Tiptoeing: it’s something my cat Magic does when she wants to go outside. She tiptoes to the threshold, noses around, and then suddenly bounds through the doorway and dashes off on the hunt.

For the past year, the One Africa Team (OAT) has been “tiptoeing” around the Democratic Republic of The Congo (DRC). I was called to Africa to connect with French-speaking church groups. As soon as I arrived in Africa, I was given an interesting French-speaking contact: a Lutheran pastor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This pastor soon put me in touch with his church group’s secretary-general.

For a year, we texted and talked on WhatsApp and email and eventually held regular bible studies on Zoom, along with the pastors and evangelists. This year, they formed their own synod, la Mission Évangélique Luthérienne au Congo (“Evangelical Lutheran Mission to The Congo”—MELC).

A Country with a Painful Past

Although Zambian and WELS pastors have made occasional, brief visits to The Congo, this hasn’t happened since the 1990s, and it has never happened using French. As the MELC began the process of exploring the path to church fellowship with the WELS, we at OAT felt it was important to visit our friends. After getting approval for the trip and taking some special precautions, Missionaries Howard Mohlke and Keegan Dowling (me) flew to Lubumbashi, DRC, for face-to-face meetings with the leaders of MELC.

What do you know about The Congo? It suffered terribly for generations under the brutal, exploitative rule of Belgium’s King Leopold and then of Belgium itself. In the 1990s, it was flooded by refugees from the Rwanda genocide, which led to an international African war that killed millions in the DRC. Today, The Congo is famous for its rich deposits of “rare earth metals”—scarce elements essential for the manufacture of advanced electronics, such as phones, missiles, and computers. Warlords still exploit the mines for these—and other—precious minerals, causing much turmoil and pain. If you follow current events, you probably wonder why anyone would dare to go to The Congo.

Spoiler alert: it wasn’t dramatic for us at all. The DRC is a huge country (the world’s 11^th-largest), and Lubumbashi turned out to be a sea of tranquility while we were there. We went because we have Lutheran friends there who want to walk together with the WELS. Face-to-face visits show honor and respect, which is why OAT missionaries live in Africa: so that we can regularly visit WELS’ many partners and prospects throughout the continent.

Evidence of God’s Kingdom at Work

In The Congo, we visited MELC worship services at a house church and a large meeting tent. The people of MELC use both French and Swahili, two languages that are mushrooming in their significance for OAT’s current outreach efforts. The pastors of MELC have a heart for sound doctrine and a heart for evangelism. At the end of the visit, OAT and MELC shared a traditional Congolese meal in celebration of our friendship. Our goal is to see each other—and as many people as possible—at the Lamb’s ultimate, eternal feast in heaven!

The Democratic Republic of The Congo: been there… done that… going back. God willing, OAT missionaries will return in 2024, after the DRC’s elections, to conduct a doctrinal workshop with MELC. Over the following months and years, we hope to grow in our understanding of God’s Word and each other. We are tiptoeing no longer, but taking the plunge. Diving into ministry in a land of people Jesus loves.

Missionary Keegan Dowling lives in Zambia.

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

To say, “We arrived,” in Bemba, you say, “Natufika.” In Chewa, “Tafika.” In Dholuo, “Wasetimo.” In Swahili, “Tumefika.”

 Saying such words—that was the plan. Twenty-two pastors would leave home in Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, the United States, and Zambia. They would gather in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Arrived with Difficulty

 Some would arrive Monday, October 16 after a full-day cross-border bus ride that began at 3:45 a.m. That was the plan.

Others would start a cross-country bus trip early Saturday. They would get to their capital city at midnight. They would begin flying Sunday morning, and arrive by plane Monday afternoon. That was the plan.

We would all hug and shake hands with joy. That was the plan. In at least six languages we would all thank God and say, “We arrived.”

For eight days we would study God the Spirit since Pentecostalism surrounds us in Africa. We would start Tuesday, October 17, the day after saying, “We arrived.”

But one brother had an old passport. In his land, a law had just changed. Airport officials said, “You cannot fly to Lilongwe without a new passport.” That would take weeks.

Three other brothers had surprise visa delays. They waited near airports. They prayed.

What else to do? The three were trying to fly out on a Sunday. How do you get help from Malawi Immigration when their offices are closed? When you don’t live in Malawi, how do you even reach an immigration official?

Feeling sick, I asked myself, “Why didn’t I apply for visas for the trio sooner?”

On a Sunday how do you get someone in Malawi to approve a visa already applied for and paid for online? Wait for Monday? No. Monday, October 16 was Mother’s Day in Malawi. For a third straight day, no government offices were open.

Enter Godwin, my new best friend in Malawi Immigration. I met him at the airport in Lilongwe that Monday. I had just flown in from Lusaka, Zambia.

Godwin scanned the trio’s paperwork I had brought along and looked at my clerical collar. He offered, “I will try to help.”

Within minutes two pastors got visa approval. Amazing.

For the third pastor, it took two more long days. Not surprisingly: Travel in Africa means “Expect the unexpected.”

A better reason not to be shocked: God is so gracious. We offered him so many prayers.

On Wednesday afternoon, October 18, the first two brothers made it to our meeting place in Lilongwe. Two days late? No problem. They said in Efik, “Ima isim ufak!” Big smiles. Hugs. “We arrived!”

Another brother arrived six days after he left home, three days late, on Thursday afternoon. In his native Akoose, he could have said “Mpidé bwam!” “I arrived well!” You should have seen the joy. We sang.

That last brother’s bag— had it arrived with him? No. Arrgh.

His luggage came the next day. But the office holding it closed at 3:30 p.m. He could not call. When we learned that his bag had arrived, it was too late to fetch it.

He waited one more day, until Saturday, to say, “Ntid mpidé meh bwam.” “It arrived well.”

Still on the Journey

Why tell you an extended “we arrived” story? Three reasons.

1) This is how international travel works in Africa. You don’t know where the bumps in the road will be. You know, “There will be bumps.”

You pray for safe journeys. You thank God for journey mercies.

2) The pastors from six countries who gathered in Lilongwe, Malawi were on a learning journey.

We meet face-to-face twice a year. We were in the sixth of nine courses toward a bachelor’s degree in theology.

I direct the program. Usually, guest professors teach. Dr. Kenneth Cherney, Jr., of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, led the learning journey this time. The African brothers, Ken, and I discussed the power, work, and promises of God the Holy Spirit.

Professor Cherney and I prefer “learning journey” to “class.” Ken could have been the sage on the stage, as some say. He aimed more at being the guide on the side.

He is an expert in the Bible. He knows Pentecostalism. He has taught this class before in Africa and India.

Ken would still say, “We were on a journey together. We all learned from each other.”

3) As you read this, the twenty-one pastors from six countries are back in their homes—most plan to meet together again at the end of April.

But when will we say “We have arrived”? When we finish the bachelor’s degree program at the end of 2025, God willing?

Or when Jesus reappears?

“He has arrived,” we will cry. The songs. The tears. The joy.

Even then, will learning about Jesus end?

Jesus told the Eleven the night before he died for us, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor.”

Didn’t that happen at Pentecost? (“He has arrived!”)

And didn’t that happen for each of us at our baptisms? Shouldn’t each of us have said then, “We have arrived”?

Not exactly. Jesus said, “The Father … will give you another Counselor to be with you forever” (John 14:16).

Forever? Oh, we have so much to learn from the Spirit.

Our learning of the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God will never end. With God, on the new earth, never will we say, “We have arrived.”

That is one reason His Spirit will be with us forever.

Our growing in knowing the beauty of Jesus our Lord and Brother and the glory of God our Father—by the Spirit of God, the learning never will end.

Missionary Dan Witte, based in Lusaka, Zambia, serves as a theological educator on the One Africa Team.

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

“Port is where the heart is.” If you’re stitching a saying onto a pillow or a quilt for a sailor, maybe you can use that one. Port is important: It’s where a sailor reconnects with land and with all the comforts to be found there—if only for a short time, until the ship is ready to sail again.

I was once a sailor on the M/V James R. Barker, a thousand-foot-long freighter ship hauling coal and taconite pellets back and forth across the Great Lakes of North America. (Did you know that we have a system of Great Lakes here in Africa, too?) My favorite port-of-call was Duluth, Minnesota. I enjoyed the beautiful book and music shops, as well as Erbert & Gerbert sub sandwiches. However, I had been hoping for more. I had hoped to find a WELS pastor who could visit me and give me Communion. But there was a vacancy: a situation far too familiar to many of us in today’s WELS, some twenty years later.

The Port of Douala is one of the greatest port cities on the continent of Africa. In fact, it is the largest city in the country of Cameroon. When it comes to WELS mission work in West Africa, the Port of Douala actually functions like a spiritual port. When several of us missionaries met with pastors in September, only one of them was from Douala. All the rest of us were “ships”, so to speak, coming to Douala simply for the purpose of meeting around the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Douala—for WELS mission work—is nothing more and nothing less than a “port of calling”.

Missionaries Dan Witte and Dan Kroll were studying and meeting with pastors from three West African synods: Christ the King and All Saints, of Nigeria, and the Lutheran Church of Cameroon (LCC). Because of the multi-dimensional security threats present in the region, for the moment WELS missionaries are not able to travel to Nigeria or to Cameroon, apart from just one city in Cameroon: Douala. Because we couldn’t meet them where they were, our brothers came to meet us in port. Missionary Joel Hoff flew in from Zambia, to give a presentation about the very successful TELL online outreach program, which pastors can use both to teach their congregations and to discover new prospects in their own country. Director of Missions Operations, Stefan Felgenhauer, also flew in from Wisconsin.

I (Missionary Keegan Dowling) also ended up in Douala, our port of Gospel calling. I met with yet a different church body: Holy Trinity Lutheran Synod. They hail from a distant part of Cameroon, where there is a violent and dangerous conflict. Yet, a group of leaders trekked down to Douala, so that we could study the Bible together and talk about Holy Trinity’s mission plans. Holy Trinity is not yet in fellowship with WELS, but this is their desire. So, my job is to work with Holy Trinity along a pathway of studies and discussions that the One Africa Team uses to bring church bodies into fellowship.

An interesting thing about Holy Trinity Lutheran Synod is that many of the leaders and members speak French! In fact, they are our first French-speaking partner church body (although God is blessing our efforts in other parts of francophone Africa, too—stay tuned for future blog posts!) When we “drop anchor” in our “port of calling”, we read the Bible together in French. We discuss the issues in French. And outside of class, walking around the Port of Douala, guess what? Missionaries like Pastor Kroll and I get to practice a lot of real-life French! Each trip adds to our capabilities. It further increases our ability to call: to call our fellow sinners to our common Savior, throughout French-speaking Africa. This is why the Port of Douala is our “port of calling”. And, God willing, it will be joined by more ports of calling, too.

Missionary Keegan J. Dowling lives in Lusaka

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