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A BRIEF BACKGROUND
Hello! My name is David Stamen. I live in Exeter, Devon, and am married with four grown-up children. I have been travelling to
Tanzania on an annual basis since 1991. I was initially invited to speak at a
conference of village churches in the Iringa region, connected to a
particular Pentecostal denomination in Tanzania. Over the years, invitations
have come from other groups within Tanzania, which also led me to become
particularly associated with an indigenous work that began chiefly among the
Maasai, but now encompasses others also. More recently, an ‘effectual door’ has
also opened to speak among the churches of the Evangelical Assemblies of God
Tanzania. At the moment, invitations to this group of churches fills most of my
itinerary when I go - I endeavour to go twice a year for about 3 or 4 weeks at
a time, speaking at least once a day virtually every day. After my first visit
to Tanzania, I immediately set about learning Swahili and I can now speak
Swahili socially, which, apart from being a tremendous help to me in getting to
know people, is also greatly appreciated by the Tanzanians themselves. However,
I preach mostly in English, though I do 'lapse' into Swahili at times. To
preach fluently in Swahili is still something that lies before me!
I also started to write numerous biblical teaching articles
in Swahili or that were translated into Swahili, and to record the sermons I
was preaching, which were being simultaneously interpreted. I put these
on the website I created, called somabiblia.com. On average, this attracts
about 150 people a day. As many people use facebook in Tanzania, I have also
posted these teachings on a facebook page. This seems to be a blessing to quite
a few people, given the feedback and correspondence that it has generated and
the friendships this has led to. For example, my visit of June 2018 came
exclusively from churches in Dar Es Salaam whose pastors or church members had
come across my website. These represented six different denominations or
independent works. My audio messages have been broadcast on a local radio
station in the north of Tanzania by one of the directors who came across my
website, and a Christian newspaper based in Dar Es Salaam also published all my
written messages week by week over many months. So, whereas in the earlier
years I used to spend most of my time preaching and teaching in villages and
sleeping in mud huts (which I loved!), I am now increasingly being invited to
speak in a number of different cities in Tanzania, especially Dar Es Salaam. In
fact, it has been a prayer burden for some time that the Lord would open
effectual doors in Dar Es Salaam and this is what is now happening. It was a
special blessing and privilege to speak for five days at a youth conference in
June 2018. In addition to this, the website has resulted in further invitations
within Tanzania and from neighbouring countries, such as Kenya, Burundi and the
D. R. of the Congo.
As I mentioned, my time is filled with preaching and
teaching when I am in Tanzania, but it is impossible to go without helping my brothers
and sisters who are in need - particularly as our 'little' goes a long way in
their situations. However, great wisdom and care are needed in giving help so
as not to generate envy among others and not to expose those to whom you give
to temptations that may overwhelm them! Over the years the support has included
paying for the corrugated metal sheets that are the main expense of building a
more weatherproof meeting place for believers - this is a useful way of helping
all the believers in a locality as they generally find it very hard to raise
such money by themselves; helping widows and abandoned mothers; food relief at
times of flooding and drought; supporting one or two key faithful pastors;
providing clothing and emergency medical expenses, and especially at this time
of the Covid-19, providing food to families who are really struggling. Hunger
or the threat of hunger is an ever-present reality for many at this time. If
you read the various pages on this site, you will get an idea of the different
kind of the support that people have received.
I am very thankful to Lord for the opportunity to go to East
Africa and to share and declare His word, and am very appreciative of the
prayers of God's people!
If you wish to contact me about the work, please use the following email address:
dsta12@hotmail.co.uk
I have a website that is mainly in Swahili. It has many Swahili articles on Bible themes and also many sermons that I have preached, all of which are simultaneously interpreted into Swahili. There is also and English section. Below is the link if you are interested:
