Finding the best ways to communicate well is always something WELS missionaries are thinking about. That’s why, in mid-October, my family landed in Arusha, Tanzania. We planned to spend about 2 months in the country to learn to communicate in Swahili.

Old and Young Learners

I enrolled in two courses at MS-TCDC, a college focused on teaching Swahili to foreigners, for five weeks. Outside of class, there were plenty of opportunities to practice Swahili with people. We bought groceries, asked for directions, flagged down bijajis (3-wheeled taxis), and just said: “jambo” (hello)! The official languages of Tanzania are both Swahili and English. However, much more emphasis is placed on Swahili in Tanzania. It’s common to find people who speak very little or no English. This made using the language a must in day-to-day interactions.

My wife, Becky, and two youngest children, Katya (9) and Leia (6) joined me for the experience. Becky homeschools the girls, so temporarily relocating from our home in Lusaka, Zambia to Arusha didn’t interrupt their learning. Becky integrated quickly into the local homeschooling scene, and she and the girls made new friends quickly.

Connecting with Local Christians

I also interacted with Africa Mission Evangelism Church (AMEC), a Lutheran church body based in Tanzania. After carefully working through OAT’s Four Stage Process, WELS will declare fellowship with AMEC at this summer’s Synod Convention, God-willing.

Our normal practice is to visit one of our mission partners for about two weeks. After two months in Tanzania, we visited many churches on Sundays and deepened our relationships with church leaders. I also met with leaders from the Community of Evangelical Lutheran Churches of Central Africa (CEELAC). CEELAC is a new partner based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We have been meeting in Tanzania due to security concerns in the DRC

Both AMEC and CEELAC use Swahili in their worship services. Attending worship was a great opportunity to put into practice what I had learned in my classes. Two months isn’t enough time to communicate like a native Swahili speaker. I was excited to see that I could understand much more and even teach a little in their language. I’m thankful for the opportunity to communicate the Gospel no matter where I live!

Missionary Ben Foxen lives in Zambia.

Listen to Leia Foxen communicate in her way about what she saw in Tanzania in this video posted on the One Africa Team’s YouTube Channel

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

One Africa Team Missionary Keegan Dowling and WELS Pastor Joel Seifert recently visited the Democratic Republic of Congo. Here is their story:

Just to date myself, I’m a fan of the Oklahoma rock group Flaming Lips. One time they released an album—four discs (dated again!)—meant to be played simultaneously—called “Zaireka”. They wanted a name that evoked chaos and joy… and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC) was the ultimate byword for chaos.

Not so, on OAT’s travels to Lubumbashi, a busy, thriving mining city in the southeast of the DRC. We need the government’s permission to go there and offer workshops to the confessional Lutheran church group—the MELC—with whom we are exploring the possibility of fellowship. The intelligence officers monitor OAT missionaries’ visits closely, both for their good and for ours. We have heard that they are happy to have us visit so that we can spread the word that Lubumbashi is safe, orderly, and open for business.

But we’ve also heard that they like what we’ve been teaching. As they’ve read reports of our pastoral training workshops, they’ve mentioned that they think the content—the Small Catechism of Luther—is wonderful. The Gospel Word is spread, sometimes in surprising ways.

In November, Missionary Keegan Dowling and OAT Adjunct, Pastor Joel Seifert, presented their second training workshop for the pastors and evangelists of the MELC, who came to Lubumbashi from as far away as Kinshasa in the west and Manono to the north. On Wednesday evenings, Missionary Keegan continues to hold French-language doctrinal studies on Zoom with the leaders of MELC.

Thank you for whatever ways you’ve been supporting this new mission field! Congo-reka! And soli deo gloria. Peace.

Missionary Keegan Dowling lives in Lusaka, 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

Meskel, or ‘cross” is the name of a holiday that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates. The full name of the festival is “The Finding of the True Cross.”  According to their tradition, God spoke in a dream to a woman named Helena, who was the mother of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome.  In the dream, God instructed Helena to light a fir tree on fire.  The smoke from the burning tree miraculously led Helena and her friends to a certain place on the ground.  When people dug into the ground at that place, they found the true cross on which Jesus died.

It’s just a legend, not a true teaching of the Bible.  But many people in Ethiopia celebrate this festival.  When the day comes, thousands of men, women, and children stream out into the streets and public squares, dressed in colorfully embroidered white robes.  They build a huge teepee-shaped bonfire that is intended to look like a fir tree.  Everyone joins the celebration.  Many of them are not members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and many of them are not even Christian at all.  Many of them do not understand the true meaning of Jesus and his cross.  They just want to have a party.

New Contacts from Sudan and Ethiopia

When WELS missionaries Dan Kroll, Howard Mohlke and I visited Ethiopia a few weeks ago, the Meskel celebration was underway.  We had several exciting reasons to make that trip to Ethiopia.  First, we wanted to meet with leaders of the Lutheran Church of Sudan (LCS).  The LCS is an Arabic-speaking Sudanese group that claims to have 16,000 Lutheran members.  Over the past year, we have been communicating with this group via the internet.  We have shared some Arabic printed materials so they can study the Scriptures in their own language. But we have never been able to meet them in person.  Sadly, our plan to meet them in Ethiopia was not successful.  The leaders of the LCS were not able to get the proper passports and visas.

Thankfully, other goals were more successful.  My colleague, Dan Kroll, focused on meeting with a group called the Gambella Evangelical Lutheran Church, or GELC.  (Gambella is a region in western Ethiopia).  The members of this group number about 150 and most of them belong to the Anuak tribe.  Together with Missionary Kroll, about 35 leaders of this group were blessed to study what the Bible says about the Church and its ministry.

South Sudanese Refugee Work

Meanwhile, Howard Mohlke and I were more focused on another group, the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ethiopia and South Sudan (CELCESS).  This group – also located in the Gambella region of Ethiopia – claims to have 28 congregations and about 14,000 members.  Many of the members belong to a tribe of people called Nuer. 

Especially, we met with a man named Lam Nhial Luak.  Lam himself has been very well trained in Lutheran teachings.  He holds a Bachelor of Divinity degree given by our sister synod, the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia.  WELS missionaries also participated in Lam’s training.  Every month, the WELS provides funding for Lam to teach a three-day workshop on Christian doctrine to 15 Nuer pastors.  The pastors take what they have learned from the Bible and share it with their members.  During our visit, we attended one of Lam’s workshops.  On the following Sunday, we were privileged to observe Lam’s official installation into his teaching role, and the ordination of four new pastors.

To be clear, the WELS is not yet in fellowship with any of these groups – neither the LCS nor the GELC nor the CELCESS.  I do not know what will happen with these groups in the future if God will bring them to a full understanding of the Scriptures and into fellowship with the WELS.  But I do know this: These people love their savior Jesus Christ.  They are eager and excited to receive instruction from God’s word.  They know that God has saved us, not because of any good thing that we have done, but by the perfect life and innocent death of Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Through their study of the Scriptures, they have found the true cross, and that is a reason for us to celebrate.

Missionary Mark Panning 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