Missionary profile – Laurent Charles Mgaya

By Mercy Kambura

When my dad was a child, missionaries arrived at their village in Namwangu, Mbozi district, Tanzania. They built schools and took my dad through education. Years later, his son became a missionary as well. I’m that son, now serving as a missionary with my church, Rivers of Life Ministries, in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Growing up in a Christian home on the border of Zambia and Tanzania, I learned the way of the Lord very early in life. My mother was a Sunday school teacher, and I tagged along in her teaching expeditions. When I was nine, my dad died, and in the same year, I started teaching alongside my mother in church. She trained us in all the Christian disciplines, including how to fast and pray.

When I was about 16 years old, I went to Zambia for a short-term mission. I was teaching in the preaching meetings. As I grew older, I became a leader in my school and the district. I helped start Christian Fellowships in schools that had none. As I did with my mother many years before, I was still ministering to young people and children. In 2017, I met a missionary under CAPRO who introduced me to the unreached. It was the first time I had heard about the unreached, where they are, and how I could get involved. I started going with him to the mission field, learning what he was doing. Inspired by his mission work, I attended the Nigeria Intercultural School of Mission. When I came home after my training, I embarked to reach the kids in Dar-es-Salaam. We engage the children and spread the word of God to them, and the children reach their families. Three-quarters of the children have reached their parents, and their parents are now joining the church.

I took my Master’s in Intercultural Education from the USA at Bethany Global University. I’m using my knowledge and experience to train missionaries in Tanzania. I’m working with churches to equip believers to become mission-minded and to help them reach among their networks with the Gospel. The Tanzanian Church is focusing on expanding the horizons of the Church other than spreading the Gospel. We need to help the pastors understand that the vision of Christ is to reach the unreached and for the congregation to embrace the vision of Christ. The awareness of mission in Tanzania is relatively low; if people embrace the vision, they’ll support and stand with the missionaries.

#Pray:

For the Church of Tanzania to understand the vision of Christ.
For the people we’re training so that they will be revived to go without delay.
For more workers to reach the unreached in Tanzania.