Meskel, or ‘cross” is the name of a holiday that the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates. The full name of the festival is “The Finding of the True Cross.”  According to their tradition, God spoke in a dream to a woman named Helena, who was the mother of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome.  In the dream, God instructed Helena to light a fir tree on fire.  The smoke from the burning tree miraculously led Helena and her friends to a certain place on the ground.  When people dug into the ground at that place, they found the true cross on which Jesus died.

It’s just a legend, not a true teaching of the Bible.  But many people in Ethiopia celebrate this festival.  When the day comes, thousands of men, women, and children stream out into the streets and public squares, dressed in colorfully embroidered white robes.  They build a huge teepee-shaped bonfire that is intended to look like a fir tree.  Everyone joins the celebration.  Many of them are not members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and many of them are not even Christian at all.  Many of them do not understand the true meaning of Jesus and his cross.  They just want to have a party.

New Contacts from Sudan and Ethiopia

When WELS missionaries Dan Kroll, Howard Mohlke and I visited Ethiopia a few weeks ago, the Meskel celebration was underway.  We had several exciting reasons to make that trip to Ethiopia.  First, we wanted to meet with leaders of the Lutheran Church of Sudan (LCS).  The LCS is an Arabic-speaking Sudanese group that claims to have 16,000 Lutheran members.  Over the past year, we have been communicating with this group via the internet.  We have shared some Arabic printed materials so they can study the Scriptures in their own language. But we have never been able to meet them in person.  Sadly, our plan to meet them in Ethiopia was not successful.  The leaders of the LCS were not able to get the proper passports and visas.

Thankfully, other goals were more successful.  My colleague, Dan Kroll, focused on meeting with a group called the Gambella Evangelical Lutheran Church, or GELC.  (Gambella is a region in western Ethiopia).  The members of this group number about 150 and most of them belong to the Anuak tribe.  Together with Missionary Kroll, about 35 leaders of this group were blessed to study what the Bible says about the Church and its ministry.

South Sudanese Refugee Work

Meanwhile, Howard Mohlke and I were more focused on another group, the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ethiopia and South Sudan (CELCESS).  This group – also located in the Gambella region of Ethiopia – claims to have 28 congregations and about 14,000 members.  Many of the members belong to a tribe of people called Nuer. 

Especially, we met with a man named Lam Nhial Luak.  Lam himself has been very well trained in Lutheran teachings.  He holds a Bachelor of Divinity degree given by our sister synod, the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia.  WELS missionaries also participated in Lam’s training.  Every month, the WELS provides funding for Lam to teach a three-day workshop on Christian doctrine to 15 Nuer pastors.  The pastors take what they have learned from the Bible and share it with their members.  During our visit, we attended one of Lam’s workshops.  On the following Sunday, we were privileged to observe Lam’s official installation into his teaching role, and the ordination of four new pastors.

To be clear, the WELS is not yet in fellowship with any of these groups – neither the LCS nor the GELC nor the CELCESS.  I do not know what will happen with these groups in the future if God will bring them to a full understanding of the Scriptures and into fellowship with the WELS.  But I do know this: These people love their savior Jesus Christ.  They are eager and excited to receive instruction from God’s word.  They know that God has saved us, not because of any good thing that we have done, but by the perfect life and innocent death of Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Through their study of the Scriptures, they have found the true cross, and that is a reason for us to celebrate.

Missionary 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

One thing leads to another – in this case, an online Bible school has led to new contacts in Gambella, Ethiopia.

WELS’ Multi-Language Productions offers an online Bible school called TELL.  A large majority of the school’s students are located in Africa. However, people all around the world find TELL very encouraging and use it as their primary source of spiritual growth.  One of our participants is moving into a new and fairly untested level that requires him to confess doctrine agreement with the WELS.

Meet the Students

Opiew Adiew Okugn is from Gambella, Ethiopia. He has been faithful in the TELL program for roughly two years.  He is ready for a TELL Counsellor to work with him at the Multiplication Level of the TELL program. This is challenging Opiew to make use of the knowledge he learned from the TELL program.  The first step, again, is for him to make a statement of agreement with WELS teachings.

When I met with Opiew at Addis Ababa I was reminded about how “one thing leads to another.” Opiew came with three of his brothers from the Gambella Lutheran Church to discuss some essential points of doctrine.  Alfred comes with a degree in teaching. He had been in another church until he saw the false teaching there.  Both Ochalla Omod and Otong Omod have training in another Lutheran Seminary. They also found false teaching and a lot of church politics that they wanted to get away from.  These four men actually started their own congregation in 2015, and have been looking for an international Lutheran group to join for several years.

Looking to the Next Thing

We studied together for four days.  We built good relationships in our study of the truth of Scripture. Those studies were enough to move Opiew into the Multiplication Level.  I was happy to get to know all four of these men personally and especially to hear their doctrinal stand on some important issues.  We will have a good group to study with for the coming years to confirm and build up their ministry.  We might even have the opportunity to bring them close to our brothers and sisters in the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia.  Sometimes things get tangled, but God uses those entanglements to lead from one thing to another. 

Dan Kroll lives in Malawi and is the One Africa Team Liaison to West Africa

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

Today’s post is written by Karen Kroll, a missionary wife who enjoys the smell of good coffee. She recently taught English to students enrolled in a school in Dukem, Ethiopia. The Lutheran Church of Ethiopia oversees the operation of this school and has plans to open others.   

I’ve never met a coffee I didn’t like. But until recently, I had never met a coffee like Ethiopian coffee. It takes coffee to another level.  I was blessed with the opportunity to accompany my husband, Dan to Ethiopia as he met with a group of believers interested in pursuing fellowship with WELS.  As the men met, I spent the week teaching English to children Grades K-5 at Maor Lutheran School in Dukem. This is a ministry of our sister synod, the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia. 

Pleasing Smells

While in Ethiopia, I learned there is no such thing as grabbing a “quick cup of coffee”.   It really is a process – not an event. And every morning before I began my day of teaching, I would watch the process.  Lighting the charcoal, roasting the beans, (which would then be brought to our table so we could fully enjoy the experience), and then grinding them.  As the coffee simmers, they light incense which fills the air with a lovely aroma.  And then, finally, they bring you the coffee.  The flavor of the coffee mixed with the pleasing smell of the incense left me with a smile of contentment on my face.   Enjoying those pleasant smells reminded me of the evening vesper liturgy in Christian Worship where Psalm 141 is put to music, “Let my prayer rise before you like incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.”

In my mind, it conjures up an image of long ago: a priest in the middle of the desert, offering a sacrifice in the Tabernacle.  I realize that the image is overly romanticized in my mind. The reality is that these sacrifices produced anything but a pleasing aroma.  The slaughter of the animals and the blood mixed with the heat from the desert is not a pleasing smell at all! But to God, it was a whole different matter.  The smell drifted to the heavens and our God smiled because it was the smell of his people worshipping him. 

Sacrifices to God

I can relate to the slaughtered animal.  It should be me!  I know the depth of my sin and like the animal…it stinks!  But I know the blood that was shed on Calvary took my sin away and by the power of the Spirit, even my acts of worship smell pleasing to the Lord. Yours do too!

My trip to Ethiopia wasn’t about coffee, it was about serving God’s people. I’m not sure how helpful I was in teaching English to the children in Dukem, but I do know I was able to show them the love that God shows me…a pleasing smell to the Lord.

A few rooms down from where I was teaching sat six men, intently studying the scriptures with the desire to share the intimacy of Church Fellowship…a pleasing smell to the Lord.

Pleasing smells drift to the Lord wherever God’s people are found.

Every nose that a parent wipes or every meal they cook…a pleasing smell to the Lord.

Patiently caring for an elderly parent…. a pleasing smell to the Lord.

A repentant heart…a pleasing smell to the Lord.

My husband and I returned home with incense and a burner.  We really love the smell of the traditional incense but it’s also a reminder of how we as God’s people are living sacrifices…a pleasing smell to the Lord.

Karen Kroll lives in Malawi with her husband Missionary Dan Kroll.

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