The Diocese of Tabora

The Anglican Diocese of Tabora, inaugurated in July 1989, was formed out of the Diocese of Western Tanganyika to enable the efforts to reach people in this area to be more concentrated and effective. As the Diocese was inaugurated under the leadership of its bishop, the Rt. Revd. Francis Ntiruka, there were 10 parishes with a total of 35 congregations. Now there are 27 parishes with over 120 congregations of which 34 were started between 2001 and 2003. The Diocese of Tabora occupies an area of 96,000 sq km of rural western Tanzania. It is about one tenth of the area of mainland Tanzania. Approximately 2 million people live in the region, around 200,000 in Tabora municipality. Most people are involved in subsistence agriculture - in other words they grow the food they need to feed themselves and their families. However, there are some cash crops - mainly tobacco, rice and maize. The region is very poor especially after several years of failed or poor harvests due to extreme and unusual weather patterns. The main priorities of the diocese are in Evangelism, Training and Development.