About Us

Who we are

Ellen Evangelistic Singers

Ellen Evangelistic Singers is a group that seeks to provide various social services and spread the word of God in Tanzania and beyond through singing and preaching.

Ellen Evangelistic Singers (ELLES) offers evangelistic activities through the provision of social services, gospel music, and preaching the word of God in Tanzania, especially in unentered rural areas. ELLES as a group started in the City of Dar es Salaam in 2013.
Most members of the group come from the same family. The ministry of this group, whose members are mostly from one family, started after their mother, Ellen Minza Kalabaga, died in 2012.
When she was alive Ellen Minza was kind, generous and hospitable to people, especially servants of God who visited her area for missionary work. Her house in Nyangokolwa village, Bariadi District, became a camp for pastors and evangelists. Moreover, even before she joined Christianity, people from her family and those from her husband’s family came to her house for refuge. When Mama Ellen joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she loved to serve the church as a singer, evangelist, and deaconess. Because of her dedication to serving the Lord, when she died in 2012, her children decided to use the money that was donated toward her funeral to conduct evangelistic meetings.

The money that was realized was suffient to buy 100 Bibles, 100 Christian hymnals (Swahili) and 500 religious books. Having collected these books, in 2013they approached the local church leadership of the Kanadi District of Seventh-day Adventists, where she lived, so they could go and distribute them for free.

The church leaders advised the group to conduct a week-long evangelistic l campaign (uamsho in Kiswahili). The idea was to distritute the books to the new converts who would be found as a result of the evangelistic campaign. ELLES loved and bought into this idea and went ahead with the plan. The evangelistic campaign was conducted and resulted to a total of 98 people received Jesus and were baptized.

The outcome of this single program stimulated ELLES members so much that they decided to continue with this mission by expanding the objectives of the group.

Vision:

To become a world-class and exemplary singing group proclaiming the gospel and improving lives in Tanzania and beyond.

Mission:

Through singing, preaching and community services to make disciples of Jesus Christ who live as His loving witnesses and proclaim to all people the everlasting gospel of the Three Angels’ Messages in preparation for His soon return.

OUR STORY

Incredible True Short Facts About Ellen Singers

2013
2013
2013
2018
2020

ELLES Evangelistic Activities
The results from the one-week program in 2013 encouraged ELLES to do more evangelistic work The Seventh-day Adventist Church at Nyangokolwa in Bariadi engaged the group in a three weeks evangelistic program in the following year (2014). They loved the idea but the challenge was the source of funding. God gave them a vision to raise money from among themselves. Thus, in 2014 they raised enough money to buy 200 Bibles, 200 Christian Hymnals(Swahili) and 500 other religious books. When the three-week evangelicalism campaign was done, more than 200 people were converted and got baptized. Thereafter, they were inspired to continue the ministry. ELLES decided to conduct evangelistic campaigns annually and involve various stakeholders. Their ministry includes the following programs each year:

>Providing free testing for common diseases and giving free counselling to people. Giving free medications to people who suffer from diseases such as malaria, hookworm I, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
>Social counselling for married, youth and widows
>Peaching the word of God to children, youth and adults
>Securing land for building churches
>Building churches (sometimes one day church) for the new believers
>Donating Bibles and Books to help to educate the wider society on various issues
>Distributing foods and clothes to the needy
>Training people on entrepreneurship
>Singing, recording songs and distributing them in form of CDs, DVDs, USBs, Social Media and website internet (i.e. YouTube).
> Distributing books, pens, and pencils to secondary school students as well as giving inspirational speeches on life skills so they can do well in school and avoid premarital sex
>
Social Services
Through the evangelistic campaigns they conducted n rural areas and in their local societies, ELLES E offered a variety of social services as outlined above. Each year ELLES visits a village in Tanzania, and distributes free books to help the local communities that need books for knowledge. Since its establishment in 2013, ELLES, in collaboration with health workers, has been running health programs and encouraging people to test their health. Because of the shortage of such services in rural areas, this program has proved helpful and life saving to many people. Partnering with various stakeholders, ELLES has also been distributing clothes to families in need.
From 2013 Up to Date
Gospel Songs
As a singing group, ELLES has grown to have twenty choir members. So far they recorded more than fifty (50) original songs. Those songs are available on CD, DVD and flash. Their songs are also avaible on YouTube through their channel named Ellen Singers at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeucppjO2rhdIxXUFQOo-Tw , and have so many followers who are increasing daily.

Languages used in their songs

Currently, ELLES uses two languages to compose and present their songs: Swahili and Sukuma. . Although the Swahili language is Tanzania’s national language and is widely used in the East African region, and indeed internationally, followers of ELLES love more the Sukuma songs. The Sukuma language is one of the local languages of Tanzania that is spoken by people from the Lake Victoria zone. In various singing concerts or church gatherings, where ELLES are invited to sing, people do request Sukuma songs to be repeated several times. Some of the Sukuma songs are Kalugendo and Farao and Nzengo. Kalugendo translates as journey (also known as “Zigi” because of word “zigi” which is used by the lead soloist in the song. The word n”zengo,” simply means “the City.”
From 2013 Up to Date
Baptism and Construction of Churches
In first five years since it's inception 2013-2018), ELLES managed to bring two thousand (3000) souls to Christ through baptism. In order to ensure that those who are baptized stay in the church, ELLES, in collaboration with the local churches, bought plots and built churches for the new converts. Four church buildings were erected during this period). ELLES also deployed lay evangelists to nurture the new believers—each church received three evangelists. The new churches formed beautiful choirs consisting of the new believers who minister to the members during worship services.
2013-2020
Other Activities by ELLES
ELLES has been sponsoring various media programs on radio, television and others posted on YouTube for community awareness. In2018, for instance,ELLES had live presentations on Maisha FM radio based in Bunda, Mara region. ELLES has also performed the following:
a) Sponsoring radio and television presentations on Hope Chanel Tanzania and some of the documentaries are available on Ellen Singers Youtube channel.
b) ELLES has presented special programs on TV and radio stations including TBC1, Chanel Ten, Hope Chanel Tanzania, and Morning Star Redio among others. Such presentations have inspiring many people, both individual and families. Some groups singing groups have been formed in Tanzania following ELLES’ model.
c) Connecting and uniting family members as well as drawing them closer to God. Some of the family members of Ellen were not Christian at all through ELLES ministry they have been baptized and have joined the church.
Thank You