There’s an unusual quiet on the campus.

The Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi is normally in session; there’s usually a beehive of activity that makes the campus hum:

Classes.

Homework.

Study hours.

Work detail.

Classroom learning & break out group discussions.

But now?

No power points presentations, no lectures nor recitations, no storytelling, no Professor jokes nor student laughter.  No opening day devotions or communicative Greek dialogue.

No break-time chatting, checkers, or chess. 

Student houses stand menacingly vacant.

The campus church building stands eerily quiet.

No one is kicking up dust on the football pitch.

No one tending to the maize in the fields.

No students or their families to be seen. Gone without a trace.  It’s as if they all vanished.  Disappeared. 

Well, in a way they have.  In fact, I might add, rather quickly.

Due to the world-wide Coronavirus pandemic, the Lutheran Bible Institute has also been affected.  Just like every other school in Malawi. And most in the world.

On 20 March 2020 Malawian President Mutharika declared Malawi a State of Disaster and ordered that all schools be closed as of 23 March.

That mandate turned into a mad scramble for the faculty to quickly get the students back to their home villages.  It wasn’t an easy doing.  Especially for the Zambian students.  It first meant countless hours in the Immigration office to sort out remaining issues with passports, student permits and for some, birth certificates for kids recently born in Malawi. 

And to think…

This was the final year for the LBI students.  The 3-year program was coming to a close June’s end. The 14 students and their families and the LBI Faculty had anticipated a joyful – and eventful – graduation service.

How things can change and change quickly!  There just was no time for a special “cap and gown” service; there was no class speaker, no class song, no diplomas received, no gifts given.    

It wasn’t that there were COVID-19 cases in Lilongwe.  In fact, at that time, there were no officially confirmed cases even in all of Malawi!  This comparatively tiny country stood with few others as having zero infected people. 

So why cancel the classes if the virus wasn’t evident? 

Because the fear was. 

Maybe you’re seeing – or experiencing – something similar.  Panic buying.  Anxious thoughts.  Worrisome nights and troublesome days.  Some are struggling with lost jobs and new-found questions:

Do I wear a mask or not?

Quarantine or not?

Do I have it?  Did I give it to someone else?

Do I get tested?  Can I get tested?

The fear and the questions spread as quickly as the virus itself. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.

Price hikes, long queues, and empty shelves.  And it’s not just schools that have been cancelled.

Flights? Cancelled.

Hotel bookings? Cancelled.  

Long-awaited vacation? Cancelled.

Cruise?  Rally?  Convention?  Even an election?  Cancelled with a CAPTITAL C.

A red-letter disappointment.

But despite the cancelled classes and graduation service, this class will still proceed onto the Seminary in September 2020. Each of the 14 students have met the qualifications and the faculty recommends them!

And so there were still hopeful smiles on the campus. Before the 14 LBI students parted ways, with a hoe they parted the earth and made time to do one last class activity:

They planted a tree. 

Wouldn’t you know it? With a lighthearted touch, they hung a sign on the tree.  More than a sign, it was the name that they gave the tree; a name that you could probably guess considering these times:

Corona.

Did you know that Corona means “Crown”?  The virus, presumably so named, because, in a way, it resembles one.

The Coronavirus has brought a lot of sickness and death to our world.  But it looks like we are adjusting to the situation: masks, social distancing, hand washing, working from home, and studying at home.  

What a golden opportunity we also have been given: to fix our eyes on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  Stop and pause this week.  What a week it is! 

Whom do we see?

• A Palm Sunday donkey-riding Servant King making triumphal entries, not just into cities like Jerusalem, but into hearts like ours.

• A Maundy Thursday Passover Lamb that offers, not just bread and wine, but Body and Blood.

• A Good Friday Center-Cross “Criminal” who, even as people taunted and mocked, still was breathing out forgiveness.

• A Devil Destroyer who went to hell to proclaim his victory!

• An Easter morning Death Defeater who came out of the tomb fully alive and victorious, guaranteeing our own resurrection and life.  And victory!

• A Powerful Ruler sitting at the right hand of God controlling all things. 

And by faith, what Paul the Apostle knows is also what we know:  “in ALL those things (even in a State of Disaster) God is working for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

THAT you know.  What you maybe didn’t know (but now you will!) was where on the campus the LBI students planted the tree.  They dug the hole and placed the tree right next to the campus church where they worshipped most every morning and every evening. 

The place where law and the gospel was preached.  The house of God in which the name of Jesus was held high.  The location where forgiveness was proclaimed and where the sacraments were administered.  Where they learned to preach devotions and to preside over the liturgy.  

Perhaps what you also didn’t know (but now you will!) was the name of the church: CROWN of LIFE.

What a paradox!

A tree of death. A Crown of Life. Or is it a Crown of Death and a Tree of Life?

As you’re thinking about that, think about this:  There is another tree that comes with the same paradox. The tree on Golgotha.

A tree of life or a tree of death?  A crown of life or a crown of death?

Actually, both.   It’s the place where law and gospel meet.  The epicenter of God’s full wrath and full love.  A converging torrent of anger over sin and love for the sinner.  So, when God gives you the opportunities this Holy Week and beyond,

Sing your Hosannas!

Feast at the Lord’s table!

Answer the hymn writer’s question: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”  (CW #119)

Remind yourself that Satan has been defeated.

Peer into the tomb and find it for what it is: empty.

And the next time your sins trouble you and you wonder if God has forgiven you, remember that the written code was nailed to the cross.  (Colossians 2:14)   

And the debt you owe because of your sins?  

Debt cancelled

Missionary John Holtz lives in Malawi

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

Christ for All, Great News for Africa. Seven words. One
passion. A core focus of the One Africa Team (OAT) that burns like fire in the
belly. That Godly desire. That Christ-like obsession. That Spirit-driven yearn
of the heart. I could sense the hunger in the room:  a resolve to know Christ and to make Him
known.

How can we do that in the most effective, God-pleasing
way in our little corner of the world into which God has placed us?  Especially considering that THAT “little
corner” happens to be the size of AFRICA! 
Or better said, it is Africa. 
Whew. That question hung intimidatingly over us like Malawi’s January clouds.

To figure out the answer to that question, the One Africa
Team gathered in Lilongwe, Malawi for its annual meeting.  The 4-day pow wow was a call to arms of
sorts, a raising of the flag “Christ for All, Great News for Africa.” Five men
from Malawi, four men from Zambia and three from the States.  A dirty dozen washed clean in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ.

It rang true then as it does every day: the better we
know Christ, the greater the passion God fuels in us to be His disciples, His workers
in His harvest fields. Or as John Hartmann reminded us in his opening sermon based
on Titus 1:1-9, “We are Slaves of the Trustworthy Message.”   

An appropriate theme and a timely reminder for the One
Africa Team.   A slave serves.  In our case – and in yours dear Mission
Partner – when the One whom we are serving is the Savior Jesus who gave us the
trustworthy message – wow – that really helps craft and shape our niche in both
life and ministry. 

It did for us as the One Africa Team:  “Through theological education and coordination
of WELS resources, we, the One Africa Team, assist our partners in Africa to
grow as independent, healthy church bodies.” Our partners in Africa?  The Sister Synods who are located in these
countries: Malawi, Zambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia.

These are the ones with whom we have an official
fellowship relationship and standing. 
But there’s more.  Much
more.  By God’s grace the list of potential
sister synods in Africa is growing longer. 
The Holy Spirit is on the move.  OAT
is, too. OAT is following up with contacts and/or groups in Rwanda, Tanzania,
Mozambique, Uganda, Liberia, Congo, Burundi, Zimbabwe… The task is as BIG as it
sounds.  

Understanding that it is, Missionary Hartmann succinctly
summarized the sermon text in a nutshell: 1) we are entrusted with the truth
and 2) we are sent to train others. Are we up for such a task?  Nope, not in our own power!  But as the Word of God impresses upon us, it’s
a mission given and empowered by God Himself. He’s behind it all. And out in
front of us all!   We sang…

In your promise firm we stand;

None can take us from your hand.

Speak we hear at your command,

We will follow YOU!

By your blood our souls were bought;

By your life salvation wrought;

By your light our feet are taught,

Lord, to follow YOU!

He is a Good One to follow.  Yes, Jesus is both behind it all and out in
front.  A Lamb who laid down His life for
His sheep.  (Already happened!) A Shepherd
who still leads His sheep. (Still happening!) 
But he’s not so distant ahead that we can’t follow Him.  Not so far beyond reach that He’s out of
touch.    

What an impassioned desire He has for us!  

To seek and to save is His focused obsession! 

Oh, the deep yearn of Christ’s heart for you and me!

Paul Nitz, the One Africa Team Integrator, set up an
agenda that rallied us around that passion. We participated in some team
building exercises, evaluated our strengths and reconfirmed our core values.  We set down some long-range goals, worked
through some thorny issues and readjusted some structure.  We rethought, rehashed and revisited what
needed attention.

Though the “plans of mice and men” and even OAT for that
matter, may not turn out the way we might think or expect, we have a God who certainly
knows what He’s doing and knows what is best. 
He’s in control and – make no mistake about it – He makes no mistakes
about it.  Even on a continent the size of
Africa.

Christ for All.  Great News for Africa.

Missionary John Holtz lives in Malawi

Stuck. In. The. Mud. It happens (often) during the rainy season. There’s no point in kicking yourself for venturing out on dicey roads or blaming the road engineers who built the road, or shaking your fist at God for sending so much rain. When you’re stuck, you’ve only got one option – you’ve got to get unstuck.

Stuck. It happens (often) in church work. Endless committee meetings become a quagmire for decision making. Miscommunication between Gospel partners ensures zero progress on projects. A change in leadership paralyzes those who are comfortable with the status quo. But when you’re stuck, you don’t point fingers or pass judgment on others. You get unstuck.

I recently travelled to Zambia to meet with members of the two committees responsible for publications work in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa – Zambia Synod. Publications work has been at a standstill for some time. At one time, the Lutheran Press of Lusaka was cranking out tracts, hymnals, sermon books, Sunday school materials and worker training manuals for use in both Zambia and Malawi. In the 1970s and ’80s, missionaries and national workers operated printing equipment on the campus of the Lutheran Seminary because there wasn’t anyone else in town who get the work done. For many years faithful servants of the church produced printed materials that are still in use 40 years later, albeit a bit dated in appearance.

But the times have changed, and Lusaka has seen explosive growth in the last two decades. Shopping malls, movie theaters, expressways and traffic jams are now part of everyday life. The technology of printing has changed rapidly too. Lusaka has several printing houses staffed with talented layout artists who paint on monitors with the flick of a mouse. Computers keep an electric eye on paper streaming and ink flowing through giant Heidelberg presses. Bookbinding machines fuse glue, pages and cover on a smoothly moving production line.

It takes an army of workers and a sharp business plan to
operate a modern printing operation today. It takes an army of church workers
and careful stewardship to deliver the Gospel to today’s audiences. It is a
blessing that the LCCA-ZS can partner with WELS Multi-Language Publications and
local printing houses to obtain printed products that are cheaper and of a much
higher quality than anything they could make themselves.

There are obstacles of course because this is sub-Saharan Africa. A sudden downpour flooded the Lutheran Seminary campus the day of our meeting in Lusaka, so after removing my shoes and socks and rolling up my pant legs I waded my way to work. Delivering printed products to remote congregations is a huge challenge that is overcome by using a delivery network of mini-buses, motorcycles and bicycles. And even the best written printed materials with an attractively designed cover have to compete with whatever’s flashing on your phone’s screen.

Nevertheless, the LCCA-ZS publications program is moving
forward again like a Landcruiser in creeper gear. “The good news of the kingdom
of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it” (Luke
16:16). It is time to press forward.

Missionary John Roebke is the Communications Director for
One Africa Team and lives in Malawi.