About Bishop Chilongani

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Dickson Daud Chilongani was elected sixth as Bishop of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika (DCT) on October 8^th 2014 in the country’s administrative capital of Dodoma, winning more than 90 percent of the votes in a country where Episcopal elections are often hotly contested. He is a third person in the Anglican Church of Tanzania’s history to be elected as Bishop while serving as General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Tanzania (ACT). The Synod was held under the chairmanship of the diocesan Bishop of Tarime the Rt. Rev. Dr. Mwita Akiri on behalf of the Primate, the Most

Rev. Dr. Jacob Chimeledya. Bishop Chilongani got the most votes during the special Synod whose atmosphere was described by one member as “great and interesting”.

Of the 716 members of Synod 658 voted for Rt. Rev. Dr. Dickson Daud Chilongani and only 58 voted for the other candidate.

“This tells you the extent of people’s expectations from us; we feel powerless and will only rely on God’s guidance and prayer.”

Rt. Rev. Dr. Dickson Daud Chilongani wrote in a letter to his friends around the world.

The Bishop’s seat in the diocese fell vacant after the former, the Rt. Rev. Godfrey Mdimi Mhogolo, died in March 2014.

The DCT covers three districts namely Dodoma City Council, Bahi District Council and Chamwino District Council, with a population of more than 1.2 million people. Geographically it is a small diocese but numerically is the biggest diocese in Tanzania with others suggesting that numerically it could be the largest diocese in the Anglican Communion.

Rt. Rev. Dr. Dickson Daud Chilongani was born on 1^st January 1966 and grew up in the capital city of Dodoma. Rt. Rev. Dr. Dickson Chilongani is a Theologian who graduated with a Diploma in Theology, at St. Philips Theological College, Kongwa in Tanzania; a Bachelor degree in Theology at Trinity Theological College, Bristol University in England; a Master’s Degree in Theology at The University of Durham, in England; and finally he graduated with PhD in Theology in the University of Bristol in England.

Rt. Rev. Dr. Dickson Daud Chilongani has also held several positions in DCT including Principal of Msalato Theological College; Vicar General, Lecturer at Jeonju University in South Korea; External Examiner of St. John’s University of Tanzania. He and his wife, Pendo, have two sons, Imani and John.

Because of his travels, education, and experience, Rt. Rev. Dr. Dickson Daud Chilongani relates to a wide variety of people. Before his election he was the General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Tanzania. He was among the scholars who were appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury to compose Bible studies for the Lambeth Conference in 2008. As a member of the Anglican Consultative Council, he has worked with greater cooperation and information-sharing across the Anglican Communion. He participated in Continuing Indaba, the project for enabling conversation and continued mission across differences in the Anglican Communion.