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ELCT launches jubilee with attack on gay marriagesBy Thomas Ratsim The Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) have affirmed that they will not support gay marriages since the practice is not only against the nature of human beings but is also against Biblical teachings. This remark was made last Sunday by the Right Reverend Thomas Laiser, Bishop of the Diocese in Arusha Region of ELCT while he was delivering his speech in a colourful ceremony to launch the 100-year anniversary of Evangelism in his Diocese at the Arusha Lutheran Cathedral. Bishop Laiser said that during their Episcopal retreat held in Bukoba in February this year, they expressed their stance on practices of homosexuality and lesbianism as well as the adverse effects of globalization. Condemning the practice, Bishop Laiser said that homosexuality is not considered a traditional marriage like that between a man and woman and is not at all God-ordained matrimony so the Lutheran community would not accept it. Earlier, Pastor Nathanael Ngobei, Assistant to the Bishop while delivering a sermon, emphasized that the followers have reached a turning point of their lives by choosing to follow God and he condemned those who take the Gospel to other denominations instead of non-Christians. Speaking on the marking of the 100-year anniversary of evangelism the Bishop, in his Diocese said celebration of the jubilee would reach its climax on August 15 this year. He said the epoch would be marked by the laying of stones and inauguration of spiritual and social services projects as well as spiritual crusades to be conducted all over the diocese. He mentioned some of those as the laying stone of the proposed Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre and water project at Ketumbeine. During the celebrations of the centennial, the diocese would invite guests within and outside the country. Some of them are from missions in Germany with partnership with the diocese, and Northern Illinois Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Operation Bootstrap and Lutheran Partners in Global Ministry. "Jubilee is not only marking the 100 years, but is also the time for being grateful to God for all the achievements," insisted Bishop Laiser. The launching ceremony was attended by Government and church leaders from Pare, Northern, Meru and Mbulu Dioceses of ELCT. The Diocese in Arusha Region which operates in the administrative regions of Arusha and Manyara has more than 334,000 followers and also works in parts of the Morogoro, Singida and Tanga regions. Missionary Arno Krause from Leipzig Mission established the cradle of evangelism of the diocese at the mission station in Ilboru in 1904 and thereafter 30,000 burnt bricks were ferried to the present location of the Cathedral in order to build a church. The first follower was christened in 1907 while the first Pastor Lazaro Laizer was ordained in 1934.
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