Four Hours in Church

Choirs from five different congregations performed at a joint worship service in Chilembwe, Malawi

I had a choice between sitting through four hours of church and a voters’ meeting or attending a four hour long worship service. Since moving to Malawi’s capital city of Lilongwe nine months ago I regularly attend the English language worship services held at Crown of Life Lutheran Church on the campus of the Lutheran Bible Institute. I am thankful for the the opportunity to gather weekly with my fellow missionaries and the members of the congregation to hear encouraging messages from God’s Word. The style of worship is familiar to any member of the Wisconsin Synod. We use the
WELS hymnal Christian Worship to sing hymns and psalms, accompanied by an electronic organ. The student choir of the Lutheran Bible Institute performs 3-4 glorious anthems in the Chichewa and Chitumbuka languages. The congregation also holds separate Chichewa language services that starts later in the morning. Once a month Crown of Life holds a joint English and Chichewa language service that can last up to two and a half hours. And just like many WELS congregations, Crown of Life also has (long) voters’ meetings.



Children and infants receive faith, forgiveness and eternal salvation through the sacrament of Baptism

It just happened that I got invited to attend a worship service in a rural congregation outside of Lilongwe on the same Sunday as the voters’ meeting. The Vacancy Pastor is only able to visit this area once a month. He ususally takes his motorcycle, which is able to negotiate muddy roads and narrow trails. This time we took my car – it wasn’t raining when we set off, but I kept my eye on the skies the entire time. There is a new tarmacked (asphalt) road that we followed for about a half hour, then we turned onto a dirt road which grew progressively rougher and narrower. At one point we were following a cow path through a cornfield. Thank goodness for four-wheel drive! We asked numerous people for directions because Google maps doesn’t tell you when roads are washed out.

Our destination was the village of Chilembwe, tucked inside the elbow of the Bua River. There are no bridges across the river or any main thoroughfares that pass through this part of Malawi, and I did not see any high wires connecting the village to the power grid. We arrived to discover that the church’s walls had collapsed due to the rains. The local Presbyterian congregation let us use their building, and they worshiped elsewhere. It was a very charitable offer, considering that congregations from five different villages came to Chilembwe for a joint worship service.

Rev. Medson Mitengo is the very energetic vacancy pastor for this parish union

We started about two and a half hours late. People continued to trickle in during the entire service which, as I mentioned earlier, lasted four hours. I had a front row seat to a dozen different choirs, each performing 2-4 songs apiece. I witnessed 22 children and 4 adults become heirs of God’s kingdom through the sacrament of Baptism. I heard the Confirmation vows of 35 youths and adults to remain faithful to Christ unto death. I watched 167 people receive Jesus’ real body and blood in Holy Communion for the forgiveness of their sins. I heard the pastor preach two sermons – one was centered on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the other was about using gifts of time, talent and money
for God’s glory. At one point during the service the ushers came around with 2 bowls of raw corn, and to their dismay I tried snacking on a few kernels. My wife correctly observed that everyone else took a kernel from one bowl and put it in the other, as a way of counting those in attendance. The final number announced was 467, give or take a handful of corn.

After the worship service we introduced ourselves to the group in Chichewa and listened to various church elders introduce themselves. It took some time to shake everyone’s hand on the way out of church but we felt honored. The Pastor spent another hour teaching advanced Bible classes to three men who are preparing themselves for entrance exams at the Lutheran Bible Institute. Our hosts graciously prepared a lunch of nsima and chicken for us, then we started back with about an hour and a half of daylight left. We got directions for a better way to travel by car which, although longer in distance was much more suitable than the way we had come and eventually led us back to the tarmack.

Music is an important part of youth ministry in the LCCA

It’s true here and in the United States that country life is much different the city. 80% of Malawi’s population lives in rural areas, some more remote than others but most with limited access to medical care, good roads and electricity. Most of the pastors of the LCCA Malawi live in the same rural communities as their members, in order to serve them better. This spring, five Malawian men will graduate from the Lutheran Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia. Perhaps one of them will be assigned to serve the five churches of Chilembwe, Chingwakwa, Msokoneza, Kamwaza and Yotamu but it will not be easy for the congregations to support him. But what I observed during that Sunday in
Chilembwe shows me that God’s Spirit is actively working in the hearts of these people, who biked or walked many miles to receive the comfort of the Gospel. A lot happened during that four hour church service, but a lot more is happening out of our sight.

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




Letters from Crackpots

Rev. E. Eshiett

My wife’s parents were dairy farmers from Wisconsin whose lives revolved around the family, farm, and church. They had a great love for Jesus and his Great Commission. In 1963 my mother-in-law read a story in the Green Bay Press-Gazette about a Nigerian pastor who wanted to know about Christianity in the United States. That article prompted her to raise money in her congregation to purchase a bicycle for his ministry, and later she sent him some clothes. In a letter he replied, “I am really fat and would need to reduce if it was within my capacity. The raincoat did not fit me. It is still very needful since my wife has begun to use it.” Over the next three decades she maintained correspondence with Rev. E. Eshiett, a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Nigeria.



The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Nigeria came into existence in the 1930’s following contacts between a Nigerians from the Ibesikpo tribe and representatives from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The Ibesikpos had been part of a Presbyterian church body dominated by people of the Qua Iboe tribe, but did not feel that they were being treated fairly. The Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Synod partnered to support missionaries in Nigeria under the supervision of the Missionary Board of the Synodical Conference.

After the breakup of the Synodical Conference in 1961, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Nigeria remained in fellowship with the Missouri Synod. However, the Lutheran members of another Nigerian tribe, the Annang people, felt that they were receiving second-class treatment in the Ibesikpo-dominated church body. In 1960’s, several Annang Lutherans traveled to the United States to search for a new Lutheran partner. In 1969 the Lutherans living in the Annang majority territory of Abiaokpo established their own church body, Christ the King Lutheran Church of Nigeria.

As the only ordained pastor in the new church body, Rev. Eshiett was sent to the United States to pursue contacts with the Lutheran Churches of the Reformation in 1971. Eventually Rev. Eshiett reached out to Rev. Edward Greve, a former WELS missionary who had taught in the Synodical Conference’s Nigerian seminary. It was decided that he should attend classes at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary for a short time. While he was there, Eshiett was able to meet my wife’s parents and see their dairy farm in person. He wrote, “Farmers [in the USA] themselves are very rich.” When my mother-in-law responded that American farmers have to pay mortgages he wrote, “I did not know that these men are debtors. However, it is always good to be a good debtor, although debt can disunite men with Christ.” He also asked my mother-in-law about her newborn calves and yearling steer.

In 1981, WELS and CKLCN declared fellowship. Over the next decade, WELS sent missionaries on short-term teaching trips to prepare pastors for Christ the King Lutheran Church of Nigeria. Rev. Eshiett helped train seminary students – and then in 1986 he resigned from his post and left CKLCN. In his last letter to my mother-in-law he wrote, “How are you faring with your farm? Every moment of my life I feel I am nearer eternity than before…I need your prayers daily.” He was a broken clay pot with Christ’s treasure in his heart (2 Cor. 4:7).

It is a testimony to God’s power and grace that he uses flawed humans – pastors, missionaries and laypeople – to build up his church. We stumble in our mission strategy, we make short-sighted decisions, and sometimes our helping hurts others. In spite of all our missteps God pours living water on his church and it blooms with the fragrant aroma of the Gospel. God used Rev. Eshiett to lay the foundation for his church in Nigeria, and he used my mother-in-law’s letters to strengthen him in his ministry. And God is using cracked pots like you and me to build up his church all over the world!

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




Christ for All, Great News for Africa

The members of One Africa Team include resident missionaries and stateside administrators

Christ for All, Great News for Africa. Seven words. One
passion. A core focus of the One Africa Team (OAT) that burns like fire in the
belly. That Godly desire. That Christ-like obsession. That Spirit-driven yearn
of the heart. I could sense the hunger in the room:  a resolve to know Christ and to make Him
known.

How can we do that in the most effective, God-pleasing
way in our little corner of the world into which God has placed us?  Especially considering that THAT “little
corner” happens to be the size of AFRICA! 
Or better said, it is Africa. 
Whew. That question hung intimidatingly over us like Malawi’s January clouds.

To figure out the answer to that question, the One Africa
Team gathered in Lilongwe, Malawi for its annual meeting.  The 4-day pow wow was a call to arms of
sorts, a raising of the flag “Christ for All, Great News for Africa.” Five men
from Malawi, four men from Zambia and three from the States.  A dirty dozen washed clean in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ.

It rang true then as it does every day: the better we
know Christ, the greater the passion God fuels in us to be His disciples, His workers
in His harvest fields. Or as John Hartmann reminded us in his opening sermon based
on Titus 1:1-9, “We are Slaves of the Trustworthy Message.”   

Missionary John Hartmann serves in Zambia and coordinates outreach efforts across the African continent

An appropriate theme and a timely reminder for the One
Africa Team.   A slave serves.  In our case – and in yours dear Mission
Partner – when the One whom we are serving is the Savior Jesus who gave us the
trustworthy message – wow – that really helps craft and shape our niche in both
life and ministry. 

It did for us as the One Africa Team:  “Through theological education and coordination
of WELS resources, we, the One Africa Team, assist our partners in Africa to
grow as independent, healthy church bodies.” Our partners in Africa?  The Sister Synods who are located in these
countries: Malawi, Zambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia.

These are the ones with whom we have an official
fellowship relationship and standing. 
But there’s more.  Much
more.  By God’s grace the list of potential
sister synods in Africa is growing longer. 
The Holy Spirit is on the move.  OAT
is, too. OAT is following up with contacts and/or groups in Rwanda, Tanzania,
Mozambique, Uganda, Liberia, Congo, Burundi, Zimbabwe… The task is as BIG as it
sounds.  

Understanding that it is, Missionary Hartmann succinctly
summarized the sermon text in a nutshell: 1) we are entrusted with the truth
and 2) we are sent to train others. Are we up for such a task?  Nope, not in our own power!  But as the Word of God impresses upon us, it’s
a mission given and empowered by God Himself. He’s behind it all. And out in
front of us all!   We sang…

In your promise firm we stand;

None can take us from your hand.

Speak we hear at your command,

We will follow YOU!

By your blood our souls were bought;

By your life salvation wrought;

By your light our feet are taught,

Lord, to follow YOU!

He is a Good One to follow.  Yes, Jesus is both behind it all and out in
front.  A Lamb who laid down His life for
His sheep.  (Already happened!) A Shepherd
who still leads His sheep. (Still happening!) 
But he’s not so distant ahead that we can’t follow Him.  Not so far beyond reach that He’s out of
touch.    

What an impassioned desire He has for us!  

To seek and to save is His focused obsession! 

Oh, the deep yearn of Christ’s heart for you and me!

Missionary Paul Nitz serves as the leader of One Africa Team

Paul Nitz, the One Africa Team Integrator, set up an
agenda that rallied us around that passion. We participated in some team
building exercises, evaluated our strengths and reconfirmed our core values.  We set down some long-range goals, worked
through some thorny issues and readjusted some structure.  We rethought, rehashed and revisited what
needed attention.

Though the “plans of mice and men” and even OAT for that
matter, may not turn out the way we might think or expect, we have a God who certainly
knows what He’s doing and knows what is best. 
He’s in control and – make no mistake about it – He makes no mistakes
about it.  Even on a continent the size of
Africa.

Christ for All.  Great News for Africa.

Missionary John Holtz lives in Malawi