According to a recent report by Hootsuite, 9 out of 10 individuals living in North America enjoy access to the Internet. By contrast, only 1 out of 4 people living in sub-Saharan Africa are internet users. Nearly 1.3 billion people live on the continent of Africa currently, and the estimated population by the end of this century will be over 2 billion. That is a huge opportunity, both for telecom companies as well as Gospel missionaries!

While most people living in developed countries can view Christian materials digitally, a very small percentage of African living in remote areas have smartphones or tablets. The printed word still has legs in Africa and books carry the message of Christ’s Gospel effectively. In collaboration with WELS Multi-Language Productions, the following printed materials have recently been produced by our Gospel partners in the following countries.

Nigeria

All Saints Lutheran Church is made up of 1,700 Christians who are served by pastors, evangelists and preaching elders in 23 congregations. Rev. Edward Obi, the President of their church body, approached One Africa Team with a request for materials to teach adult Bible class.

WELS Multi-Language Productions has an extensive catalog of publications that they have made available to all of our mission partners around the world. These Gospel-centered publications include both tracts and books in 56 different languages. All Saints chose four books from the “Living in Faith Discipleship Series”: The Origin of Life, How to Talk with God, How to Read Your Bible, and Life After Death. These books were originally produced by the WELS Commission on Special Ministries for use in prison ministry, and have been adapted by WELS Multi-Language Publications for use in the general population.

All Saints requested permission to reprint the English language version of the books, since English is widely understood in Nigeria. Forty copies of each book were printed locally in the town of Ogoja and will be distributed among the pastors, evangelists and preaching elders. We ask for God’s blessing on this sowing of the seed!

Christ the King Lutheran Church is made up of 2,478 members who are served by pastors, evangelists and preaching elders in 34 congregations. This church body was once a part of the Nigerian Lutheran Church, a mission that was jointly served by the WELS and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod when the two church bodies were in fellowship in the Synodical Conference. Christ the King requested assistance in reprinting the text of Luther’s Small Catechism, which was originally published by the Synodical Conference in 1942.

Malawi

The Lutheran Church of Central Africa – Malawi Synod (LCCA-MS) has over 44,000 members. In August of 2019 the LCCA’s Education and Publication Committee identified the need for a book of devotions that Christian families could use in their homes. Over the years, publications in Central Africa have been primarily targeted at pastors or people desiring to become pastors. Other than the Small Catechism and some Adult instruction manuals, there really wasn’t any publication targeted at enriching the devotional life of laypeople.

Northwestern Publishing House granted the LCCA permission to translate The Word Speaks: 365 Devotions Based on the Sayings of Jesus into both the Chichewa and Chitumbuka languages. Twelve pastors from the LCCA worked on the translation project for over a year. WELS Multi-Language Productions Layout Designer Michele Pfeifer designed the cover and layout of the publication. The book will be offered for sale in each of the five regional bookstores located throughout the country.

Ethiopia

The Lutheran Church of Ethiopia (LCE) has 421 members who meet in five different locations and are served by one pastor and four national evangelists. Recently, the LCE offered a day long workshop for its leaders, ministers and members in the town of Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa. The workshop’s topic was on Christian vocation. The LCE chose to use a WELS Bible study called My Vocation in Christ by Rev. Kenneth Cherney and translated the text into the Amharic language.

Once again, MLP Layout Designer Michele Pfeifer assisted with the design of the publication, which had to be produced in a bi-lingual format. Ms. Pfeifer worked closely with LCE President Rev. Kebede to ensure the correct placement and layout of the texts.

The seminar, the first of its kind that the LCE has ever offered, was attended by 23 people. They will continue to offer this seminar and others like it in the future as a part of their outreach to their fellow Ethiopians.

Missionary John Roebke 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

God decided.  It was God’s choice and God’s timing. And that is the way it should be.

What was this decision, this choice at this time? God determined when Willy’s life on this earth was over. The placard that led the funeral procession now marks the fresh grave and reminds visitors of the days and years that the LORD had ordained for Willy:

Born: 14 June 1964.
Died: 30 January 2021.

57 years of God’s undeserved but abundant grace bookended between 1964 and 2021.   This span of time gave Willy opportunity to accomplish a lot of things: grow crops, play football, get an education, marry, raise a family, even become a full-time worker in the church.  In all he pursued in life, Willy strived to do what the Apostle Paul wrote passionately about in Philippians 1:20, namely, to exalt Christ.

“I eagerly expect and hope that I will…have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or whether by death.”

Whether by life

Willy’s full name was Willy Matengula Gama. Since 1999 Willy had been serving as an Evangelist in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa. Evangelist Matengula and his family had been living in the southern region of Malawi in an area called Mpemba.  For the past 19 years he has been serving a four-congregation parish union.  Like the Apostle Paul, Willy joyfully preached “Christ crucified” and loved to sing praises to God.   

Willy had a special appreciation for life.  After all, he nearly lost his in 1996.  It was then that he was involved in a serious road accident.  A minibus and a bicycle collided, and the one on the two-wheeler was Willy.  Remarkably the collision had not taken his life, but it did take his sight.  

From that point on he lived life in total darkness.  He could have cursed the minibus driver (and for that matter, God Himself) but he didn’t.  He could have become bitter and withdrew from everyone and everything – but he chose not to do so.  

He saw clearly that he could use his lack of vision as an opportunity to exalt Christ with his life. He used his sightlessness to God’s glory.  He devoted his time to learn and to teaching.  He learned Braille and taught confirmation class to the youth in the congregation. 

Willy and his wife Margaret accepted the suffering that God allowed.  Margaret stuck by him during those dark days. For better or for worse. For three years he groped around in darkness.  But then God gave him a spectacular gift:  vision.  No, not a vision, but…vision!  God restored his sight!  Talk about amazing grace!  Was blind…but now I see!

It was then that God called him into the full-time ministry as an Evangelist in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa.  With his life devoted to full time preaching and teaching, Willy exalted the One who not only restored his physical sight but his spiritual sight as well.

Seeing one’s wife and children and congregation is a tremendous blessing, but oh, to see the Savior with the eyes of faith! Twenty-two years later, God called him again.  This time, not to another congregation in Malawi, but to the Church Triumphant in heaven. 

On 30 January 2021 God called Willy to his eternal home.  The home purchased for him by Jesus Christ.

Or whether by death

On 30 January 2021 Willy exalted Christ with this death. But how could that be?  Wasn’t Willy’s body in the coffin?  Wasn’t the coffin lowered into the grave?  Wasn’t the hole filled in and the ground heaped up? 

Of course.  Willy’s eyes were closed.  His mouth silent.  He obviously could no longer preach and teach and sing…but others could and did!  Just because Willy’s earthly existence was gone does not mean the wonderful message of the Savior was!

Willy’s death gave the opportunity for hundreds of people to hear the death-defeating gospel of Jesus Christ on the day of his burial. Pastor Patrick Magombo preached the funeral sermon on 2 Timothy 4:5-8.  Even though the Apostle Paul wrote the words and Pastor Magombo preached them, it was as if Willy was speaking them to those who had gathered:

“The time has come for my departure” (indeed, it had). “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, “I have kept the faith” (indeed, he had). And on that day of the funeral, it was as if Willy, like Paul, had passed a baton.

The songs and hymns Willy used to sing?  The ladies and the choirs sang them.  The Scripture lessons that Willy used to teach?  The pastors were speaking them.  The sermons that Willy used to preach?  The pastors were preaching them.  The prayers that Willy used to say?  Many were praying them.  The funeral was Willy’s, but it was all about Christ.

Christ had given Willy 57 years of grace, desire to serve and joy to share.  Christ went to the cross and to hell itself so that Willy wouldn’t have to.  Nor would we. The One who brought Willy into the world in ‘64 now, in His wisdom took him out in ‘21.  God brought him into a place like none we have ever experienced before. A home in which he could exalt the name of Christ forever!  A home with no more tears, suffering, crying or pain or…death.

Don’t you long for such a place?  Are you ever a bit eager to get there?  Ever wonder when God will call you home?  Ever hope it would be today?  Ever wish it would have happened already? If you had the choice to go to heaven today or stay for a while longer on earth, which would it be?

That is the same quandary in which the Apostle Paul found himself.  Torn between the two. To live is Christ and to die is gain. Yet what shall I choose? Paul knew the choice was not his.  Nor is it yours or mine.  God decides.  God’s choice and God’s timing.  And that is the way it should be.

At that moment in Paul’s life, God chose not to call Paul to his heavenly home.   He had more work for Paul to do.  More lives to touch with the gospel.  More opportunities to exalt Christ with his life. Death would come soon enough. It did for Willy.  It will for me.  And for you.

Hast my soul from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer.
All but heav’n is transitory,
God’s own hand shall guide you there.
Soon shall end this earthly story.
Swift shall pass the pilgrim days,
Hope soon change to heav’nly glory,
Faith to sight and prayer to praise. (CW#465 v.4).

Willy’s faith has now become Willy’s sight.  Face to face with the Savior! To live is Christ.  To die is gain.  Whether by our life or whether by our death, may Christ be exalted!

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

When I tell others that I live in Malawi one of the first
questions they ask me is, “What do you do there?  What is your job?  How do you spend your time?”

For many years my answer was, “I’m a housewife.”  Taking care of the kids, husband and home
took up most of my time (and still does, minus the kids).  In spite of our “exotic” location living in
Africa, the laundry, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning has to be done here
as anywhere else in the world.  I get the
impression that some people imagine that my life is very interesting.  Perhaps it felt like that a little bit when
we first moved to Africa 22 years ago. 
But the novelty has long since worn off…

In 2014, I had a chance to add another role to my repertoire.  The mission offered me a job as Assistant to
the Financial Secretary!  I happily
accepted.  This gave me the opportunity
to help a missionary spend less time on paperwork and more time on gospel work.  In general, I like working behind the scenes (In
fact, I’m cringing right now even writing about what I do…).

The current Financial Secretary, Mark Panning, is a WELS
missionary who teaches at the Lutheran Bible Institute. He also has been given
the duty of overseeing the mission expenses of the Malawi field.  He is responsible to pay the bills, account
for the money, and budget for the future. 
As his assistant, I help him do all this.

Bill paying and record keeping for an average household in
the United States probably doesn’t take up too much time. In general, things
take longer to do in Malawi. I spend about 5-10 hours per week taking care of
mission finances.  Internet banking and electronic
bill paying are just starting to be available here, although paying a bill
online has not yet worked for me.  All
bills are paid with a check or cash and hand-delivered to an office.  There are phone bills, electric bills, water
bills, school bills, rent, security services, taxes and salaries to be paid.   There is fuel to buy for the trucks and
generators and maintenance costs for vehicles and properties. Sometimes I send
money to a pastor in a remote village. Almost every week I go to the bank to
get cash to pay for something.

Accounting for all the Malawian Kwachas spent is also
important.  I spend a lot of time
entering transactions in a computer program, choosing the correct account
category (out of 100+ options), making reports and filing away all the
receipts.  I’m always happy when the
accounts balance out!

Even though I’m an assistant to Mark Panning, I also have an
assistant!  He is a Malawian named Mr.
Lamson Chimaliro.  I rely on him a lot to
do some banking and running errands in town. 
Without him, my 5-10 hours per week might turn into 20!  Besides helping me, Mr. Chimaliro does a
myriad of tasks related to the running of the Lutheran Bible Institute
(LBI).  He is a faithful and talented
worker whose tasks range from driving an LBI student wife to the hospital to
deliver a baby at 2 a.m. to fixing electrical problems on our mission compound
to arranging meals when hosting pastors at the LBI guest house.

I’m glad God gives us different gifts and different ways to
serve as part of the body of Christ.  And
I’m thankful to God for being able to serve the mission in this small way.

How will you use your gifts to serve God today?

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve
others…” 1 Peter 4:10

Mindy 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. Go to this link to learn more about our
mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s
hearts  https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa