Tanzania (MNN) — The United States Embassy in Tanzania is cautioning travel to the country. Tanzania is situated close to northern Mozambique where there is a significant Muslim extremist presence.
ISIS fighters have infiltrated the porous border from Mozambique into Tanzania in the past the carry out attacks. Recently, the U.S. communicated there could be a terrorist attack on popular tourist locations in Tanzania.
Tanzania has the largest population in East Africa, and 63 percent are Christian. Another 34 percent of Tanzanians are Muslim.
The country’s population is also very youthful — over 60 percent are below age 25 as of 2020.
Previous Mission Cry sea container shipped to Tanzania in 2021. (Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)
Extremist groups often target young people for indoctrination and recruitment.
A local church leader told International Christian Concern, “Lately, we have seen how our young men and women have joined terrorist groups within the region, and so we should remain vigilant and prayerful and ask God to protect us from these enemies.”
Mission Cry’s President, Rev. Jason Woolford agrees, “We see in Tanzania and Dar Es Salaam that the Muslims are really trying to take a stronghold there.”
To combat the lure of terrorism, Mission Cry is resourcing Tanzanian churches, seminaries, and Christian leaders with free Bibles and Christian books.
“They don’t have access to Bibles — and if they do have access, they can’t afford them,” says Woolford.
“There’s a huge need for the students that want to go to seminary, but they can’t afford to go, and even if the school is free, they can’t afford the books.”
Mission Cry recently shipped a sea container to Tanzania packed full of donated Bibles and Christian books to distribute free of charge.
“This container that’s landing in Tanzania as we speak is going to give over 30,000 people the opportunity to have a Bible or a Christian book, [and] seminary students in multiple colleges and universities [the opportunity] to have the Bibles and seminary materials they need to be trained up,” says Woolford.
Bibles and Christian books distributed by Mission Cry in Tanzania in 2020. (Photo courtesy of Mission Cry)
“For us to send this container, it costs about $11,000, but that has nearly a half a million dollars worth of free Bibles and Christian books that are given out 100% for free.”
Christians in Tanzania need our support and prayers as they raise the next generation of young people to seek the Lord.
Woolford says, “When you’re seeing the growth of Christianity, eventually you’re going to see the devil come in against that because where there’s growth, where there’s movement of the Lord, obviously the devil wants to stomp that out.
“Continue to pray because they’ve requested multiple containers from us. We’ve sent two containers so far and we have three additional containers that we could send right now if they were sponsored.”
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Header photo of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, courtesy of Peter Mitchell via Unsplash.
