welsfriendsofafrica.com, Author at WELS Friends of Africa

March 2, 2022March 1, 2022

Back to Cameroon

This week’s post is written by Missionary Dan Kroll, the One Africa Team liaison to Nigeria and Cameroon. He recently went back to Cameroon for a regional meeting with pastors from the Lutheran Church of Cameroon, Christ the King Lutheran Church of Nigeria, and All Saints Lutheran Church of Nigeria.

We’ve been pretty busy in Cameroon the past few months. We were there in October to discuss the Lutheran Church of Cameroon’s ministry plan and consider some of the changes they might want to make in the near future. There’s a lot of ministry happening there!

Missionary John Holtz also led a workshop on the topic of Dialogue Education, as a part of ongoing professional development courses that One Africa Team offers our mission partners in Africa through the Confessional Lutheran Institute (CLI). The course on Dialogue Education was eye-opening for the local pastors, many of whom had only rarely experienced anything other than learning by rote. In the midst of this workshop, somebody commented, “this changes everything!”

January 13, 2022February 3, 2022

Old Cheese

Do you like looking at old photographs? Probably you do. And probably you don’t. On the one hand, how heartwarming it can be to see those happy photos of your children when they were five years old. And imagine… now those kids of yours have children of their own! But on the other hand, oh my! That hairstyle! That cheesy mustache! Those silly bell-bottom jeans! Did I really look like that? Is it possible that the ‘me’ of yesterday was not as groovy as I thought I was?

December 15, 2021December 16, 2021

Enter Stage Right

A corporate merger is a process that happens one stage at a time. It unites two or more business organizations with overlapping interests. The decision may be made mutually by all parties. The goal is to increase the efficiency and reach of the new entity’s brand. The decision to merge may be the unintended consequence of financial difficulties that one of the partners is experiencing. A hostile takeover often leads to the dissolution of the weaker partner’s identity and assets.

Mergers between church bodies occur frequently for similar reasons, and with similar results. Instead of struggling to maintain separate worker training systems, church bodies can send their future called workers to the same schools. Church bodies can combine their resources to more effectively deliver humanitarian aid to the people in their communities. But the administrative advantages that are gained come with a cost. Church mergers often come at the expense of doctrinal integrity. Church bodies “agree to disagree” in the name of compromise.