bible Archives - Page 3 of 5 - WELS Friends of Africa

June 29, 2022June 14, 2022

Love to Tell the Story

“I love to tell the story…the old, old story of Jesus and his love” (CW 746)

Dr. Terry Schultz has twice the love to tell the story of Jesus and his love, and he’s done it on four continents. As the Artistic Development Missionary at WELS Multi-Language Productions, Terry puts pictures and poems into the service of the Gospel. He has helped create original music for worship and illustrated Bible instruction manuals for use in WELS World Mission fields. God has given him this tremendous talent, and we thank God for his gifts to our church body.

December 1, 2021November 18, 2021

A Bigger Plan

Things did not go according to the plan. No, not even by a mile.

What was the plan? The Lutheran Church of Ethiopia (LCE) wanted to start a Lutheran nursery school. The plan was that there would be three age levels – something like nursery school, preschool, and kindergarten. In addition to the normal subjects, students would be taught the word of God. The LCE planned to offer these classes in the city of Bishoftu, in the building where their largest congregation gathers to worship every Sunday. They planned to enroll about 75 students, some from their own membership and others from their community. The LCE leaders contacted all the appropriate government offices. They were very careful to follow all the government rules and regulations. And if everything went well with the nursery school, then they would add Grade 1 the following year. That was the plan.

But things did not go according to the plan. In fact, none of it happened. Everything failed. There is no nursery school in Bishoftu. Not a single child is enrolled there.

November 17, 2021November 18, 2021

Translation Foundation

screenshot from online translation workshop

Half a lifetime ago I locked myself into a room with a Bulgarian pastor. We were reviewing translations of Bible commentaries and the Lutheran Confessions. We used to argue for hours over how to best convey complicated theological concepts and terms in the Slavic tongue. I learned the hard way that translation work takes great skill, patience, and flexibility. The Star Trek universal translator machine is ridiculous fiction. Google algorithms can translate individual words and phrases, but it always fails to see the forest for the trees. Computers lack the ability to analyze, decode and transmit human speech from one language to another. There is no substitute for the human mind.