Identify and Train

From the first moment that Apollos walked into the synagogue in Ephesus, everyone could see his talent. He was highly intelligent. He was comfortable and confident in front of people. His words were powerful and clear. Best of all, he quickly proved himself to be a very committed and dedicated Christian. Everyone could see that he had the talent and ability to be an ideal leader in the church. All he really needed was a little extra training.

Fortunately, there were teachers there in Ephesus who were ready and willing to give Apollos the training that he needed. We read about it in the 18^th chapter of the Book of Acts: “A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man and well versed in the Scriptures.He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. He spoke with burning zeal and taught the facts about Jesus accurately, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him home and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:24-26 EHV).

Identify and train. Right from the beginning, the New Testament Christian church has worked to identify those who have the God-given talent and ability to serve as leaders in the church. Then they train those men and women to do the work that God is calling them to do.

In the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia (LCE), our brothers and sisters in Christ have identified four people who appear to have the talent and the Christian dedication to serve as leaders in the church. They have identified two young men, Ephrem Kebede Getachew and Cherinet Demeke Lemma, as possible future pastors. They envision a young woman, Blen Berhanu Merka, as a future teacher and a program administrator for the new nursery school that the LCE is planning to open. In addition to these three, there is Stephen Lam, a Nuer man from the Gambella region in western Ethiopia. Stephen has been identified as a possible future pastor and teacher to the thousands of Sudanese Christians who are living in the Gambella refugee camps.

Clearly, all four of these have been blessed with spiritual gifts from God the Holy Spirit. Their pastor, Rev. Kebede, often refers to them as “our brilliant scholars” or as “promising young men and women.” All four of have demonstrated their Christian character and their commitment to Christ. All they really need is a little extra training.

So where does that training come from?

Most of it will come from the LCE’s one and only ordained pastor, Rev. Kebede Getachew Yigezu. Pastor Kebede teaches the vast majority of the courses at the LCE’s worker training school, Maor Lutheran Theological Seminary. But that’s a huge job! It’s much too big for just one person to do well, especially when we remember that Pastor Kebede must also be the spiritual shepherd to the LCE’s five congregations.

The Lutheran Church of Ethiopia and the WELS One Africa Team have agreed to collaborate and work together in the training of these students. Pastor Kebede will still teach the majority of the courses, but missionaries from the WELS One Africa Team and teachers from the WELS Pastoral Studies Institute will also teach selected courses. These classes will be taught online via Zoom. Missionary John Roebke has begun teaching the first of these online courses beginning in May 2021. He is breaking new ground with many firsts – the first time he is teaching the Lutheran Confessions, the first time he is using Google Classroom to organize the assignments, and the first time that Maor students are using Zoom.

In Acts 18, Aquila and Priscilla identified Apollos as a potential spiritual leader for the church. And after they had trained him, that’s exactly what Apollos would become. “He provided much help to those who had become believers by grace” (Acts 18:27).

Today we thank God that he has provided many qualified men and women to study for the public ministry. May God make every one of them a blessing for his church.

Missionary Mark Panning lives in Malawi and is the OAT Liaison to the LCE

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

Making Disciples One Page at a Time

According to a recent report by Hootsuite, 9 out of 10 individuals living in North America enjoy access to the Internet. By contrast, only 1 out of 4 people living in sub-Saharan Africa are internet users. Nearly 1.3 billion people live on the continent of Africa currently, and the estimated population by the end of this century will be over 2 billion. That is a huge opportunity, both for telecom companies as well as Gospel missionaries!

While most people living in developed countries can view Christian materials digitally, a very small percentage of African living in remote areas have smartphones or tablets. The printed word still has legs in Africa and books carry the message of Christ’s Gospel effectively. In collaboration with WELS Multi-Language Productions, the following printed materials have recently been produced by our Gospel partners in the following countries.

Nigeria

All Saints Lutheran Church is made up of 1,700 Christians who are served by pastors, evangelists and preaching elders in 23 congregations. Rev. Edward Obi, the President of their church body, approached One Africa Team with a request for materials to teach adult Bible class.

WELS Multi-Language Productions has an extensive catalog of publications that they have made available to all of our mission partners around the world. These Gospel-centered publications include both tracts and books in 56 different languages. All Saints chose four books from the “Living in Faith Discipleship Series”: The Origin of Life, How to Talk with God, How to Read Your Bible, and Life After Death. These books were originally produced by the WELS Commission on Special Ministries for use in prison ministry, and have been adapted by WELS Multi-Language Publications for use in the general population.

All Saints requested permission to reprint the English language version of the books, since English is widely understood in Nigeria. Forty copies of each book were printed locally in the town of Ogoja and will be distributed among the pastors, evangelists and preaching elders. We ask for God’s blessing on this sowing of the seed!

Christ the King Lutheran Church is made up of 2,478 members who are served by pastors, evangelists and preaching elders in 34 congregations. This church body was once a part of the Nigerian Lutheran Church, a mission that was jointly served by the WELS and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod when the two church bodies were in fellowship in the Synodical Conference. Christ the King requested assistance in reprinting the text of Luther’s Small Catechism, which was originally published by the Synodical Conference in 1942.

Malawi

The Lutheran Church of Central Africa – Malawi Synod (LCCA-MS) has over 44,000 members. In August of 2019 the LCCA’s Education and Publication Committee identified the need for a book of devotions that Christian families could use in their homes. Over the years, publications in Central Africa have been primarily targeted at pastors or people desiring to become pastors. Other than the Small Catechism and some Adult instruction manuals, there really wasn’t any publication targeted at enriching the devotional life of laypeople.

Northwestern Publishing House granted the LCCA permission to translate The Word Speaks: 365 Devotions Based on the Sayings of Jesus into both the Chichewa and Chitumbuka languages. Twelve pastors from the LCCA worked on the translation project for over a year. WELS Multi-Language Productions Layout Designer Michele Pfeifer designed the cover and layout of the publication. The book will be offered for sale in each of the five regional bookstores located throughout the country.

Ethiopia

The Lutheran Church of Ethiopia (LCE) has 421 members who meet in five different locations and are served by one pastor and four national evangelists. Recently, the LCE offered a day long workshop for its leaders, ministers and members in the town of Bishoftu, near Addis Ababa. The workshop’s topic was on Christian vocation. The LCE chose to use a WELS Bible study called My Vocation in Christ by Rev. Kenneth Cherney and translated the text into the Amharic language.

Once again, MLP Layout Designer Michele Pfeifer assisted with the design of the publication, which had to be produced in a bi-lingual format. Ms. Pfeifer worked closely with LCE President Rev. Kebede to ensure the correct placement and layout of the texts.

The seminar, the first of its kind that the LCE has ever offered, was attended by 23 people. They will continue to offer this seminar and others like it in the future as a part of their outreach to their fellow Ethiopians.

Missionary John Roebke lives in Malawi

Be Patient Until School Starts

The Class of ’23 had to wait several months before starting classes at the Lutheran Seminary in Lusaka, Zambia

“Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7a EHV). This is a timely section of Scripture for us all but especially for those of us involved in worker training. Back in March of 2020 most all of us throughout the world were beginning to experience the different challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic. At the Seminary here in Lusaka, Zambia and at the Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI) in Lilongwe, Malawi it meant the closure of our two worker training schools. They work closely together in training up future pastors for the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA). Little did we realize that for all the challenges the closure of the schools would bring, trying to open up our LBI and Seminary would bring even more.

James in his Epistle uses two analogies to explain what it means to be patient. One analogy is that of the farmer. “See how the farmer waits for the valuable harvest from the ground, patiently waiting for it, until it receives the early and late rains” (5:7b) A farmer is a good example of patience because he has to work with things that are beyond his control and completely in God’s hands—things like the rain. Already in October the government allowed schools to open. Where the government became strict was in the opening up of its borders. Our LBI and Seminary are made up of about half Zambian students and half Malawian students. This was where we encountered challenges beyond our control as half of our respective student bodies needed to cross borders that were closed. We asked for the help of Pastor Chisankulo who is an LCCA pastor who lives close to the Zambia/Malawi border. He made more than a dozen visits to the respective Malawi and Zambia borders and their offices to try and find out when and how we could get our students across. Most frustrating for him was that the border peoples themselves couldn’t give clear answers. Eventually, Pastor Chisankulo worked out a test run of two brave students and their families closest to the border in the Eastern Province of Zambia to make the trip. It proved successful! We had our first group of students across the border paving the way for five successive groups of students and families from Zambia and Malawi to make the crossing.

The Epistle writer James also uses the Old Testament prophets as exemplars of patient endurance. Many of the pre-LBI students in preparation for going to school had sold everything. In a place where a $70 COVID 19 test is near a month’s wages for the average Zambian, these students were now being asked to live on the margins for the four to six months it took to get them to school. Like those prophets of the Old Testament they were asked to endure for the chance to serve their Lord. How happy they were by mid-December to finally be at their schools to begin that anticipated journey in preparation to become LCCA pastors. What a beautiful lesson in patient endurance for us all as we serve our Lord in whatever way he asks of us!

Missionary Philip Birner lives in Lusaka and is the Acting Principal of the Lutheran Seminary of Lusaka