Dear Friends,
Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ! We are so grateful to God for your passion and commitment to pursue the Great Commission through preaching the gospel and discipleship. We are delighted to partner with you in this mission of releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.
My name is Agnes Stanley Hotay, the National Director for Compassion Tanzania since 2014. I joined Compassion in 2002. Compassion’s ministry in Tanzania started in 1999 and we have experienced God’s favor and exponential growth. We currently partner with more than 500 Tanzanian churches that support over 112,000 children and youth. My passion is to see children realize their God given potential, fulfill their dreams, build strong families and transform their communities.
Tanzania is one of the most beautiful countries, we have wonderful people, a variety of ethnic groups, numerous natural resources, a good climate and attractive national parks. However, a large population of people (especially children) are still experiencing extreme poverty. Our desire has been to reach all children living in poverty in our country, but the resources are not always enough. Some sections of Tanzania with severe poverty rates do not have a local evangelical church to partner with. We are excited about the church planting initiative because it opens doors of opportunity to reach those communities, expanding our ministry and delivering more children from poverty.
I am deeply convinced that church planting will empower the local church to extend to areas where the gospel hasn’t been preached. As we plant churches and provide holistic child development programs, we will expand God’s Kingdom. A large population of evangelical churches in Tanzania are familiar with church planting. As we embark on this journey, we plan to start with the right understanding and clear expectations. We will be very careful in the selection process and focus on mother churches with a vision to plant new churches in strategic places, especially poverty-stricken communities with the purpose of transforming them through evangelism and discipleship.
Furthermore, churches that have demonstrated a genuine passion for holistic child development and have partnered with Compassion will be given priority. Such churches should have the capacity to mobilize local resources, secure land, appoint pastors for the daughter churches and remain committed to provide long-term support to the newly established church. We plan to grow by opening new church partners through church planting in existing regions of operations and new geographical regions.
I believe that your involvement in this endeavor will accelerate the fulfillment of God’s purpose enabling us to deliver even more children from the shackles of poverty in Jesus’ name! Thank you for your vision and passion to serve children.
Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise, says the Lord. I will protect them from those who malign them. (Psalm 12:5, NIV)
In Christ,
Agnes Hotay
