I am exhausted. In five weeks, I covered 20,000 miles and made 62 presentations about our Africa missions to churches, schools and individual donors. I am also energized by what I have seen on this speaking tour. I have an even greater appreciation for the diversity within Christ’s Body.

Christ’s Body includes St. Croix Lutheran Academy, an Area Lutheran High School in Minneapolis whose student body includes 125 international students from five continents. Christ’s Body includes Lutheran Elementary Schools in Milwaukee like St. Marcus, Risen Savior, and Mt. Lebanon that bring Christ’s peace to students growing up in an urban and often chaotic environment. The Body of Christ includes churches and schools located in up and coming suburbs, as well as those situated in traditional farming communities. Although the students look and act very different from one another, they all responded the same way to my presentation – with great interest in what life is like in Africa, and a greater appreciation of what God has given them in this country.

It’s not our missions abroad or at home that make us successful. It’s not our stained glass and pipe organs that make us attractive to God. It’s not our schools and colleges that draw God’s attention to us. Whether we meet on Sundays in a cathedral or a mud hut and whether we sing in European time signatures or in African rhythms, our Heavenly Father accepts our praise because his Son has made us worthy. We belong to Christ’s body because he reached out and brought us to life, and we will remain in his body only because of his continued mercy and undeserved love.

In Zambia and Malawi there are over 60,000 Lutherans, and membership continues to increase. Our African brothers’ and sisters’ faith is deeply rooted, and they express that faith beautifully through worship and acts of service. When I consider the extreme poverty and day to day hardships of life in Africa, I can only give God the credit for the men and women of faith that he has raised up here. By contrast, our church body, the Wisconsin Synod, currently has just over 360,000 members. Like most churches in the United States, our numbers are decreasing [watch video].

But although there are many different kinds of people, churches, and church bodies, the only number that matters is ONE – Christ’s Body is ONE, with ONE purpose and ONE Head. We who live in the Developed World are ONE with them, joined to the Body of Christ by God’s grace. Whatever resources God has given us, let us use them to build up Christ’s Body. You don’t have to be a high-powered executive or a financially independent millionaire to support foreign mission work. You don’t have to be fluent in foreign languages to advance God’s kingdom overseas. Because you are a part of Christ’s Body he will use you with great effect and power.

My body is tired, but my spirit has been renewed. “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom 15:5-6)

Missionary John Roebke lives in Malawi and serves as the Communications Director for One Africa Team. He would like to give special thanks to WELS World Missions Scheduler Ginny Mundstock (ginny.mundstock@wels.net), without whom his tour would have been impossible. If your organization is interested in hosting a missions speaker for your event visit www.wels.net/speaker-request

WHEW! We had just gotten here to sub-Sahara Africa (see blue circle on world map below) after being “on the road” for 28 hours (of course, using a car, a bus, and planes). We had just succeeded in spending 5 weeks in North America to explain the work that our church body and the local African Lutheran churches are doing.

WHOA! Guess what we saw? In our barely used post office box in a currently dusty southern hemisphere capital city were three “letters from home” waiting from Lois, a fellow Christian from Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church whom we saw in person in the community where I grew up (see blue pin on world map below). They reminded us of our extended spiritual family. They represented how fellow believers keep us in their hearts, minds, and prayers from 9 thousand miles away and seven hours ahead. These handwritten letters unite us despite distance and time.

Upon returning home, we read one more correspondence, a “letter from our heavenly Father’s home”: from a place which we know only through faith in what Jesus has done for us. Heaven is not on Google Maps; it is harder to pinpoint on a map of this world or even of the universe. But this unique “letter from home” shows us that in the eternal Father’s habitation our heavenly Intercessor, Jesus Christ, holds us dearly in his heart, mind, and prayers.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace.”
Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Chapter 4, Verses 6,7

Paul originally wrote this amazing message nearly two millennia ago, but his letter soothes the spirits of all its readers throughout the ages. It seems incredible that within the extensive ancient Roman empire Paul was unaware of the “New World” across the wide ocean to the west where some of you live, or the large expanse of Africa south of the equator where others of us live. But incredibly, God delivered the letter to us all. Fellow Christians in Philippi, Macedonia, north of the African continent, faced enemies and discouragement—as do we all, no matter where we reside in the world. Paul himself was no “stranger to danger”: he wrote these words from a prison. Paul desired that the Philippians, and we too, have joy and steadfastness in our eternal Savior, who died and rose from the dead for us all and still works all for our good according to His purpose.

Just as physical “letters from home” bring us reassurance so far away from the writer, so also the Bible communicates the promise of God’s eternal peace in Christ despite having been delivered to us from so far away and long ago. The New Testament epistles like Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians have been translated so that they transcend countless language barriers. Thus, African Christians, living and working away from their “kwathu” (home village) also know God holds their lives in His loving hands. Here is the same section of God’s eternal holy letter “Buku Loyera” in Chichewa, one of the popular local African languages, “Kalata ya Paulo Yolembera Afilipi, mutu 4.6,7”:

“Musade nkhawa ndi kanthu kalikonse, koma m’mapemphero anu onse muzipempha Mulungu zimene zikusowani, ndipo nthawi zonse muzipemphe ndi mtima woyamika. Pamenepo mtendere wochokera kwa Mulungu, umene uli wopitirira nzeru zonse za anthu, udzasunga bwino mitima yanu ndi maganizo anu mwa Khristu Yesu.”

Let us continue to pray for the families of future workers of the church studying at Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi as well as those at the Lutheran Seminary, in Lusaka, Zambia, who move to new locations because of their desire to spread the gospel in their own countries for their own people. Ask God to comfort them as they live, study, raise children, and prepare for called ministries in the near future.

Also keep the current Lutheran Church-Central Africa Malawi Synod and Zambia Synod pastors and their families in your prayers as they live away from their extended families or support network of their youth. Pray that God moves the African congregations to give financial and emotional support to their called workers who faithfully forward messages from God’s Word.

We entrust ourselves, the American missionary families, to God’s loving care. We enjoy close fellowship with our extended missionary family in Africa, but we also have adult children who live, work and study in other places around the world. God assures us that he knows all our needs and will provide for us in the best way possible. No matter where we live, we ask him to give us humble, thankful hearts and a willingness to share our lives and talents with our African brothers and sisters in Christ. Please keep us safe, take away our fears, and let us know a lasting peace through Jesus Christ. Until we all reach our heavenly home, let us continue to deliver the best “letters from home”—God’s Word. In the name of Jesus, let us pray and say: “May this be so!” Amen.

Nancy Roebke lives in Malawi. She and her husband John moved to Lilongwe, Malawi in June 2017. Since May of this year they reside in Blantyre, Malawi, 5 hours south where John equips Malawian pastors to connect Lutheran Christians with their Savior and each other through the LCCA’s Publications program. Bible-based publication work is also sponsored across Africa and around the world through WELS Multi-Language Publications.

Meetings can be painful. Painfully looooong. Painfully tedious. Painfully unproductive. Can you relate? Ever walk away from a meeting with a question and a sigh: “What have we really accomplished?”  Or end it with an exclamation and a huff: “What a waste of time!”

Benches are hard and decisions are hard to come by. Emotions run high and energy runs low. Rehashing the same stuff, some people missing the point and others belaboring it. Resolutions controversial and outcomes debatable.

Yep, meetings can be painful. But then again, meetings can be powerful. Powerfully beneficial. Powerfully effective. Powerfully uplifting and inspiring.

Just like the 31^st Synod Convention in Zambia.

Pastor Alfred Kumchulesi and I were privileged to attend it. (Pastor Alfred Kumchulesi is a Professor at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi.  He is currently serving as the Synod Secretary.) Oh, sure, the hours stretched long and there were occasions of tension and frustrations, but all in all, so many good things took place. Oh, so many good things.

1. The Lutheran Church of Central Africa Zambia Synod (LCCA-ZS) declared fellowship with the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) in Kenya.
2. The Chairman of the LCMC in Kenya, Dr. Mark Enricho Onunda, attended the Convention. 
3. The delegates elected the new Synod Leaders.
4. Essayists presented thought-provoking papers.
5. The Convention attendees worshipped, communed and fellowshipped together.
6. The men who participated in the Convention showed love and patience when there were times of disagreements and differing opinions.
7. God graced us with His presence and leading and spoke to us through His Word and strengthened us in the Sacrament.
8. Men stand poised to undertake the important work at hand.    

The delegates were revitalized and they all rallied are the Convention theme: “The Time is Now!”

“The Time is Now!” was not only the theme of the Convention but the thread woven throughout and within the sermon, the devotions, the reports and the papers.  One of the pastors, Reverend Makowani,  even wrote an original song, entitled it, The Time is Now! and sang it before all the delegates.

The Time is Now!

The Time is Now to do what?

• To rebuke the erring,
• To repent of our own sin,
• To work and walk together,
• To trust God to lead our Synods,
• To preach and teach the true Word of God.

The out-going Chairman, Reverend David Baloyi, appropriately said in his report, “…the time is now to accept what God has for His Church.”

And indeed, God has a lot for us!

A Son who is our Savior,
A Love that is unconditional,
A Home that is eternal,
A Plan that is unstoppable,
Power unconquerable,
Wisdom unsurpassable.

With a God who has these things, imagine what He can do through a Synod like the one in Zambia!

And so we entrust the LCCA-ZS into the strong hands of God Almighty.   And we pray that the Lord works in the hearts of the leaders to direct the affairs of the church and in the hearts of the Lutheran members to work together with them.  May they all do so with faithfulness, finding their motivation, strength and joy in the Triune God.

Even when the benches are painfully hard and the discussions painfully harder.

Jesus one day said to His disciples, “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me.  Night is coming when no one can work…I am the Light of the world” (John 9:4).

Interestingly the power (electricity) was out for a good share of the meeting.  After a full day of meeting we were still knee deep in discussions and it was getting extremely dark in the church; however, the last rays of the setting sun were shining through the glass cross in the back of the church.

The Cross is empty.
So is the grave.
Jesus is alive.
So are we.

It is still day.  But night is coming.

The Zambians and WELS Missionaries have done a lot of work in their beloved Synod and in the ripe Harvest Fields but still have a lot more to do.

Do you in yours? The Time is Now.

Missionary John Holtz

New delegates elected at the Synod Convention:

• Chairman: Rev. D. Mutentami
• Vice Chairman: Rev. J. Kangongo
• Secretary:  Mr. B. Zulu
• Treasurer: Mr. Z. Shoko

Papers presented:

• The Role of Women in the Historical     Development of the Christian Church.  Presenter: Pastor J. Kangongo
• The Love, Trust, Accountability and Transparency We Owe Each Other: The Time is Now. Presenter: Mr. Alisad Banda.
• Living By God’s time: What it is?  How? Presenter: Pastor M. Mulonda