This week I had the opportunity to attend the installation services for two very different pastors. One of them is a man with over two decades of ministry experience. The other man is a recent graduate of the Lutheran Seminary of Lusaka, Zambia. But despite their differences, both are serving in very similar ministries in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa – Malawi Synod.

Fisi

Rev. Brester Msowoya is a veteran pastor of the LCCA. He has served in all three regions of Malawi: Central, South and North. He has served both big city churches and rural parishes. He is also the chairman of the LCCA Malawi Publications Committee. Rev. Msowoya is a Tumbuka from Northern Malawi, as is his wife. In fact, Pastor Msowoya had been serving in Mpherembe, his wife’s hometown when he received a call to serve the Malawian Lutherans living in the villages to the west of the capital city of Lilongwe. These congregations were originally started by WELS missionaries living in Lilongwe, who drove back and forth every week to serve them.

In the 1990’s these congregations were taken over by Malawian pastors, but there has not been a resident pastor living in Fisi for several years. There is a parsonage in the village of Fisi, but without electricity or indoor plumbing. WELS Christian Aid and Relief sponsored the drilling of a borehole which provides safe drinking water.

Rev. Msowoya was called to serve a parish union of congregations located in four different villages. Each Sunday he will visit a different church to preach, conduct baptisms and confirmations, and serve the Lord’s Supper. There are an additional 12 congregations in that region served by Malawian pastors coming from Lilongwe. You can read about a recent trip to one of those churches at https://welsfriendsofafrica.com/four-hours-in-church/

Over the next several months, Rev. Msowoya will have the opportunity to get to know his flock and the people of his community and to share the burden-lifting message of Christ’s unconditional forgiveness. 

Msambo

On the other side of the ministry, Rev. David Kalima is just beginning his service to God’s church. Pastor Kalima has spent the last six years studying full-time at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi and at the Lutheran Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia. Both schools are located in the capital cities of their respective countries. Now Pastor Kalima and his wife must make the transition to living in a very different context.

The village of Msambo is one of the WELS Central Africa Medical Mission (CAMM) mobile clinic sites. Once a week, medical personnel travel from Lilongwe to four different villages to conduct basic health screenings, to provide basic medical care and to give medical advice for expecting mothers and those who have recently given birth. A congregation of Lutherans has been meeting at the clinic site in Msambo every Sunday to hear God’s word preached by a lay minister or a visiting pastor from the town of Salima.

Pastor Kalima’s arrival at Msambo coincides with a significant building project just completed by CAMM: a new clinic building that is twice the size of the old building, which is certain to increase the number of patients seeking medical services.  Rev. Kalima has also been called to serve the congregations in the villages of Suzi and Tunga, where CAMM also operates clinics. The village of Suzi is about 18 miles away from Msambo, and Rev. Kalima will rely either on taxi service or his bicycle to get there once a month.

Over the next several months, Pastor Kalima will have the opportunity to get to know the people of his community. He will have the opportunity to offer spiritual healing to those burdened with physical ailments, and to preach and teach the Gospel of Christ to all.

Two men in very different places in life – but both are hearing God’s call, “Who will go for me?” and answering, “Here I am! Send me!” (Isa 6:8)

Missionary John Roebke lives in Malawi and serves as the Communications Director for 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

Twenty-nine years ago, my wife Leslie and I were preparing to go to Africa to serve as a newly assigned missionary. We had three children ages four, two and four months. The other two children would be born a few years later while living in Zambia. We were young, and excited. I was eager to start working as an African Missionary and my wife was wondering how best to care for our young family, knowing that her skills as a RN would come in very handy.

Now, all the kids are grown, four of the five children are married, and five grandchildren have been added to the family; and Leslie and I are getting ready to move again to Africa. This time I am going to serve as the Leader of WELS World Mission’s One Africa Team (OAT). The OAT consists of all the missionaries serving in Africa who work with various sister synods in Africa to share the good news of Jesus throughout the continent. Now days this work usually takes the form of offering training and encouragement to those who serve as ministers of the gospel in our sister synods.

This is quite different from what I was called to do 29 years ago. Back then my main job was to preach, teach, baptize and offer the Lord’s supper to village congregations which did not have their own pastors. This meant driving out to the village areas at least four days per week and visiting at least two congregations each day for worship and or bible study. Between my visits the congregations were faithfully served by lay men who preached from a sermon book, taught Sunday school and confirmation classes, using books prepared for them. Through these men congregations were started, grew and became strong.

As I return to Africa, many of those men are fully trained pastors and leaders in the Seminary and their Synod. Now WELS missionaries are not needed to serve as Pastors in local congregations but are used to train and encourage ministers of the gospel in church bodies throughout the continent.

I am eager and feel blessed to take on the work of leading this group. I thank God for the years I served in Zambia and I thank God for the past 20 years I have served while living in the States. I am thankful for the things I learned as I served St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and School in Norfolk, NE. I am thankful for the experiences I had serving Messiah Lutheran Church in Nampa ID; especially what I learned about well-planned and organized outreach. Also, as I served 10 years on the Board for World Missions, 4 of those years as Chairman. It was so enlightening to understand WELS World Missions not only as a missionary on the field but also at the administrative levels. I also feel that I will put to good use what I experienced serving as the Director of the Apache Christian Training School (ACTS). That experience reminded me of how important it is that missionaries aren’t sent to be pastors for people; but rather they are sent to work with people to develop strong forms of ministry that best serve the needs of that community.

I am thankful to the LORD for giving me this opportunity to serve as the OAT Leader. I am thankful that the LORD has given me a wife that is so supportive and willing to return to Africa. Without her support, understanding, and willingness to serve none of this would be possible.

Howard Mohlke is the new leader of One Africa Team and is currently living in Nebraska while his paperwork is being processed. He and his wife Leslie will reside in Malawi on the campus of the Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe

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

In 2018 WELS World Mission’s Multi-Language Publications had a vision to reach the world with the Gospel in a new way. Their vision was to equip people with the truth of God’s word using digital resources in English. Like the Latin America mission field’s Spanish Academia Cristo, TELL would use English to reach people through social media, self-led Bible lessons and live video classrooms.

Three years later, God has blessed that vision. The TELL Network has 1.2 million followers and likes on its main Facebook page. Across the globe there are 7,000 active users doing self-led Bible lessons on the TELL app and website. Currently there is one full-time TELL missionary who meets several times a week with students from Africa, India, and Philippines.

One student, Samuel, is from Guinea, Africa. He is a school teacher with a wife and children. “My greatest desire is to be well-equipped for mission work,” says Samuel, “I won’t miss this opportunity by God’s grace.”

Like thousands of others, Samuel found TELL on Facebook. TELL’s Facebook team posts daily Bible passages and short devotional videos by national pastors called #TELLtalks. The team answers questions online and invites people to start free Bible training on the TELL app or website.

Samuel downloaded the TELL app and within seconds began the first self-learning course. He completed three self-learning courses: Spiritual Healing, Truth Brings Peace, and Introduction to the Bible. Each course has nine lessons that include a Bible reading, teaching video, and quiz.

When Samuel completed the self-learning courses (“TELL Tier 1”) he received his first certificate. Then a TELL missionary contacted Samuel. He congratulated him and invited Samuel to join him in the live online classes (“TELL Tier 2”).

Today Samuel is meeting twice a week in a video classroom with a TELL instructor and other students. Students go in-depth learning about the work of Jesus, Old and New Testament history and Law and Gospel. Each course takes about a month. There are eleven courses in TELL tier 2.

TELL tier 3 are live courses too. They focus on how to share the Gospel in your community: gathering, teaching and discipling. God-willing someday the TELL instructor along with a local missionary will visit Samuel to grow the relationship and support Samuel as he starts a small group.

When Samuel began TELL he had been praying for just that: an opportunity to share the Gospel. Since then God opened a door! A friend gave Samuel air-time on the local radio station. Every Sunday evening Samuel takes the Bible lesson he has learned with TELL and reuses them on-air to an audience of up to half-a-million. Many of whom haven’t heard the Gospel.

By God’s grace Samuel has found a place where he receives real Gospel training right from God’s word. “I used to believe in a Gospel that was preaching prosperity and miracles mostly,” Samuel says, “But I discovered this misleads believers. It focuses on earthly things and makes us forget heavenly things. Now I’m mission-minded.”

Daniel Laitinen is Multi-Language Production’s TELL Missionary and lives in Austin, TX

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