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

Press Forward

A flash flood provided a little extra excitement to a recent publications meeting in Lusaka

Stuck. In. The. Mud. It happens (often) during the rainy season. There’s no point in kicking yourself for venturing out on dicey roads or blaming the road engineers who built the road, or shaking your fist at God for sending so much rain. When you’re stuck, you’ve only got one option – you’ve got to get unstuck.

Stuck. It happens (often) in church work. Endless committee meetings become a quagmire for decision making. Miscommunication between Gospel partners ensures zero progress on projects. A change in leadership paralyzes those who are comfortable with the status quo. But when you’re stuck, you don’t point fingers or pass judgment on others. You get unstuck.

I recently travelled to Zambia to meet with members of the two committees responsible for publications work in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa – Zambia Synod. Publications work has been at a standstill for some time. At one time, the Lutheran Press of Lusaka was cranking out tracts, hymnals, sermon books, Sunday school materials and worker training manuals for use in both Zambia and Malawi. In the 1970s and ’80s, missionaries and national workers operated printing equipment on the campus of the Lutheran Seminary because there wasn’t anyone else in town who get the work done. For many years faithful servants of the church produced printed materials that are still in use 40 years later, albeit a bit dated in appearance.

Lusaka has seen remarkable development in the last 20 years. Large publishing houses offer their services at a competitive price

But the times have changed, and Lusaka has seen explosive growth in the last two decades. Shopping malls, movie theaters, expressways and traffic jams are now part of everyday life. The technology of printing has changed rapidly too. Lusaka has several printing houses staffed with talented layout artists who paint on monitors with the flick of a mouse. Computers keep an electric eye on paper streaming and ink flowing through giant Heidelberg presses. Bookbinding machines fuse glue, pages and cover on a smoothly moving production line.

It takes an army of workers and a sharp business plan to operate a modern printing operation today. It takes an army of church workers and careful stewardship to deliver the Gospel to today’s audiences. It is a blessing that the LCCA-ZS can partner with WELS Multi-Language Publications and local printing houses to obtain printed products that are cheaper and of a much higher quality than anything they could make themselves.

There are obstacles of course because this is sub-Saharan Africa. A sudden downpour flooded the Lutheran Seminary campus the day of our meeting in Lusaka, so after removing my shoes and socks and rolling up my pant legs I waded my way to work. Delivering printed products to remote congregations is a huge challenge that is overcome by using a delivery network of mini-buses, motorcycles and bicycles. And even the best written printed materials with an attractively designed cover have to compete with whatever’s flashing on your phone’s screen.

These reprints of the WELS Catechism were made in Malawi

Nevertheless, the LCCA-ZS publications program is moving forward again like a Landcruiser in creeper gear. “The good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it” (Luke 16:16). It is time to press forward.

Missionary John Roebke is the Communications Director for One Africa Team and lives in Malawi.

Who’s in Charge Here?

I wish I would have kept track of the number of times I said to myself, “Ok, I guess we are not in charge of these matters.”

In December of 2019, I was blessed to visit Uganda for a teaching trip on behalf of the One Africa Team Outreach Committee.  I accompanied Missionary John Hartmann for the third meeting with a group of Pastors, Evangelists and other church leaders. Since this was my first visit, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I was pleased with what I saw there -a solid and serious group continuing to hunger and thirst for the true righteousness only Jesus can provide (Matthew 5:6).  These people were eager to know the truth and see how those teachings fit into real life.  Most of them had experience in the church that left them thinking “there should be more to what I’m hearing and seeing from the leaders of my church body.”

Continue reading “Who’s in Charge Here?”
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