125,000 attend Love Tanzania Festival

Andrew Palau and 700 churches are celebrating the success of their Love Tanzania Festival.

The global evangelist worked together with local churches for the two-day evangelistic event at the Jangwani Stadium in Dar es Salaam earlier this month.

The aim of the event was to foster unity, love and humanitarian outreach.

Speaking to the crowds, Palau invited them to "experience the fullness of Christ".

"I'm begging you to receive God's grace. Jesus is here. The battle is won," he said.

In addition to Palau's biblical messages of hope, there were music performances from Tanzanian artists The Voice, Christina Shusho, comedian Masanja and a national worship team led by Pastor Safari Paul. Nicole C Mullen and Don Moen also took to the stage to perform.

For the children, there was a special stage show featuring British kid's ministry leader Duggie Dug Dug, while BMX and FMX athletes put on thrilling high-flying demonstrations.

"It was fantastically wonderful," said a local resident who attended the festival. "I've been waiting ten years for this."

An estimated 125,000 people attended and several thousand reportedly made public commitments to Jesus Christ. Festival staff received around 6,300 response cards over the course of the festival from individuals who had made decisions to follow Christ. Local Christians will follow up with the individuals and connect them to a church in their area.

Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa of the Anglican Church thanked Palau and the team for the festival.

"It is now our responsibility to do all that we can to strengthen the unity and build on it," he said.

Palau festival director Tim Innes said: "Dar es Salaam in Swahili means 'the Harbor of Peace'.

"Truly, Love Tanzania Festival has brought the peace of Christ in a historic way to the churches and to the city of Dar es Salaam.

"The churches have never experienced this level of unity. God has done it and we give Him all the glory."

The festival was preceded by several weeks of local church outreach supported by an international team of volunteers.

During the ministry week, local churches staged several service projects and community outreaches.

These included the running of four eye clinics that provided reading glasses for more than 8,000 people. The Palau team report that hundreds of people lined up each day, some as early as 5am, to be fitted for a pair of glasses. Each patient to have their vision tested at the clinics received a copy of the Gospel of John.

More than 1,500 kids took part in football and basketball clinics hosted by Play for Hope, a team of professional coaches from Rwanda.

"The unity across the churches in Tanzania throughout this campaign has been historic," Palau said. "The heart of the pastors and leaders to make a difference by loving the city and proclaiming this life-changing message will impact Tanzania for generations. I am humbled and honoured to be a part of it."