There was an elephant in the room.

Everyone knew it. But as is so often the case, no one said anything. 

The group of LCCA-Malawi Synod pastors and I were together having a 2-day Professional Development course. Topic: Sanctification. Our discussions revolved around the 12 disciples and their relationship with Jesus. We learned a lot about the disciples, but perhaps we learned more about our Lord…and ourselves.

Like Judas, we have betrayed others. Like Thomas, we at times have doubted God and His word. Like Peter, speaking rashly before thinking wisely, we have put our “foot in our mouths.” Each disciple a sinner – yet each one was loved dearly by Jesus. In fact, He loved them to death.

That is really what the Professional Development program of the Confessional Lutheran Institute (CLI) is all about:  learning more about Jesus and his dying – and undying – love for us. Every course has been comforting and convicting. Comforting because of Jesus’ grace and forgiveness. Convicting because of the law. Like a mirror, it has shown us our sin. Sometimes we just do not want to say anything – even when the elephant is right there in the room with us.

The elephant was in the room and everyone knew it. It was big. But not one of us said anything. We were holding our Professional Development course in a national park, a place with freely roaming wild animals like lions, cheetahs, buffalo, hyenas and, yes, elephants. Suddenly, a 6-ton pachyderm walked into the “room.” Don’t think walls and windows and doors. Think Africa. Open air. Bush camp. It really was not in our room; we were in his. This was his territory.

We put down our books and paused our discussions about Peter, James, and John. We hushed.  We enjoyed the moment and one of God’s amazing creatures. We watched as the elephant stripped nearby trees and bushes and ate the branches and leaves. The big brute eventually meandered on and then we continued our dialogue on the twelve.

In Malawi, our Professional Development groups do not usually meet in a park but when we have done so it has been a blessing. We enjoyed the Bible based lessons in an open-air African bush environment. Fellowship around the word of God is a blessing no matter where we meet. Normally we gather at the local LCCA churches for these informal studies.

The program in Malawi follows a simple path:  the pastors suggest a topic they wish to learn, the facilitator prepares it and takes it to each of the 5 pastor groups scattered around Malawi. Assignment presentations follow.  In addition to Sanctification, we have covered topics such as marriage, Reformation, cultural Awareness, Power Point Bible Studies, and others. Like the elephant, now we are ready to move on.

Moving on does not mean stopping the program in Malawi; it does mean taking it elsewhere: to our African Sister Synods. There are 7 synods in 6 countries: Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Combined there are over 100 Called Workers in these 7 synods. God willing, in the years ahead additional church bodies in additional countries will join our fellowship.  These churches will have pastors who also want to continue to grow together with us. 

Moving on also doesn’t mean that we are providing professional development using the same method everywhere. Likewise, the teachers may be different depending on the situation.  In some cases a local missionary; in others a visiting pastor from the United States; in other cases a team of national pastors or seminary instructors from a sister church; the possibilities are endless.

The newly formed Confessional Lutheran Institute (CLI) strives to “equip, enhance, and enable pastors throughout Africa.”  Unlike the formal Continuing Education branch of CLI with its Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Theology programs, these informal, practical courses in the Professional Development branch of CLI are not for academic credit towards a diploma. This program – whether it is a 1-day class, a 2-day workshop, or a full week course – is there to help us “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (2 Peter 3:18).   Peter discovered, learned, and experienced incomparable peace in His Savior’s forgiveness. Professional Development is an opportunity for us to do the same.

Even when there’s an elephant in the room.

Missionary John Holtz lives in Malawi and directs the Professional Development branch of the Confessional Lutheran Institute. This is the second of a three-part series on the CLI.

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

By the middle of this century the population of Africa is estimated to reach 2.4 billion people, one-quarter of the estimated 9.8 billion people who will on the planet. That is a staggeringly huge mission field which will require many workers to gather in the full harvest. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) has a small but significant role to play in making God’s kingdom come in Africa, through the work of the Confessional Lutheran Institute (CLI). This is the first of a three-part series of articles that will introduce you this new initiative of the WELS Board for World Missions working through One Africa Team. The CLI brings various aspects of worker training and enrichment together under one umbrella, in order to better coordinate our joint efforts with our partner churches across the continent of Africa. The CLI’s work is divided into three branches: Seminary Consultation, Formal Continuing Education and Professional Development.

The Wisconsin Synod has been training African Lutheran pastors since the 1930’s. Along the way, many difficult lessons have been learned, but God has blessed the work of his flawed servants and has planted thriving national churches through their efforts. WELS mission work in Africa has reached a watershed moment. God has raised up local leaders in established fields like Malawi, Zambia, Nigeria and Cameroon as well as areas where Lutheranism is emerging like  Liberia and Uganda. It is clear that WELS cannot send missionaries to live in each of these countries, nor is it advisable. The huge opportunities presenting themselves to us and our African partners call for a very different strategy, as WELS leverages its expertise and resources to support the development of local, nationally-operated seminaries.

Setting up a new seminary program is a challenging task that requires a great deal of forethought and planning. It is more than just a matter of constructing buildings and hiring teachers. The first question to ask is, “Who is your target audience?” What kind of people make up your church? For example, farmers living in remote rural areas have a very different view of the world than college-educated professional workers located in the sprawling urban centers of the country. God’s Word speaks the same messages of sin and grace to all people, yet it applies to people’s specific needs in infinitely various ways.

Likewise, pastors do not just deliver informational content to their members. They are leaders, shepherding their flocks after the manner of the Good Shepherd. A pastor training program must address the intellectual, emotional, behavioral and spiritual formation of its students. To do that, you need to know your students – where they come from, how did their families and communities influence them, what education have they received? A good pastor training program helps students build a bridge between God’s word and the people they will serve.

Once the target audience has been identified the next question is, “What does your program look like?” What are the minimum standards you expect of new students, and what process will you use to vet them? How long a period of time can you expect your students to engage in formal learning activities? Is it a matter of years or months? Are they engaged in full-time studies, or are they expected to have part-time jobs on the side? As for the subjects they will study, seminary courses traditionally fall into the following four categories: Doctrinal Studies, Biblical Studies, Historical Studies and Ministerial Studies. But does it make sense to borrow the curriculum from a seminary that serves a completely different target audience? Wouldn’t it be better to match course content with the needs of the people?

After you know what your program looks like the next question to ask is, “What manpower is needed?” Who is going to oversee the program? Who will teach the content and evaluate student progress? Who in your church body is qualified to serve, and how will they be compensated?

The very last question to ask is, “What material support is needed?” Buildings, textbooks, computers and salaries are all part of plan that ultimately serves the needs of the church, and not the needs of the seminary. What support can the local church provide? What additional support is required? What about sustainability? As you can sense, there are many questions that need to be answered before the first day of school.

The Seminary Consultation branch of the CLI not only helps establish new worker training programs. The CLI is equipped to provide resources for teaching, guidance in education and assessment practices, assistance in curriculum planning and materials,  and guidance on program standards. Our consultants are Africa missionaries, instructors from the Pastoral Studies Institute (PSI) of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, WELS missionaries engaged in theological education in other parts of the world, and national leaderswho have a long history of training Lutheran pastors in Africa. Additionally, CLI seeks to  provide sister seminaries assistance in the area of instructor development. The best teachers are those who keep learning throughout their careers. CLI can provide tools for self-assessment and resources for continuing growth.

 CLI also provides short and long term WELS instructors for our programs.  This may mean sending a Missionary to live in a country for two weeks to teach an intensive class, or it may mean sending two missionaries to teach for years at one specific seminary.  It may also mean partnering with the PSI to coordinate WELS pastors to come to teach for a few weeks or months, or coordinating the sharing of African professors between church bodies. 

The CLI Seminary Consultancy branch does not seek to run seminaries, dictate local policies or determine what program will be used  in a sister church’s training program. Since every worker training system is different, the exact role of seminary consultation will vary from church body to church body. Rather, our goal is to provide encouragement and positive feedback to our brothers who are preparing the next generation of God’s harvest workers. We celebrate all our Gospel partnerships, just as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Philippi: “ I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Php 1:4-6)

Missionary John Roebke lives in Malawi and directs the Seminary Consultation branch of the Confessional Lutheran Institute. This is the first of a three-part series on the CLI.

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

“Howzit goin’?” I used to hear
in the States.

Now: “Muli bwanji?”
(“How are you”?)

My wife Debbie, my son Drew, and I moved from Minnesota to
Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, in early December 2019.

My future role: Theological Educator for the One Africa Team
of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, concentrating especially on formal
continuing education for African pastors in our fellowship.

My current role: Newbie. Learner. OAT called me to spend at
least the first 6 months here learning as much language and culture as
possible.

How is that going? There is too much to tell.

Pithy proverbs may help. That is, let’s zero in on 28
January 2020, one of the best days I have spent in Africa.

Malawian pastors Stanley Daile and Alfred Kumchulesi at the
Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi took many hours out of their day
to get to know me and help me get to know them, their lives, their city, their
heart language, and the future pastors they teach.

After a particularly comforting morning devotion by Pastor
Kumchulesi on God’s forgiveness as seen in Psalm 32, I went with Professor
Darlington Mwakatika to an LBI class which focused on English and Chewa
proverbs.

The easiest Chewa proverb for me to learn was the shortest: Safunsa anadya phula.
“The-one-who-didn’t-ask ate wax.” He could have had honey, the dummy, if he had
only asked for help.

That proverb sums up much of my last months. I keep asking abale anga, my brothers and sisters,
both Western and African, about their lives, their language, their customs,
their faith, their suggestions for what to do next, and more.

Otherwise, Nzeru za
yekha, anaviika nsima madzi. “Wisdom-of-himself — he soaked nsima in water.”

Only a fool would take a handful of his maize flour
porridge, nsima—an important staple
in central African diets—and dunk it in water. That would ruin it. But Mr.
Know-it-all did that.

New missionaries, thinking they are wise, can become such fools.
(“I am familiar with biblical Hebrew. I have been a pastor since 1992. I know
how things work in the States.”) But pride poisons everything. Pride offends
our holy God. It also ruins relationships with abale athu, our brothers and sisters.

Bought by blood, though, forgiven through faith in the true Nzeru za yekha, Jesus, who really is all
wisdom-in-himself—oh!

My family and I are so glad for the gospel preaching of our
pastor Chibikubantu Simweeleba; the seminary senior assigned to our
congregation, Justin Namakhwa; and the elders who also do some of the preaching
at Bethel, the congregation we attend.

We wish you could hear the youth and ladies choirs here,
too. Click this link to watch https://youtu.be/Fqjj1A6O8DE
For most Sundays, both choirs have learned four a capella songs. The youth choir sings a recessional as well. I’m
catching more Chewa words all the time, but from the first service we attended
in December—words fail. Such conviction. Such joy in the Lord in the choir
members, young and old.

One of our favorite new customs comes at the end of each
service. Out the door of the church building walks the pastor, then any special
guests, then all of us, one by one. Unlike your church, probably, here everyone
takes their place in a line outside stretching into a large circle. Everyone
shakes everyone else’s hand, taking a new place in the circle, while the youth
choir continues to sing and shake hands at the same time, at the end.

Such highlights are more important to share than

• what it has been like to wait for our shipment to arrive, or
• which American conveniences we miss, or
• what it has been like for Debbie and me to learn to shift with our left hands and drive a manual transmission Ford Ranger 4×4 on the left side of the road, or
• what the international school has been like so far for Drew.

How is it going? In short, we are part of great team. We
learn and adjust daily. We are especially learning to lean more on God.

One last Chewa proverb: Kuona maso ankhono kudeka. “To see the eyes of the snail [requires] to slow down.”

That big snail inched up a mango tree in our yard the other
day. Can you see its eyes, up at the top of the Y? Did you have to slow down
and look closely to see them, against the tree?

That is how it is going. Pang’ono,
pang’ono, “my friend,” munzanga, Mr.
Zulu, tells me all the time. I tell it to others, when they ask especially
about language learning: “bit by bit.”

“Slow but sure,” munzanga
Mr. Kalima put the proverb to me.

You too: Thanks for all your little-by-little, slow-but-sure
prayers and support for us and all WELS missionaries and their families. Keep
it up, slow-but-sure, for Jesus’ sake.

Missionary Dan Witte 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