One Thing Leads to Another

One thing leads to another – in this case, an online Bible school has led to new contacts in Gambella, Ethiopia.

WELS’ Multi-Language Productions offers an online Bible school called TELL.  A large majority of the school’s students are located in Africa. However, people all around the world find TELL very encouraging and use it as their primary source of spiritual growth.  One of our participants is moving into a new and fairly untested level that requires him to confess doctrine agreement with the WELS.

Meet the Students

Opiew Adiew Okugn is from Gambella, Ethiopia. He has been faithful in the TELL program for roughly two years.  He is ready for a TELL Counsellor to work with him at the Multiplication Level of the TELL program. This is challenging Opiew to make use of the knowledge he learned from the TELL program.  The first step, again, is for him to make a statement of agreement with WELS teachings.

When I met with Opiew at Addis Ababa I was reminded about how “one thing leads to another.” Opiew came with three of his brothers from the Gambella Lutheran Church to discuss some essential points of doctrine.  Alfred comes with a degree in teaching. He had been in another church until he saw the false teaching there.  Both Ochalla Omod and Otong Omod have training in another Lutheran Seminary. They also found false teaching and a lot of church politics that they wanted to get away from.  These four men actually started their own congregation in 2015, and have been looking for an international Lutheran group to join for several years.

Looking to the Next Thing

We studied together for four days.  We built good relationships in our study of the truth of Scripture. Those studies were enough to move Opiew into the Multiplication Level.  I was happy to get to know all four of these men personally and especially to hear their doctrinal stand on some important issues.  We will have a good group to study with for the coming years to confirm and build up their ministry.  We might even have the opportunity to bring them close to our brothers and sisters in the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia.  Sometimes things get tangled, but God uses those entanglements to lead from one thing to another. 

Dan Kroll lives in Malawi and is the One Africa Team Liaison to West Africa

Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news, and receive updates. Learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts at https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa