“Cross the river in a crowd,” an African proverb says, “and the crocodile won’t eat you.”

That is, teamwork tends to work better than individual effort.

Recently Mr. Banda and Mr. Zulu, two veteran workmen for our mission, and I teamed up. From Lusaka, Zambia, we headed east together. We crossed the Luangwa River and drove all day to Chipata in Eastern Province.

From Chipata the next two days we headed north to villages in the areas of Lundazi and Mfuwe. There we installed solar panel systems at the homes of Pastor Lewis Mbewe and Pastor Edward Nyirenda.

The workmen nailed together a simple shelf for the battery and inverter.

Here is what the system inside looked like, once hooked up.

Mr. Banda and Mr. Zulu connected that system with wiring to a 120 watt solar panel on the roof.

The system also connects to a wall-mounted controller and to a small set of LED lights which we attached by clips to the exposed trusses inside the home. One light went outside.

We brought along a ladder for interior use, but outside our main ladder was our Land Cruiser.

The week before we had done the same in two villages closer to Lusaka. For instance, here is a photo of Pastor Godfrey Matina (the tallest man) and members of his congregation.

During two of our four installations, many people gathered to see what we were doing.

Meals were cooked and shared, always centering on nshima, a Zambian staple made from maize.

You might wonder who paid for the diesel fuel to get us to the villages—our Land Cruiser has two tanks—and for the solar panels and systems.

You did.

That is, you and others did, through the WELS Africa Special Projects Fund, one of many projects you can learn about in the Home and World Mission Projects Fund booklet. Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society (LWMS) and the WELS Mission Office prepares the booklet.

If you look up the Africa Special Projects Fund, you read, “There are many other project requests across Africa that enhance our gospel ministry efforts. One particular need is to identify and fund volunteers who can work temporarily in our mission fields. Project requests include improving communication, publications, materials, and ministry tools.”

Now you know one example of such materials and ministry tools. It is hard for a pastor to communicate with other pastors, for example, when he cannot easily charge his cell phone.

Likewise, when he was at seminary, an LCCA pastor got a laptop with many biblical resources. But unless you can charge your laptop, how can you use it? How can you study for post-seminary classes in our new African Confessional Lutheran Institute (CLI)?

The Projects Fund booklet has dozens of worthy projects. Perhaps you are part of a WELS school group, men’s group, or women’s group. Over time, you could pool your funds and give to a project of your choosing: giving teamwork!

Such projects also involve teamwork on the receiving end. If you give to the Africa Special Projects Fund, for example, you don’t get to direct exactly where offerings go. Maybe they will go to solar panels. Maybe they will go to CLI, or somewhere else more needed.

You might not know until the last day how you helped—until you cross “the Jordan River,” as some hymns picture it.

Imagine the scene, in the final Promised Land. You hear the most royal, beautiful voice say (Matthew 25:40), “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

But even now, here is a voice for teamwork you can overhear. Rev. Davison Mutentami wrote this to our Operations Director, Stefan Felgenhauer. Pastor Mutentami, chairman of the Lutheran Church of Central Africa — Zambia Synod, emailed about this solar project:

“Empowering pastors is and will remain my dream.

“Please go ahead and implement the project. Don’t hesitate sir. God bless you for considering the vulnerable servants of God.”

Rev. Dan Witte lives in Zambia and coordinates Formal Continuing Education programs for the CLI

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

This week’s post is written by guest author David Kamwata, who is a pastor in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa – Zambia Synod.

Personal Background

I was born on 1^st November 1969, in Kaoma, a district in the western part of Zambia. I was the second-born in a family of five. My parents were members of a certain Pentecostal church, but they were not very strong Christians. They used to take us (their children) to church once in a long while. As a result, I had the freedom to go to many other different churches in the company of other boys provided there was fun.

It was in 1984 that I joined the Lutheran Church of Central Africa through a friend who invited me to church. That was at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. It was at this congregation that I was to meet my future wife. And it was at this congregation that I would be encouraged to go into the public ministry.

Family

God has graciously blessed me with a lovely family. My wife’s name is Eness Mulando. Her father, Pastor Timothy Mulando, who is now a retired pastor in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa, inspired me to go into the public ministry. I have four children whose names are Clive, Beatrice, Alice, and Faith. As I look at my children, I confess with Solomon: “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them,” (Ps 127: 3-5).

Public Ministry

I was ordained in 2009 at Mount Sinai congregation where I had been serving as a vicar under the supervision of Pastor Daniel Kroll and the then visiting pastor of the Copperbelt, Pastor Samuel Kawiliza. After my ordination, I served Mount Sinai Congregation up until 2015 when I received a call to teach at the seminary.

Teaching

When I arrived at the seminary after accepting the call in 2015, I started teaching Isagogics and Church History. Sometime later, I got involved in team-teaching the Biblical languages with Dr Wendland to prepare me to teach these courses in the future. When the seminary opens with a new class this year (2020), I will be teaching Hebrew and Greek.

Continuing Education

In 2010, I was privileged to be part of the first class to undertake a Bachelor of Divinity (BDiv) program offered by what was then called the Greater Africa Theological Studies Institute (GRATSI) under the auspices of the Pastoral Studies Institute (PSI). I completed this program in 2014.

Shortly after completing my BDiv program, I applied for the Master of Theology program which is now offered by the Confessional Lutheran Institute (CLI). God willing, I should be able to complete this program by the end of this year (2020).

My desire for higher education is not motivated by prestige, although this is an ever-present temptation that comes from our sinful nature. I desire to pursue higher education as long as there is breath and ability in me in order that I may “teach God’s Word with excellence.” There has been an outcry from the general Lutheran membership that although the LCCA teaches God’s Word in its truth and purity, the low level of education of our pastors is becoming a barrier to that Word in an educated society, especially in urban congregations.

Conclusion

As I look back at how the hand of God has directed the affairs of my life, I hear God speaking to me: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations,” (Jer. 1: 5).

I wish to thank our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin Lutheran Synod whose financial and material support has made it possible for me to be a pastor in the LCCA. It is also my prayer that support for formal education for pastors will continue under the CLI so that God’s Word may be taught with excellence in the LCCA.

To God be the Glory.

Rev. David Kamwata teaches at the Lutheran Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia.

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

የሱስ እረኛዬ የሚመራኝ

በሕይወት ጎዳና የሚወስደኝ

እርሱን አገኘሁት የማይተወኝ

ጓደኛ ዘመድ ሲከዳኝ

(English translation)

Jesus, my Shepherd

The One who guides me on the way of life

He found me who never leaves me

While all my friends and relatives deny me.

Christianity’s roots run deep in Ethiopia, yet the Gospel is struggling to make purchase on this rocky soil. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church enjoys a privileged position in society, and the pews are filled at the high festival days – but the people are told that their salvation is an ongoing process and not a completed fact. Many large Protestant churches of the charismatic variety are also gathering many converts through promises of prosperity and healing to those who are worthy.

The Lutheran Church of Ethiopia (LCE) was registered with the Ethiopian government in 2013 by Dr. Kebede Getachew Yigezu and 56 founding members. By the grace of God, the LCE opened Maor (Hebrew for “light”) Lutheran Theological Seminary as a Christ-centered, Bible-based and Reformation-driven confessional Lutheran theological seminary, which is authorized to offer bachelors and masters degrees and also doctorate programs. In 2017 the LCE and the WELS declared fellowship and since then have been collaborating to advance the Gospel in Ethiopia.

Last December, the LCE held its 6^th annual General Assembly meeting in Bishoftu, Ethiopia. The delegates who had gathered gave thanks to God for the many blessings he had poured out on their small but dedicated church body over the past year. One of those blessings was the third historic graduation of students from Maor Lutheran Theological Seminary on October 27, 2019. The ceremony took place in the midst of political unrest that Ethiopia was experiencing at the time. (https://wels.net/unrest-in-ethiopia-affects-wels-sister-churches/)

Delegates also gave thanks to God for the construction of a new five-story multi-purpose building on the campus of Maor Lutheran Theological Seminary. Thanks to the oversight of LCE Assistant Deaconess Werknesh Negash Degefa and Brother Wondirad Balcha WoldeSemayat and the generosity of WELS donors the building reached the finishing stage in one year’s time. It is the LCE’s ardent prayer that this new building will help bring the Gospel light to the people of Ethiopia.

The LCE also celebrated its partnership with WELS Multi-Language Productions, which hosted an Africa region workshop in Lusaka last summer. Dr. Ernst Wendland, who has served WELS World Missions for over 50 years and also participated in translating the Bible into the Chichewa language, shared his considerable experience and insight into the translation process. Using that knowledge, the LCE was able to translate the evangelism tract, “God’s Great Exchange” into the Amharic language.

In an email Dr. Kebede writes, “We were surprised that getting the right wordings with the right meaning in our language for words like “Exchange” in the literary context of the tract on “God’s Great Exchange” was not easy. Indeed,  the lessons we received at the MLP Translation Workshop and  Publication Expo under the instruction of Professor Ernst Wendland in Lusaka have helped Brother Shambel and me a lot to lead our team so that we reached at the best translation which  communicates the right meaning clearly both theologically and linguistically.” The LCE sent the translated Amharic text side by side with the English text to WELS MLP graphic design artist Michele Pfeifer, who completed the final layout.  

Looking ahead to the future, one of the most pressing tasks the LCE faces is to renew their church body’s registration with the Ethiopian government. The current registration was good for six years (2013-2019). Please pray that God continues to let the light of the Gospel shine in Ethiopia through the work of the LCE and Maor Lutheran Theological Seminary.

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