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

“We Are Different.” It was a saying often repeated during our time together. For two weeks, Gambela Evangelical Lutheran Church leaders studied God’s Word with Missionaries Dan Kroll and Joel Hoff. Time spent in Scripture helped the leaders become more confident in their beliefs. It also helped them better understand what made their church different from all the others in Gambela, Ethiopia.

We believe that we are saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus. We are different. We believe that we do not decide to believe in Jesus or accept him as our Lord and Savior. We are different. We believe that sin is serious and that there are serious consequences because of our sin. We are different. We believe that God’s big love was revealed to us in Jesus through whom we have forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. We are different. We believe that baptism is God’s work and intended for all sinners no matter their age. We are different. 

The members of the GELC were able to demonstrate this difference in confession as well as in practice. Over two days, 74 souls were baptized into God’s family. Many of those precious souls were little children. This is significant because baptizing children is unheard of in many churches throughout Africa. 

From conception, the Bible describes our condition. Sinful… hostile to God… dead in sin… lost… blind… hopeless. But God makes us different through baptism. Through water and Word we are forgiven… children of God… alive in Christ… found… seeing with the eyes of faith… and clinging to the everlasting hope that is ours through our Savior Jesus Christ. 

The leaders and families of the GELC believe the Word of God spoken through Peter on Pentecost when he said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38,39) 

By God’s grace, the GELC church leaders will continue to study God’s Word and teach what they have learned to their members. By God’s grace, the families will continue to gather around God’s Word and impress the truths of Scripture on their children. By God’s grace, the leaders, the families, those 74 souls and we are different.

Joel Hoff lives in Lusaka, Zambia and coordinates TELL outreach. For more information visit www.tellnetwork.org

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 builds a family in unexpected ways. That thought filled my mind eleven years ago as I first looked down at my son in my arms.  I was standing in an orphanage just outside Kinshasa (the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, or the DRC).  My son was nine months old, but it was the first time I’d held him.  Through earthly loss and God’s unsearchable providence – with no small amount of paperwork and prayers along the way – he became my son, and I became his father.  And the strangest thing was how it didn’t feel strange at all.  Unexpected, sure.  But without a doubt, we were family.

This April, that thought came echoing back.  I was back in the DRC.  This time I was standing in a small classroom in Lubumbashi.  I had spent the last week visiting local Lutheran churches and teaching catechetical classes on the Apostles’ Creed to a group of Congolese pastors, evangelists, and choir leaders together with missionary Keegan Dowling.  As I began to say farewells (through an interpreter), we called each other brother and sister.  We didn’t speak the same language and we knew so little about each other, but God’s Word had brought us together.  Without a doubt, we were family.

The One Africa Team Adjunct Program

I was in the DRC as an adjunct member of the One Africa Team (OAT).  Much of the OAT’s work is following up with African churches that are seeking guidance as they grow in the Word and develop strong Lutheran churches – and many churches are reaching out to us.  To help serve the great need, OAT has begun recruiting “adjunct” members of their team: US-based WELS pastors who can travel to Africa for a short period and partner with an OAT member to work with local church bodies.

Missionary Dowling and I worked with church workers from the MELC (la Mission Évangélique Luthérienne au Congo, or “The Evangelical Lutheran Mission to The Congo”).  Some of the challenges they faced were familiar: the large local church drawing away members, and the temptations to avoid conflict by comprising on doctrine. Some of them were foreign to me, such as a lack of Bible translations available in the local language, the challenge of worshiping in the rainy season without a building, or local pastors bringing in pagan practices.  But the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word was strong, and it was beautiful to witness.  The men and women were faithful students of the Word and eager servants of the church.

World Missions Come Home

I serve a congregation on the north side of Atlanta.  Our local WELS churches have been talking about ways we might serve the large immigrant population in Atlanta and connect them with the gospel.  During my time in Lubumbashi, several of the workshop participants shared that they had relatives who had recently immigrated to the States – and all of them had gone to Atlanta!  They were eager to share their contact information with me, with the hope that I could connect them with one of our local churches.  It was a wonderful reminder that the gap between “Home Missions” and “World Missions” isn’t so wide.  It’s a privilege to bring the gospel to people overseas, but we dare not miss that God has brought so many people from overseas to our cities and neighborhoods.

I often get emails and WhatsApp messages from our friends in The DRC – even the occasional phone call, though we don’t speak the same language!  We share photos, updates, and prayers.  While I didn’t expect to be communicating with people half a world away, that’s what family does!

Rev. Joel Seifert lives in the Atlanta area and serves the members of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church in Marietta, GA

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