Toward the end of the year 2015, the African continent was favoured by God to host an African Youth Conference in the city of Arusha, Tanzania. The conference was attended by people from 12 countries: Botswana, Burundi, Canada, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, U.S.A., South Africa, Zambia, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, who hosted and played a major role in organizing the conference. Many tasks, both spiritual and physical, were carried out in order to make the event attractive and blessed, so as to give God the glory.

Pastor P. Shirima opened the conference with a silent prayer, inviting the presence of the Holy Spirit. He then welcomed all the people. As the first speaker, Brother Shirima invited the congregation to meditate on the following verses, “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me.” John 17:24–25. He emphasized to us to always behold Jesus and His father, and reveal Their glory in our daily life, revealing unity. Everyone should imitate Jesus in everything; we need to aim to reach and receive the divine nature, and then become sons and daughters of God.

The next speaker, our main speaker for the Youth Conference was Brother Joel Barnedo, the General Conference Youth Leader, who lectured about “Jesus Is Our Friend and Our Saviour”. There is nothing that we are passing through that Jesus did not go through Himself. And He is now at the right hand of God, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” Matthew 28:18

Brother Barnedo beseeched us to delve more and more into heavenly things where Jesus is; our mind should be occupied and enshrouded with heavenly things. We need to be closer to Jesus now more than ever. The 144,000 will be with Jesus always throughout eternity, so we need to be with Jesus always in this life. It is a privilege to be together in this conference; we need to be pure in life and try to win souls for Jesus. God cannot use us if we are cherishing even one sin. Our main mission is to bring people to Jesus to be converted and saved. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12

He concluded that all preaching that leaves people unsaved is of no use. “I cried unto Thee; save Me, and l shall keep Thy testimonies.” Psalm 119:146. During the conference, each day except Sabbath, morning worship was at 6:00 a.m. After morning worship we all engaged in physical exercise.

The Lord blessed us in having several speakers at the conference who shared their testimony to feed the conference with spiritual bread. This was a most interesting event.

Some days were dedicated for tours, including climbing part of Mount Kilimanjaro. We visited the Ngorongoro craters, which are considered one of the seven wonders of Africa. These craters are inhabited by wild and domestic animals, living together, and surrounded by traditional ethnic Masai houses.

The conference was blessed to have Pastor Pablo Hunger present, the Secretary and Vice President of the General Conference. His presence was a great blessing, not only to the youth, but to the whole congregation. He encouraged and counselled the youth on the four steps of courtship, how to lead their lives before and after marriage, how to find the right spouse, and how to plan for the future. The four steps of courtship are: friendship, courtship, engagement, vow of marriage.

Brother Hunger was accompanied by his daughter, Damaris, who also shared her experience in the Lord.

Pastor Andrew Mangwe, the Botswana Field Leader talked about “Our Great Mission” of spreading the gospel. From Botswana we also had Sister Dinewi Dube who also shared her experience in the Lord. She talked about “Waiting Upon the Lord.” From South Africa we had Sister Stella Morudu, who talked about self-conduct and sexual behaviour. Sister Morudu was accompanied by her two daughters, Diniwe, who lives in Botswana, and Molatela. Sister Molatela played a big role in arranging, planning and coordinating the conference, together with Brother Ben Muzondo, Gabriel Shirima, Prosper Mbwambo, Erick Ndimangwa and Moses Akim, the Tanzanian Youth Leader.

For the first time we had  representatives from South Sudan, Brother Festus John and Brother Karisa.

Pastor Sandoya, the Zambian Union Leader preached about “Working with Aim,” just like the four men in Jesus’ time. “And they come unto Him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. And when they could not come nigh unto Him for the press, they uncovered the roof where He was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.” ” Mark 2:3–4. These four men had aimed to bring their friend to Jesus, to have him healed by Him, but they had to pass through several obstacles before they got the man to Jesus to be healed. Success in a Christian’s life does not come in just one moment, but by a combination of effort and sacrifice.

Sister Leila McTavish from Canada who does a lot of missionary work, having visited the African continent over 20 times, shared her experience in the Lord. One of the topics that she shared was “Three Types of Baptism.” These include: baptism by water, baptism by the Holy Spirit, baptism by fire.  She emphasized that the hardest one is baptism by fire, which brings purification and brings us closer to Jesus. We were encouraged to always hold onto the hands of Jesus Christ.

Sister Christina Bosek talked about a famous criminal by the name of Tom, who met a great and famous lawyer. This story drew the attention of the congregation to the fact that we are all criminals, but Jesus offered up a special sacrifice in order to save us from the penalty of death. Jesus is that famous lawyer. He can win our cases for us only if we go to Him, and be willing to part with all the bad, past history of our lives.

Brother Hildon talked about the necessity of “drinking and eating from the blood and the flesh of Christ”, for He is the heavenly manna, come down from God, in order for us to grow spiritually. The Holy Spirit must quicken us and give life to us. “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6:53. It was outlined that we must pray hard and meditate on the sacrifice of Christ continually, so that we can be protected from the devil.

On Friday, we witnessed one brother and three sisters who dedicated their lives to the Lord, making a covenant with Him through baptism. Pastor Joel Barnedo conducted the service.

The second Sabbath of the conference, December 26, was the most beautiful we had ever experienced. During the divine service, Pastor Pablo Hunger fed the conference with the topic, “Source of All Power and the Secret of the Power of Samson.” Samson’s power did not come from his uncut hair. “And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of Thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived.” Judges 15:18–19

It was the spirit of God who renewed the strength of Samson; he became a hero only when God gave him power, and his end proved this when he prayed for revenge from God. The Pastor brought before the congregation a new plate as an illustration. The plate in his hand looked good, but then he threw down the plate and it broke into many pieces. It was an interesting example to show us that only God can make us new again. He can change our lives and then we can become useful again. Apart from Him we are nothing. At the end of his sermon he extended an invitation to those who wish to let Jesus make them new and renew their covenant with Him. There was a positive response. The whole congregation stood up, as many hearts were touched by the sermon, then prayers were offered.

After lunch, Pastor Joel Barnedo gave his final words to the meeting with a talk he titled, “The Budding of Aaron’s Rod.”

“And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.” Numbers 17:8. He concluded that as we all leave and go home again, each one of the young men and women, pastors, Bible workers, need to blossom and bear fruits and this can be possible only if we are connected to Jesus.

THANKS

The Tanzanian Union extend our gratitude and thanks to all who offered their contribution in materials, and in financial support, or otherwise.

Special thanks to the General Conference who responded in a positive way and sent their officers. Thanks also to Pablo Hunger, Joel Barnedo, Sister Leila McTavish, Christina McTavish, Tiffany Bessec, Damaris Hunger, Pastor Mbaka, Pastor Fue, Andrew Mangwe, Sister Molatela, Denewi, Stella, Brother Romeo Eric, Pastor Shirima, Moses Akim, Ben Muzondo, Prosper Mbwambo Festus, Albert, Andrew–the driver of our Bethel School bus, Daniel Kimeu, Pastor Sondoya, Gabriel, Dar es Salaam combined choir. There is not enough space and time to mention each and every one. To God be the glory and honour. Amen.

Hildon Mbogela
Secretary of the Union of Tanzania (Dar es Salaam)

See photos in the February 2016 issue of the Reformation Messenger