The church's origins lie in the Diocese of Eastern Equatorial Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania) founded in 1884, with James Hannington as the first bishop; however, Anglican missionary activity had been present in the area since the Universities' Mission to Central Africa and the Church Missionary Society began their work in 1864 and 1878 at Mpwapwa.

In 1960, the province of East Africa, comprising Kenya and Tanzania, was formed with Leonard Beecher as first archbishop.

Having fallen into poor condition, Zanzibar Cathedral was fully restored, at a cost of one million Euros, to reopen in 2016, with a world heritage visitor centre.

The restoration was supported by the Tanzanian and Zanzibari governments, and spearheaded by the diocese in partnership with the World Monuments Fund.

Among the Church's prominent educational institutions are the newly founded St. John's University of Tanzania based in Dodoma, as well as the two Provincial Theological Colleges, St. Phillip's located at Kongwa, and St Mark's in Dar es Salaam).

Alfred Stanway (called Alf; 9 September 1908 – 27 June 1989) was the third bishop of Central Tanganyika, 1951–1971.

[9] He was made a deacon on St Thomas' Day 1934 (21 December) in St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne,[10] ordained a priest about a year later, and consecrated a bishop on Candlemas 1951 (2 February) by Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Westminster Abbey.

[11] The Anglican Church of Tanzania embraces the three traditional orders of ministry: deacon, priest, and bishop.

The basic teachings of the church, or catechism, includes: The threefold sources of authority in Anglicanism are scripture, tradition, and reason.

This balance of scripture, tradition and reason is traced to the work of Richard Hooker, a sixteenth-century apologist.

[14] In December 2006 the ACT declared itself to be in "impaired communion" with The Episcopal Church over the ordination of non-celibate gay people and the blessing of same-sex unions.

He didn't attend GAFCON II in Nairobi, in 21–16 October 2013, where ACT was represented by former Archbishop Donald Mtetemela and other bishops.

[18] The ACT was represented at GAFCON III, in Jerusalem, on 17–22 June 2018, by a 26 members delegation, which included former Archbishop Jacob Chimeledya.

[19] The official branch of GAFCON Tanzania was launched on 14 August 2019, in a meeting held in Dar es Salaam, that reunited 10 bishops of the province, including former Archbishop Jacob Chimeledya, and had the support of one more absent bishop and the retired Archbishop Donald Mtetemela.