Christopher Ndege at age 42 is the youngest bishop ever ordained among Tanzanian Mennonites. Because of his new, and unexpected, responsibilities, he has set aside his plans to begin a Masters degree in seminary.Ndege is charged with leading a newly formed cluster of churches, the Mwanza Diocese. His setting is enough to stymie a veteran leader. "In Tanzania, " he explains, "there are 310,000 refugees from Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo. All 310,000 are living within my diocese. As a church it is our responsibility to help with their spiritual and physical needs. In fact, among the refugees are 150 Mennonites from Congo."
Ndege is a recent graduate of Eastern Mennonite University's (located in the U.S.) peace and justice studies program, and he has put his training to use. "I led a peace workshop in that area. We invited refugees from the camps, along with their chiefs. At first it was difficult because they thought we were going to help them move. As time went on, they began to realize that we were not, and that they needed to work with their inner feelings and find a way to live together in the camps, as well as back home."
Ndege's burden for peace teaching extends beyond the camps--to the leaders in his diocese, and to Mennonites who live "in the big power nations." "Tanzania has been quiet," Ndege says. "It has been politically stable. Since Independence we have not experienced civil war, so the church hasn't taught peace actively. In my diocese we are going to begin Theological Education by Extension. I want to introduce peace teaching--in Swahili--as part of that. We have already formed a Peace Consultation in the Great Lakes region to facilitate teaching peace.
"The big power nations have a sort of invisible hand in Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda. How do we in Tanzania have a voice about that? So much of the U.S. economy depends on selling arms. That puts our sisters and brothers there in a kind of bind. That challenges us about how we carry each other's burdens!"