God decided.  It was God’s choice and God’s timing. And that is the way it should be.

What was this decision, this choice at this time? God determined when Willy’s life on this earth was over. The placard that led the funeral procession now marks the fresh grave and reminds visitors of the days and years that the LORD had ordained for Willy:

Born: 14 June 1964.
Died: 30 January 2021.

57 years of God’s undeserved but abundant grace bookended between 1964 and 2021.   This span of time gave Willy opportunity to accomplish a lot of things: grow crops, play football, get an education, marry, raise a family, even become a full-time worker in the church.  In all he pursued in life, Willy strived to do what the Apostle Paul wrote passionately about in Philippians 1:20, namely, to exalt Christ.

“I eagerly expect and hope that I will…have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or whether by death.”

Whether by life

Willy’s full name was Willy Matengula Gama. Since 1999 Willy had been serving as an Evangelist in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa. Evangelist Matengula and his family had been living in the southern region of Malawi in an area called Mpemba.  For the past 19 years he has been serving a four-congregation parish union.  Like the Apostle Paul, Willy joyfully preached “Christ crucified” and loved to sing praises to God.   

Willy had a special appreciation for life.  After all, he nearly lost his in 1996.  It was then that he was involved in a serious road accident.  A minibus and a bicycle collided, and the one on the two-wheeler was Willy.  Remarkably the collision had not taken his life, but it did take his sight.  

From that point on he lived life in total darkness.  He could have cursed the minibus driver (and for that matter, God Himself) but he didn’t.  He could have become bitter and withdrew from everyone and everything – but he chose not to do so.  

He saw clearly that he could use his lack of vision as an opportunity to exalt Christ with his life. He used his sightlessness to God’s glory.  He devoted his time to learn and to teaching.  He learned Braille and taught confirmation class to the youth in the congregation. 

Willy and his wife Margaret accepted the suffering that God allowed.  Margaret stuck by him during those dark days. For better or for worse. For three years he groped around in darkness.  But then God gave him a spectacular gift:  vision.  No, not a vision, but…vision!  God restored his sight!  Talk about amazing grace!  Was blind…but now I see!

It was then that God called him into the full-time ministry as an Evangelist in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa.  With his life devoted to full time preaching and teaching, Willy exalted the One who not only restored his physical sight but his spiritual sight as well.

Seeing one’s wife and children and congregation is a tremendous blessing, but oh, to see the Savior with the eyes of faith! Twenty-two years later, God called him again.  This time, not to another congregation in Malawi, but to the Church Triumphant in heaven. 

On 30 January 2021 God called Willy to his eternal home.  The home purchased for him by Jesus Christ.

Or whether by death

On 30 January 2021 Willy exalted Christ with this death. But how could that be?  Wasn’t Willy’s body in the coffin?  Wasn’t the coffin lowered into the grave?  Wasn’t the hole filled in and the ground heaped up? 

Of course.  Willy’s eyes were closed.  His mouth silent.  He obviously could no longer preach and teach and sing…but others could and did!  Just because Willy’s earthly existence was gone does not mean the wonderful message of the Savior was!

Willy’s death gave the opportunity for hundreds of people to hear the death-defeating gospel of Jesus Christ on the day of his burial. Pastor Patrick Magombo preached the funeral sermon on 2 Timothy 4:5-8.  Even though the Apostle Paul wrote the words and Pastor Magombo preached them, it was as if Willy was speaking them to those who had gathered:

“The time has come for my departure” (indeed, it had). “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, “I have kept the faith” (indeed, he had). And on that day of the funeral, it was as if Willy, like Paul, had passed a baton.

The songs and hymns Willy used to sing?  The ladies and the choirs sang them.  The Scripture lessons that Willy used to teach?  The pastors were speaking them.  The sermons that Willy used to preach?  The pastors were preaching them.  The prayers that Willy used to say?  Many were praying them.  The funeral was Willy’s, but it was all about Christ.

Christ had given Willy 57 years of grace, desire to serve and joy to share.  Christ went to the cross and to hell itself so that Willy wouldn’t have to.  Nor would we. The One who brought Willy into the world in ‘64 now, in His wisdom took him out in ‘21.  God brought him into a place like none we have ever experienced before. A home in which he could exalt the name of Christ forever!  A home with no more tears, suffering, crying or pain or…death.

Don’t you long for such a place?  Are you ever a bit eager to get there?  Ever wonder when God will call you home?  Ever hope it would be today?  Ever wish it would have happened already? If you had the choice to go to heaven today or stay for a while longer on earth, which would it be?

That is the same quandary in which the Apostle Paul found himself.  Torn between the two. To live is Christ and to die is gain. Yet what shall I choose? Paul knew the choice was not his.  Nor is it yours or mine.  God decides.  God’s choice and God’s timing.  And that is the way it should be.

At that moment in Paul’s life, God chose not to call Paul to his heavenly home.   He had more work for Paul to do.  More lives to touch with the gospel.  More opportunities to exalt Christ with his life. Death would come soon enough. It did for Willy.  It will for me.  And for you.

Hast my soul from grace to glory,
Armed by faith and winged by prayer.
All but heav’n is transitory,
God’s own hand shall guide you there.
Soon shall end this earthly story.
Swift shall pass the pilgrim days,
Hope soon change to heav’nly glory,
Faith to sight and prayer to praise. (CW#465 v.4).

Willy’s faith has now become Willy’s sight.  Face to face with the Savior! To live is Christ.  To die is gain.  Whether by our life or whether by our death, may Christ be exalted!

Missionary John Holtz 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

The coffin was lowered. The dirt was heaped. Wreaths were placed. But the funeral was so much more than a burial. It was a “witness to a stricken world.”

In Christ, who tasted death for us
We rise above our natural grief
And witness to a stricken world 
The strength and splendor of belief. – CW #607

Some say that the best evangelism opportunities in Malawi are funerals.  Why?  Because the masses gather.  Not just the fellow members of the deceased’s home church, but the people of the entire community.   Crowds of people.   And as you can well imagine, a variety of faiths.  In need of a message whether they realize it or not.   

What better time to share the gospel of Jesus? That is exactly what Pastor Khwima Msiska did. He preached 2 Timothy 4:6-8.

“…the time has come for my departure.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Pastor Msiska could have highjacked the sermon time and simply highlighted how much Evangelist Mapulanga had accomplished during his personal and ministry years. God had given the Evangelist a total eight decades spanning from 1940 to 2020. There would have been plenty to say.  After all, just in his gospel ministry of serving the Lutheran Church of Central Africa, how many sermons did Evangelist Mapulanga preach?  How many babies and adults did he baptize?   How many member visits had he made?  How many people of the Lutheran church had he comforted, corrected, rebuked, and trained in righteousness? Over decades of service, how many kilometers had he pedaled, and miles had he walked to serve the Lord’s people? 

But Pastor Msiska didn’t dwell on those things.  For that matter, neither did the Liturgist Pastor Msowaya nor any other speaker.  The funeral focus was not about the man Mapulanga but about the GOD MAN Jesus Christ.  Both LCCA pastors answered very clearly the questions that are most important:

What had Jesus done for Evangelist Mapulanga?  What had the Promised One accomplished? Why did Christ die on the cross?  What do Jesus’ perfect life and innocent death mean for him – and me – when I die?  Ah, now that’s something to talk about. And sing about. And that is what the Lutheran women and men did.  The preacher and the liturgist were not the only ones witnessing to the stricken world. So were the many people who attended the funeral and are longing for Christ’s coming.

We arrived at the funeral home at 9:00 am.  We departed at 4 pm.  Count them:  Seven hours. And for the better part of seven hours, people were singing.  Why? Because there was something to sing about! The funeral was so much more than a burial. It was a witness to a stricken world that there is hope beyond the grave. There is life after death. There is a crown of righteousness in store. 

No wonder the family of God longs for their Brother’s appearing on the last day!  We are not just waiting for Jesus Christ to come again, but desiring it, yearning for it.  Looking forward to it, patiently but anticipatingly.  

One day our fight will be over. Our race will be finished. And we will live no longer by faith but by sight. And so with the strength and splendor of belief, the men and women lifted up their voices.  They sang…

• at the funeral home
• at the mortuary
• walking to the cemetery
• huddled around the grave

The day was one of song.  And the songs were ones of witness.  And the witness was to just One: Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, so will Evangelist Mapulanga.  Because Jesus paid the penalty of sin, we don’t have to.  Because Jesus gave up his crown, we will wear one – a gift of grace!

Until the Lord calls us home as he did Evangelist Mapulanga on 4th December 2020, we will still have graves to dig, funerals to attend and loved ones to bid goodbye. We will mourn.  Hearts will ache. Tears will flow. 

But not without hope. We rise above our natural grief. So we will also have sermons to preach and songs to sing and a witness to give.  Because there is a world out there stricken with sin and in need of a Savior. No matter in which country our loved ones die, let the masses and the crowds come to our Christian funerals! 

So much more than a burial.

Missionary John Holtz 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

The last time I celebrated Christmas with my parents and siblings was 2003, when I had a 3 month gap between calls in the public ministry. Pastors are busy leading worship services at their congregations during the holidays. For a few years in the mid-2000’s we lived close enough to our relatives to spend a few days after Christmas with relatives, but for the rest of our married years it’s been too great a distance for my wife and I to travel “home for the holidays.”

This year is no exception as we prepare to greet our Savior’s birth in the balmy tropics with one of our daughters, who will spend two months with us. Thanks to COVID she’s doing all of her schooling this semester remotely, so it doesn’t matter if she’s logging in from her apartment in Milwaukee or from our home in Africa. Our other daughter lives 8,000 miles away in Wisconsin and is getting her first taste of winter driving. It’s also the first time we will be apart for the Christmas holidays.

Due to the pandemic, this will be a very different Christmas for many of you too. You may make a reservation to attend one of your church’s worship services, or you may celebrate the Savior’s birth online at home. You may get together with your immediate family, but you’ll avoid the larger gatherings with your extended relatives. You may call your loved ones over the phone or schedule a video conference call over the internet.

For several years, One Africa Team has been using Zoom for live interfacing because our team members are scattered across the world. Our Team Leader, Rev. Howard Mohlke is currently living in Stanton, NE waiting for work permit that will allow him to move to Africa. The members of our Mission Board live in WI, OH and FL. We have missionaries stationed in both Zambia and Malawi, as well as our Operations Director who is currently based in the USA. Our “family” is spread out geographically, but our weekly conference calls have allowed us to stay closely connected to each other and to our mission of bringing “Christ for All, Good News for Africa.”

Staying in touch with our many partners across Africa has been more challenging. International borders are open for travelers who can prove they are COVID free, but the WELS is currently permitting missionaries to travel only between their host country and the USA. In spite of limitations of internet connectivity, our missionaries are able to remain in regular contact with our African counterparts via Skype, Facebook Messenger and What’sApp. One of our teammates is conducting a Bachelor’s-level degree program via What’sApp. Other missionaries use What’sApp to introduce Lutheran teaching to new outreach groups in Liberia and Uganda. One Africa Team has also started posting sermons by missionaries on YouTube to show other prospective groups what makes Lutheran preaching distinctive. You can view the sermons at https://tinyurl.com/ycoazeax

Being separated from the people you love isn’t unique to 2020. The Apostle Paul started churches in cities throughout the Mediterranean basis, and he the members of those churches around with him in his thoughts and prayers wherever he went. He wrote to Thessalonians, “When we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way. For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” (1 The 2:17-20).

In the same way, our Savior carries our needs and prayers to his Heavenly Father. “Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Ro 8:34). We are never far away from our God, who knows our deepest needs and keeps watch over us day and night. He doesn’t need Facebook to stay informed about our status.

Following the government approval of the COVID vaccine and the delivery of the first doses to those who need it the most, we will need a little more patience as we wait our turn to be inoculated and for our society to reopen. We all look forward to joyful reunions with loved ones at family gatherings, graduation celebrations, weddings and the like. Next Christmas will be much different from this year – and there are only 374 days left! In 2021 OAT hopes to resume in-person visits to conduct teaching, conferences, strengthening and encouraging our brothers and sisters across the continent of Africa.

And with even greater longing we await reunion with the one who was born in Bethlehem, lived in Nazareth and died outside Jerusalem so that we can gather with our brothers and sisters from “every tribe, nation and people” before God’s throne (Rev. 7:9).

Missionary John Roebke 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