What a story— and you are in it. One part of the story starts when Bright Pembeleka was young.

A bright student, Pembeleka lived up to his name. As he finished high school, he considered studying to be a medical doctor. He could help so many people in his country, Malawi.

Medical maladies often multiply in modern Malawian stories. Think HIV, TB, malnutrition, diabetes, mental illness.

In the U.S., UNICEF says, the under-five mortality rate is 6.5 per 1,000 live births. In Malawi, though, Partners in Health estimates 55 child deaths per 1,000 live births. Every statistic is a story, too.

So wouldn’t it have been good if Bright Pembeleka had served others medically? Sure.

“I was at high school, and just before writing final exams, I met my pastor, Pastor Boloweza. He was about to go as a Lutheran Church of Central Africa missionary to Mozambique.

“I was not interested at first in being a pastor. Pastor Boloweza thought too that I should be a doctor.

“At first our church council was willing. Then the council changed their mind: ‘Our mission is to spread the word of God,’ they said. They encouraged me to study at the Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) in Lilongwe, Malawi. They sent a letter too: ‘We need him.’”

By God’s grace, Pembeleka did well in pre-LBI studies and test. He studied hard at LBI. Then he served  Kilamon mission station. For three years, 2002–2005, he learned faithfully at the Lutheran Seminary in Zambia. Then he went back to Malawi. After vicaring at Lilongwe South congregation, he was called to serve Kamoto, a rural congregation, just south of Blantyre. So many ministry stories, he can tell.

After 2.5 years, he was called to Beautiful Saviour Lutheran Church in Blantyre, Malawi’s second largest city. Much of the last 12 years he has also been vice chairman of the LCCA – Malawi synod.

He has helped the LCCA start new churches, work together for unity, make property decisions, and improve in gospel-centered stewardship. After four more years/nine more classes of post-seminary study, he has earned a Bachelor of Divinity (BDiv) degree through Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. He has taken four classes in his Master of Theology (MTh) program too.

That is where I come into the story. Pastor Pembeleka was slated to join other Malawian and Zambian pastors for an MTh class in July 2020, taught by a visiting professor from the States, but we canceled the class with the closing of international borders due to COVID-19.

Instead, WLS asked me, the One Africa Team (OAT) missionary coordinating BDiv and MTh studies in Africa in our Confessional Lutheran Institute (CLI), to teach three pastors one-on-one.

I checked with each. One wanted to ancient study church history, to help with his seminary teaching. Another wanted to study counseling, because of his seminary duties.

When I asked what area Pastor Pembeleka might like to specialize in, partly to prepare for a final MTh project, he wrote me, “It has been my plan to study Old Testament theology ever since I joined GRATSI, now CLI. The reason has been that when I have full knowledge of Old Testament, then I will be able to preach and teach New Testament well. Therefore, majoring in Old Testament will help my ministry a lot.”

Which is where you come into story. Do you see?

One way: Without your prayers and support, how could I have met Pastor Pembeleka, if only online? (We have not yet met in person.)

Without God’s mercy in action, how would he have been so well trained by so many other missionaries, pastors, and professors?

Without gifts from others, how would there have been money for each of us to have an e-book to study, let alone computers to study it on?

You may take internet availability for granted, too, but our Malawian pastors don’t. It’s costly. It comes in small bundles.

How could we have a weekly class over WhatsApp, an internet-based messaging service on our phones, without your generosity?

Best of all, the joy we have had in reading a book together, then discussing it for an hour each week, and praying about it.

Pastor Pembeleka told me, “This is the best book I have ever read.”

The book retells the Bible’s story from the garden of Eden in Genesis to the New Jerusalem in Revelation, unfolding God’s plan to share his royal love by creating royal priests who would care for the garden of Eden with him and for him.

As their family grew, they would need more space. They would lovingly expand the Garden of Eden to the ends of the earth; there God would be lovingly present always with his perfect people.

Satan had other plans. He figured he could crush God’s kingdom from the start by luring King Adam and Queen Eve away from God into sin and death.

God had a better, secret plan. After the fall we see it. Bit by bit, the whole Bible unfolds it: God would bless all nations through the Seed of the woman, the Descendant of Abraham, the King from David’s royal line.

You know the story. Pastor Pembeleka and I thought we knew it well too, but we have so enjoyed restudying the story, and seeing all the ways the Old Testament and New Testament fit together, all the ways the Garden of Eden, the tabernacle, the temple, Jesus’ physical body, the New Testament church, and the new heavens and new earth all fit together.

Recently in our final class, we discussed the new Jerusalem, which will have the most marvelous mankhwala (medicine). It will be the Garden of Eden all over again. The leaves of the tree of life there will be for the healing of the nations.

John continues (Revelation 22:3–5), “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.

“And __ will reign for ever and ever.”

How does the story end? What goes in the blank?

We might think the missing word would be “he.” “He will reign for ever and ever.” He will!

But the Bible’s story is better: “They will reign forever and ever.” All believers in the Lamb, all the royal priests of our Priest-King will reign with Christ, our brother, more and more closely and wondrously, we can only imagine, forever and ever.

Saints of all nations, all tribes, all tongues, all together, for all eternity: The never-ending story. The world-wide spread of the kingdom of God.

I love to tell that story of Jesus and his glory. So does Pastor Pembeleka.

Thank you for connecting us. Thank you for every way you have helped us.

Our mission is to spread the Word of God.

Missionary Dan Witte lives in Zambia and coordinates the BDiv and MTh programs of the Confessional Lutheran Institute

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 title of this post means “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land” (Ex. 2:22 ESV)

The 1960’s was a decade of worldwide social and political upheaval. It was the era of MLK and the Civil Rights movement, and African independence from the French and British colonial empires. In 1968 a young graduate from a small Midwestern pastor-training college joined his father and a small team of missionaries in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia to lend a hand teaching students in the Lutheran Bible Institute. That young man’s name was Ernst Richard Wendland, and 52 years later he is still serving the WELS as a missionary in Africa.

In 1953 WELS missionaries first arrived in what was then called Northern Rhodesia, a protectorate of the British Empire. The next decade saw slow, painstaking gains for the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA) as the missionaries preached sermons, performed baptisms and instructed new members, often with the help of African “evangelists.” By the mid-1960’s the LCCA had established its worker training program on a 40 acre property in the Lusaka suburb of Chelston under the direction of Missionary Ernst H. Wendland. This development coincided with the world’s recognition of Zambia as an independent country, and the expansion of WELS mission work to the neighboring country of Malawi. The 1960’s also saw the construction of a Lutheran health clinic in the rural district of Mwembezhi, staffed by a constant rotation of nurses from the United States. One of them in 1969 was a young RN from Michigan named Margaret Westendorf, who became Ernst’s indispensable life-partner through marriage in 1971.

The world has witnessed unimaginable changes over the last half-century. In 1965 Lusaka was a small town of 160,000 inhabitants. Today, Lusaka is an urban center of over 3 million people with ever-present traffic jams and pollution. The LCCA is now an independent church body of over 10,000 souls. Zambian national pastors and lay leaders serve all 113 of the congregations situated in many different areas of the country. As for the Wendlands, God blessed them with four children – Rob, Joel, Stephen, and Naomi – who, even today, sometimes feel more at “home” in Zambia than in the USA.

Missionary Wendland has had a front row seat to all of these changes and many more. He is a living bridge between the earliest days of WELS mission work in Central Africa and the LCCA’s ongoing work today. From his perspective, “the aims of the early WELS missionaries have been achieved and valued by most nationals—namely, to establish a confessional, evangelical, Lutheran church body in an area of Africa where none existed before, and to partner with national leaders and trained pastors so that they would progressively take over the work that missionaries had done before to found the church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” The backbone of that mission strategy was and still is the thorough training of men who will serve as the shepherds of God’s flock. Candidates for the program first receive training through a program called Theological Education by Extension (see https://welsfriendsofafrica.com/t-e-e-ing-up-students-for-success/), then enter a two-tiered school of the Lutheran Bible Institute and Lutheran Seminary. Missionary Wendland has taught various classes at both the Bible Institute and Seminary level, including biblical language and exegetical courses, plus hermeneutics, communication & translation, English, African traditional religion and independent local churches.

Upon graduation and ordination, pastors continue to benefit from ongoing educational programs. Missionary Wendland helped originate and facilitate the original Greater Africa Theological Studies Institute (GRATSI), a program of post-graduate studies offering both Bachelors of Divinity and Masters of Theology degrees to qualified pastors from Zambia and Malawi. These post-seminary programs have now been incorporated into the Confessional Lutheran Institute (CLI) which will help coordinate all of the pastoral enrichment programs that WELS has to offer its partners in Africa. What is truly exciting is that some of the Zambian students that were trained in the LBI and Seminary are now co-teachers with their former instructors at the Lutheran Seminary. God deserves the glory for development of the LCCA into a mature church body, and we thank God for using Missionary Wendland and many other faithful missionaries to realize this goal.

Over that time he has enjoyed strong working relationships with Zambian colleagues in ministry. He says, “This has always been a mutually educative and supportive relationship. There are certain things that I could teach my fellow pastors and teachers, while on the other hand, there are many things that they have taught me over the years—right up to the present day, especially in the area of language, culture, and a different world-view perspective on the Scriptures. I could not have carried out, let alone prospered, in my various mission-related endeavors without the essential guidance, correction, and encouragement provided by my national brothers in Christ.”

Having attended a translators’ workshop led by Missionary Wendland, it was immediately clear to me that God has given him a deep appreciation for the culture and language of the Bantu peoples. Missionary Wendland’s linguistic talents have served him well in his duties as the Language Coordinator for LCCA Publications, a post he has held since 1972. In addition, he has served the United Bible Societies as a language consultant for 40 years working in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Botswana. His guiding philosophy in translating theological texts is to render them both accurately and idiomatically. Many older translations use a literal, word-for-word approach that do not communicate the meaning of the original text. Wendland’s goal has always been “to identify and train national pastors who have the double gift of understanding English well coupled with the ability of translating our publications (textbooks, tracts, hymns, liturgies, Bible studies, etc.) competently in the natural style of a local Bantu language.” While there are electronic tools available today to help check spelling, grammar and punctuation, Google Translate is not adequate to the task of checking the accuracy and style of a translation. It is important that translators not only have a good understanding of English but are also native speakers of the language they are translating the text into. Over the last half-century the work of translating the Bible into different native languages has flourished all over the world, and study Bibles are available in many African tongues. In addition to teaching students at the Lutheran Seminary in Lusaka, Missionary Wendland has shared his extensive experience in translation work with students in South Africa, Israel and Hong Kong.

The Wendlands have followed a very different path through life than their fellow WELS members, as God has blessed them with the opportunity to spend two-thirds of their lifetime in Africa. Missionary Wendland expresses his gratitude to the WELS for their generous support for so many years. He also underscores his admiration for “the friendly, helpful nature of the various African peoples in this part of the world—their desire to learn more about God’s Word and how to apply it in their lives, including certain social settings that present many challenges and tests of faith like warfare, disease, droughts, and economic downturns.” As we continue to be tested by the COVID19 outbreak, may God also help us to cling to his promises and apply his Word to our lives.

Written by Missionary John Roebke, Director of Communications 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

God’s Call brought the Nitz family to Malawi and now His Call is taking them out.

26 years 8 months later.

5 kids later.

4 in-country moves later.

12 furloughs later.

It was in November of 1993 that Paul and Susan (and first-born Henry) arrived in Malawi. Over the stretch of years, they have seen a lot of changes and blessings in the country, in the ministry and in their own family.   

Speaking of family, just half the Nitz family were still residing in Malawi in 2020:  Paul, Susan, Joel (19) and Frances (16).  The other four children have been residing in the States already.  One by one they moved to the USA as the Lord called each to pursue his or her own schooling and vocation. 

But now…a family reunited! 

Oops! Not quite yet!  (Not at the time of this writing).  The Nitz’s are still in Malawi with cancelled airline tickets and no confirmed date to fly. 

I guess that is what Covid-19 can do.  It can wreak havoc with more than bodies – even entire countries!   (I know, I am preaching to the choir – you all are facing the challenge of the Corona pandemic).

Even though the Malawi airports have been shut down to the general passenger flights, the country itself has not been on official government lockdown.  The commercial planes have stopped flying, but the people have still been able to move about.

This has given the Nitz’s opportunity to say goodbye to various groups. They have already attended four “official” farewells from various groups and are taking advantage of the extra time to say personal goodbyes with special friends.

As we listen to the news for any word about Malawi flights resuming, we keep reminding each other, God’s timing is always best!  

As Frances, Joel, Susan and Paul look back over the time spent in Malawi, and anticipating the move to America, they have shared some of their thoughts with us.

Frances looks back on her schooling experience in Malawi:

“My schooling here in Malawi has been very privileged, I have had to chance to do multiple service activities with orphanages, local schools, local companies, and many organizations. That has been something that I have enjoyed.”

Frances, you were born in Malawi, been living here for 16 years.  Is there something – a keepsake or a souvenir that you plan to take to the States with you?

“I guess I would love to take a bracelet that is threaded with the words MALAWI.  It is small and meaningful since it not only reminds me of Lake Malawi (from where I got it) but it’s just a little reminder of home.”

Ah, yes, home. 

For sons and daughters of missionaries, especially long-term ones, the concept of home often becomes a challenge. 

The parents have left their home to serve on the mission field, but the kids have grown up on the mission field.  When it comes time to leave the mission field, the parents are technically going to their home country, but the kids are technically leaving their home country. 

“Where’s home?” becomes a difficult question.  Such a blessing that we have God’s promise to watch over our “coming and going both now and forevermore!” (see Psalm 121). 

What about you, Joel?  What “memory” will you take back with you from Malawi?

“There is a pottery sculpture of a poor man sitting down. I received it from an Ethiopian friend, and I feel it will serve as a reminder of the poverty I have grown up around and remind me of my hope which is to live a frugal and simple life to emphasize the importance of my Heavenly treasure over my worldly possessions.”

Even though we don’t have the sculpture, Joel, we can all use that same reminder. Thank you!

Susan shares a favorite memory too.

“I remember after moving to Mzuzu in 1994 I was invited to join the women’s weekly devotion and choir practice at St. Michael’s church. The women were very friendly and let me try to sing with them. One day a large group of women walked several miles to my house and brought me a tray of 30 eggs. This really was a generous thing for them to do and showed love towards me.  After that, some women visited me, and we shared cooking lessons. I taught them to bake and make pancakes, and they taught me how to cook nsima and greens.”

Hmm, I wonder if nsima and greens will be on the Nitz family table in the States?

Though Paul will be leaving the mission field as the One Africa Team Leader, he is now serving the Lord in his new Call as a Mission Counselor in the WELS Board for World Missions. 

He will be working out of the WELS Center for Mission and Ministry (CMM) in Waukesha, WI.  He shares his heart with us in prayer as he ponders leaving the Warm Heart of Africa and living in USA:    

“Dear Lord, thank you for the opportunity to serve your people here in Malawi for so many years. You have protected us from harm and kept us strong spiritually.  We rejoice that so many Malawians love you as their Savior. It is a joy to know that through the salvation won by your Son, Jesus, they will join with all believers on the last day and live forever in Your kingdom.  Help us as we move to the United States. While we are very sad thinking of the friends and work and home that we are leaving behind, help us to focus on new ways to serve others in our new home. Continue to bless the work of the church in Malawi, in the United States, and wherever the Gospel is preached around the world.”

Thanking God for each one of you, Nitz family!  Your whole family has been a blessing on the mission field.  We know that you will all be warmly welcomed there – but please know that you will be greatly missed here. 

God be with you till we meet again!

Missionary John Holtz lives in Malawi. You can watch his presentation to the WELS online missions convention at https://welstasteandsee.com/kalulu-wakupyolera-mtunda-utari-even-a-hare-gets-heavy-on-a-long-journey-carrying-each-others-burdens-in-africa-john-holtz/