There’s an unusual quiet on the campus.

The Lutheran Bible Institute in Lilongwe, Malawi is normally in session; there’s usually a beehive of activity that makes the campus hum:

Classes.

Homework.

Study hours.

Work detail.

Classroom learning & break out group discussions.

But now?

No power points presentations, no lectures nor recitations, no storytelling, no Professor jokes nor student laughter.  No opening day devotions or communicative Greek dialogue.

No break-time chatting, checkers, or chess. 

Student houses stand menacingly vacant.

The campus church building stands eerily quiet.

No one is kicking up dust on the football pitch.

No one tending to the maize in the fields.

No students or their families to be seen. Gone without a trace.  It’s as if they all vanished.  Disappeared. 

Well, in a way they have.  In fact, I might add, rather quickly.

Due to the world-wide Coronavirus pandemic, the Lutheran Bible Institute has also been affected.  Just like every other school in Malawi. And most in the world.

On 20 March 2020 Malawian President Mutharika declared Malawi a State of Disaster and ordered that all schools be closed as of 23 March.

That mandate turned into a mad scramble for the faculty to quickly get the students back to their home villages.  It wasn’t an easy doing.  Especially for the Zambian students.  It first meant countless hours in the Immigration office to sort out remaining issues with passports, student permits and for some, birth certificates for kids recently born in Malawi. 

And to think…

This was the final year for the LBI students.  The 3-year program was coming to a close June’s end. The 14 students and their families and the LBI Faculty had anticipated a joyful – and eventful – graduation service.

How things can change and change quickly!  There just was no time for a special “cap and gown” service; there was no class speaker, no class song, no diplomas received, no gifts given.    

It wasn’t that there were COVID-19 cases in Lilongwe.  In fact, at that time, there were no officially confirmed cases even in all of Malawi!  This comparatively tiny country stood with few others as having zero infected people. 

So why cancel the classes if the virus wasn’t evident? 

Because the fear was. 

Maybe you’re seeing – or experiencing – something similar.  Panic buying.  Anxious thoughts.  Worrisome nights and troublesome days.  Some are struggling with lost jobs and new-found questions:

Do I wear a mask or not?

Quarantine or not?

Do I have it?  Did I give it to someone else?

Do I get tested?  Can I get tested?

The fear and the questions spread as quickly as the virus itself. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.

Price hikes, long queues, and empty shelves.  And it’s not just schools that have been cancelled.

Flights? Cancelled.

Hotel bookings? Cancelled.  

Long-awaited vacation? Cancelled.

Cruise?  Rally?  Convention?  Even an election?  Cancelled with a CAPTITAL C.

A red-letter disappointment.

But despite the cancelled classes and graduation service, this class will still proceed onto the Seminary in September 2020. Each of the 14 students have met the qualifications and the faculty recommends them!

And so there were still hopeful smiles on the campus. Before the 14 LBI students parted ways, with a hoe they parted the earth and made time to do one last class activity:

They planted a tree. 

Wouldn’t you know it? With a lighthearted touch, they hung a sign on the tree.  More than a sign, it was the name that they gave the tree; a name that you could probably guess considering these times:

Corona.

Did you know that Corona means “Crown”?  The virus, presumably so named, because, in a way, it resembles one.

The Coronavirus has brought a lot of sickness and death to our world.  But it looks like we are adjusting to the situation: masks, social distancing, hand washing, working from home, and studying at home.  

What a golden opportunity we also have been given: to fix our eyes on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  Stop and pause this week.  What a week it is! 

Whom do we see?

• A Palm Sunday donkey-riding Servant King making triumphal entries, not just into cities like Jerusalem, but into hearts like ours.

• A Maundy Thursday Passover Lamb that offers, not just bread and wine, but Body and Blood.

• A Good Friday Center-Cross “Criminal” who, even as people taunted and mocked, still was breathing out forgiveness.

• A Devil Destroyer who went to hell to proclaim his victory!

• An Easter morning Death Defeater who came out of the tomb fully alive and victorious, guaranteeing our own resurrection and life.  And victory!

• A Powerful Ruler sitting at the right hand of God controlling all things. 

And by faith, what Paul the Apostle knows is also what we know:  “in ALL those things (even in a State of Disaster) God is working for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

THAT you know.  What you maybe didn’t know (but now you will!) was where on the campus the LBI students planted the tree.  They dug the hole and placed the tree right next to the campus church where they worshipped most every morning and every evening. 

The place where law and the gospel was preached.  The house of God in which the name of Jesus was held high.  The location where forgiveness was proclaimed and where the sacraments were administered.  Where they learned to preach devotions and to preside over the liturgy.  

Perhaps what you also didn’t know (but now you will!) was the name of the church: CROWN of LIFE.

What a paradox!

A tree of death. A Crown of Life. Or is it a Crown of Death and a Tree of Life?

As you’re thinking about that, think about this:  There is another tree that comes with the same paradox. The tree on Golgotha.

A tree of life or a tree of death?  A crown of life or a crown of death?

Actually, both.   It’s the place where law and gospel meet.  The epicenter of God’s full wrath and full love.  A converging torrent of anger over sin and love for the sinner.  So, when God gives you the opportunities this Holy Week and beyond,

Sing your Hosannas!

Feast at the Lord’s table!

Answer the hymn writer’s question: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”  (CW #119)

Remind yourself that Satan has been defeated.

Peer into the tomb and find it for what it is: empty.

And the next time your sins trouble you and you wonder if God has forgiven you, remember that the written code was nailed to the cross.  (Colossians 2:14)   

And the debt you owe because of your sins?  

Debt cancelled

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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