“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.

Experiencing Worship in Africa

Our mission partner in Zambia, the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA), requested Dr. Schultz’s assistance in facilitating the development of new music resources in 2018. Because of Terry’s busy schedule and COVID19 travel restrictions, he has been unable to meet their request until recently. In March of 2022, the One Africa Team helped arrange an initial visit by Terry to Lusaka. The purpose of his visit was to introduce himself to local church leaders and to sample the flavor of the worship in the LCCA.

Missionary Terry attended Sunday worship services at Lusaka area congregations. Linda Gethsemane is a rural congregation where the members worship in Chinyanja. St. Matthew’s is a city church where the members worship primarily in English. At the installation of Pastor Soko, choirs from several Lusaka congregations joyfully swayed to the beat of their praises and Terry danced up the central aisle to receive communion. He also attended a three-hour service at Kamanga Lutheran, which conducts services in both English and Chinyanja.  

Terry also attended – or I should say, “participated in” – choir practice at two Lusaka congregations. From drumming to directing to dynamic keyboarding, Terry’s musical zeal raised everyone’s spirits. Several local choir masters have composed original songs, which their choirs perform in public but have never been scored or recorded.

Planning for the Future

Members of the LCCA’s Education and Publication Committees met with Terry to talk about ways in which Terry’s talents could be of service to their ministry. They identified the need for improving their Sunday School program. The current printed materials contain basic black and white sketches, which were reproduced on mimeograph machines by missionaries in the 1970s. In Lusaka today there are many printing presses that can produce color posters at a reasonable cost. In addition to Bible History illustrations, Terry has also been working on an illustrated version of Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. He presented his visual concepts of the First Article with Luther’s explanation, which captivates youth and adults’ interest.

One Africa Team and the LCCA Zambia are currently evaluating a proposal from Terry on telling the old, old story of Jesus and his love in a new, contemporary medium. We ask for God’s blessings and anticipate Terry’s return to Africa in the near future. Stay tuned to hear how we love to tell the story of Jesus and his love in Zambia.

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

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.

A Snag in Plans

What happened? As the time drew near for the school to open, it became clear that things were not going to go smoothly. All along, the government officials had been saying, “Oh yes, everything is fine,” yet they were delaying and delaying and delaying. They were refusing to give their final approval for the school. No one would say what the reason for their refusal was, but the bottom line for the LCE was that the local government officials would not grant permission for the school. All their carefully laid plans had failed.

But God had other plans. Shortly after the bottom fell out in Bishoftu, the LCE was contacted by the Bureau of Education from a nearby town. The nearby town is called Dukem; it’s just a few miles from Bishoftu. The government officials from Dukem urgently pleaded with the members of the LCE, “If they will not let you have a school in Bishoftu… please, please, please come and have your school in Dukem!”  They helped the LCE find two buildings where classes could be held. The officials in Dukem promised that they would provide government land on which to build a new facility in the future. They strongly urged the LCE not to limit the enrollment to just three levels of nursery school, but also to include some higher grades as well. They quickly processed all the paperwork and gave the necessary approvals.

A Greater Opportunity

And what was the end result? A brand new school in Dukem with two separate campuses.  About 30 new teachers. Students in the 3 nursery levels, plus Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3 and Grade 4.  Current enrollment: 759. That’s right, seven hundred and fifty-nine. That’s ten times more than the LCE had originally planned.

Do you ever end your prayers the way Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Not my will, but yours be done”? How do you feel when you say those words? Honestly, when I say those words, I’m often thinking to myself, “My will is the best. God’s will is second-best, and I’ll be disappointed if that’s what I receive. So God, please help me to grin and bear it when I don’t get what I want.”

Our Christian brothers and sisters in the LCE did not get what they had planned or wanted. They got ten times more than that.

So go ahead and make your plans. Make those plans as bold and ambitious as you see fit. But in the end, submit yourself to the will of God – not because you have to, but because God’s plans are better than yours.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20,21).

Mark Panning 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

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.

Plans Change

WELS Multi-Language Productions (MLP) facilitates the production of Biblical Lutheran literature for use in its world mission fields. MLP encourages both the translation of existing English books as well as the production of original materials in other languages. The One Africa Team asked MLP to sponsor a translation workshop for WELS mission partners in Africa in 2021. MLP sponsored publications conferences in Lusaka, Zambia in 2018 and 2019. WELS partners from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia, Malawi, India, and Nepal attended.

COVID19 disrupted the One Africa Team’s plans to host an in-person publications event in Lusaka during 2021. We had concerns about the safety of our guests and the student families living on the Lusaka Seminary campus. That led us to adjust our plans and offer an online event. Over five days, Dr. Ernst R. Wendland used the online teleconferencing program Zoom to present his material. Dr. Wendland has served WELS missions for over half a century. He teaches Biblical languages at the Lusaka Seminary and has coordinated translation work for the United Bible Society of Zambia.

Workshop Takeaways

Translators have to change the form of the original text to convey its meaning accurately. That may mean changing the word order or even the order of the sentences. This may mean eliminating words that are redundant or have no local equivalent. They may need to add words or phrases that convey a concept similar but are not identical to the original. It may be necessary to replace a technical term with a generic word, like translating “Paraclete” with “Helper.” There are many other kinds of changes that a translator must make to the form of the original text. Otherwise, the original meaning will be lost or presented incorrectly. It took many months and many heated discussions with my Bulgarian counterpart for me to understand and appreciate this concept. I was very uncomfortable with changing the form of the original text, but a word-for-word translation doesn’t help readers either.

A second takeaway from the workshop is that translation work is both an art and a science. The legend that 70 Jews individually produced identical translations of the Old Testament into Greek is laughable. There is more than one way to translate any text, but some ways are superior to others. Every translation can be improved by a review. The best translations are not produced by superstar solo artists, but by collaborative bands working in harmony. An ideal translation team consists of the translator, language consultants, a reviewer(s), and a copy editor. It takes a lot of time and money to publish a book. As a publication has a long-lasting influence on future readers, it’s worth the effort to produce a high-quality translation.

A Worthy Legacy

Dr. Wendland is a world-renowned linguist and translation expert. However, the principles he shared at our workshop can be used by anyone interested in and committed to translation work. He modeled the importance of asking questions about the meaning of the original text.

In my experience, translating a text from one language to another gives you a better understanding of its meaning. When you translate a text, you must ask yourself what the author originally meant. It’s painstaking work, and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But producing a high-quality translation of a theological book is a church body’s priceless legacy. We thank God for men like Dr. Wendland who have slashed through the jungle and shown us the path forward.

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