shepherdroebke@gmail.com, Author at WELS Friends of Africa

December 16, 2020December 15, 2020

Family Gatherings 2020

The members of the Roebke family live in Milwaukee, Madison (WI) and Lilongwe

The last time I celebrated Christmas with my parents and siblings was 2003, when I had a 3 month gap between calls in the public ministry. Pastors are busy leading worship services at their congregations during the holidays. For a few years in the mid-2000’s we lived close enough to our relatives to spend a few days after Christmas with relatives, but for the rest of our married years it’s been too great a distance for my wife and I to travel “home for the holidays.”

This year is no exception as we prepare to greet our Savior’s birth in the balmy tropics with one of our daughters, who will spend two months with us. Thanks to COVID she’s doing all of her schooling this semester remotely, so it doesn’t matter if she’s logging in from her apartment in Milwaukee or from our home in Africa. Our other daughter lives 8,000 miles away in Wisconsin and is getting her first taste of winter driving. It’s also the first time we will be apart for the Christmas holidays.

December 2, 2020December 3, 2020

Building God’s House in Malawi

Rev. Stanley Daile and his family will live in a new house being built on the campus of the Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi

Building God’s House in Malawi

It’s been fun to watch the progress. Standing on my front porch, I can look across the road to see the new house being built. The house is being built on the campus of the Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) in Lilongwe, Malawi. Once it is completed, it will be a home for our newest LBI professor, Rev. Stanley Daile, and his family.

November 18, 2020November 11, 2020

Jumping the Digital Divide

Missionary Dan Kroll is teaching an online course to Christians in Liberia and Uganda with technology that is locally accessible. Watch a video clip of his lesson at https://youtu.be/iY8UH9E2yTA or click on the image above

Background: One Africa Team missionaries had intended to make several trips to both Libera and Uganda to meet with local Christian fellowships that have expressed their desire to learn more about the teachings of the Lutheran Church and perhaps even enter into fellowship with the Wisconsin Synod. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the WELS has suspended all missionary travel to and from any country except the United States and the country where each missionary is based. The OAT Outreach Committee has begun long-distance teaching with these groups, in spite of several technological and social hurdles.

Some months ago the One Africa Team received a gift to assist with phones and internet expenses to bring the gospel message to new areas via online teaching. Although it’s exciting to move into the COVID–techvirtual world, it is a bit scary for us who live in a culture that functions primarily with face-to-face communication. In Africa, we rely much more heavily on non-verbal communication and other contextual cues to communicate than in the United States typically.