB.
I am grateful to you, my supervisor, Prof. Dr Claudia Jahnel, for your invaluable assistance throughout this work. Your critical analytical remarks significantly impacted the current shape of this work. You devoted her time to holding various meetings and organising doctoral colloquiums to help ensure this work took its current form. Throughout this research, Dr Jahnel, you grew beyond an academic supervisor to become a mentor.
Thank you, Prof. Dr Traugott Jähnichen from Ruhr University Bochum and Dr Viateur Habarurema from the Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (PIASS) in Rwanda, for your co-supervision. Your critical and diligent comments aided in furthering and improving this work.
Without financial support, this book could not have been printed and distributed to the World through Brill Deutschland GmbH / Schöningh. Many thanks to the following organisations and institutions for their financial support: I send my sincere thanks to the United Evangelical Mission (UEM); to the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Missionswissenschaft (DGMW)/ German Society for Mission Studies; Lutherischer Weltbund Deutsches Nationalkomitte (DNK/LWB)/ German National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (GNC/LWF); Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen (EKvW); Mission Eine Welt (MEW); Evangelische Mission Weltweit e.V (EMW) / Association of Protestant Churches and Missions in Germany, and to the Reihenherausgeber Brill Verlag.
I also want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to Prof. Dr Harvey Kwiyani, the CEO of Global Connections in the United Kingdom who greatly helped me shape this dissertation by devoting his time to editing the manuscript. Despite his busy schedule, he carefully reviewed my methodological technique and, in so doing, set the entire study on the right course. I appreciate you being a mentor to me, Dr Kwiyani. Your uncommon, wise, and insightful thoughts made a world of difference to me. Without a doubt, they improved my research abilities as well as my writing skills.
Thank you, my friends and family, for the material, spiritual, and emotional support; Dr Emery Mpwate, Mrs. Irene Girsang, Dr Claudia Ramelt, Rev. Stephanie Franz, Dr Philip Musoni and those whose names are not mentioned here. I am grateful to each of them because their contributions made the safari much easier and more bearable in some way. I thank my dear family in Christ in Bochum, Le Ministère Internationale pour le Réveil Spirituel (MIRS) in English The International Ministry for Spiritual Awakening, Apostle Rev. Dr Martin F. Ndongala and all the members for your spiritual support and prayers.
Last but most important is a special ‘thank you’ to my beloved parents, to my father Late Rev. Ngoy Kabwe Musempele and my mother, Dorcas Ngoy Kibawa, thank you for being such a wonderful model to me and showing me the way to salvation through Jesus Christ. A special thanks to all my brothers and sisters for your prayers and emotional support. I want to thank my three angels, Sijenunu, Stephanie, and Simon, for their patience during my absence. They have made me a proud mother. I would also like to thank Grandma Nancy Kyambile, and my niece, Rachel Somwe, for caring for my children while I was on this safari. I pray for God’s blessings on you. Knowing you were both there for my children energised me.
Leita Ngoy