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

This week’s post is written by Rev. Brad Wordell, a member of the faculty of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary’s Pastoral Studies Institute. He also serves as the liaison between the Commission on Inter-Church Relations (CICR) and One Africa Team. As our mission efforts continue to bear fruit in Africa, the CICR plays a vital role in establishing formal relations between church bodies on the continent and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

During this Easter season, we might say that the CICR stands for Christ Is Certainly Risen. It is true! Jesus Christ has risen from the dead! Our Savior is risen indeed!

His resurrection changes everything for us. Because our Savior lives, we live. We have life (peace and fellowship with God and the privilege of serving him) now and in the world to come. And our holy, Christian faith seeks to be active—in worship, in the proclamation of the Lord’s name, and in love to him and the people around us. What a blessed life we have! All praise be to our Triune God!

The members of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod are heirs of the Lutheran Reformation. We believe that the Bible is the only source of faith and doctrine (sola scriptura), that sinful mankind is saved by faith in Jesus and not by good works (sola fide), and that everything we have is a gift from our gracious God in heaven (sola gratia). We believe God has determined the times and places that we should live, and that it is his will that we proclaim his name among the nations. We believe that God works through the means of grace—the gospel in the Word, in Holy Baptism, and in the Lord’s Supper—to create, preserve, and strengthen our faith, and to produce in us the fruits of faith. We believe that the Lutheran Confessions as recorded in the Book of Concord of 1580 are a faithful exposition of the Word of God. We rejoice that like-minded Lutherans are singing Hallelujah to the Lord all around the world, and we rejoice in this blessed fellowship as we wait for the glorious return of our Savior.

The WELS enjoys this blessed fellowship of doctrine and practice with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) in the States, and with more than 35 church bodies around the world in the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC).

In order to extend and conserve the true doctrine and practice of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod through its Commission on Inter-Church Relations (CICR) keeps itself informed on doctrinal trends in other church bodies. This commission, made up of ten members and four advisory members, serves under the Conference of Presidents and represents the synod in doctrinal discussions with other church bodies who are, or are not, in fellowship with the synod, in order to “extend and conserve the true doctrine and practice of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.” 

To accomplish this the CICR keeps itself informed on the doctrinal trends in other church bodies and works to preserve and strengthen the bonds of fellowship with church bodies with which there is complete unity of doctrine and practice. Additionally, the CICR seeks to extend the bond of confessional fellowship with other church bodies where such unity becomes apparent and to offer testimony and assistance to groups which show a desire to grow in their understanding of evangelical Lutheran doctrine and practice.

On the continent of Africa, the CICR does its work in collaboration with the One Africa Team. As a member of the CICR, I am pleased also to be a part of the One Africa Team. In 2017 we rejoiced as the Lutheran Church of Ethiopia (LCE) joined our fellowship, and in 2019 we rejoiced as the LCMC-Kenya joined our fellowship. May the Lord continue to guide and bless us all! May the good and gracious will of the Lord be done in us and through us! May His name be hallowed! May His kingdom come!

Rev. Bradley Wordell lives in Mequon, Wisconsin

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

“Life is full of challenges,” notes Pastor Ochichi Nyangau. “Each day comes with its own.”

Meet Richard Ochichi Nyangau, a pastor in Kenya who has served three parishes. He is one of my brothers in the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LC-MC).

Pastor Ochichi and I got acquainted recently online. From October 2020 through January 2021 he was in a theological research and writing class which I taught. Pastor Ochichi participated studiously—five days a week for ten weeks—while also keeping up all his other duties. More on those below.

Sixteen pastors from Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Zambia overcame obstacles, studied Genesis 37–50 together, and completed or nearly completed the class. As it started in October 2020 three other pastors faced a big challenge—no WhatsApp device. We have found those for them, so four of us are restarting the class as this is being published.

Besides being taught and almost immediately re-taught, our 10-week class has at least three firsts:

First #1) In the past, visiting professors from Asia Lutheran Seminary, Martin Luther College, and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary taught classes to experienced pastors who wanted to progress toward a Bachelors degree in divinity from the Pastoral Studies Institute of Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.

This time, though, due to pandemic travel restrictions, a missionary living in Africa teaches. On your One Africa Team (OAT), I head up formal continuing education for the Confessional Lutheran Institute (CLI).

First #2) In 2010–2014 and 2015–2019 in Bachelor of Divinity (BDiv) classes WELS professors taught men pastors from two countries, Malawi and Zambia. Thank God with us: In this class and a series of eight future classes we can also partner with pastors in our fellowship in Kenya and Nigeria.

First #3) In the past WELS professors taught one-and-a-half- or two-week BDiv classes face to face. We hope to do so again soon. For this class, though, because of COVID-19, we used WhatsApp, a mobile device messaging platform.

Why WhatsApp? It is free on mobile devices except for the cellular data to use it, it allows  attachments of .pdf, voice, .mp3, and video files, and it is the most common means of electronic communication in Africa.

“Life is full of challenges,” so in our class we did not interact live over WhatsApp on a set schedule. Some pastors in the class live in villages where getting a signal from a cellular tower can be hard. Downloading even small .pdf files is difficult there.

“Life is full of challenges,” so all of us in the class experience power outages too. Early one day when I complimented one Zambian pastor on often being the first to respond with a learning task, he said needed to do so, because if he did not finish first thing in the morning, power would be out later.

For ten weeks, five days a week, though, whenever each of us could find time, we worked hard and asked God to become More Like Moses.

More Like Moses was not just the name of our research and academic writing class. It was our fervent prayer: “God, all of us lead your people, like Moses.

“None of us, like Moses, are inspired by your Holy Spirit to write your holy Word. But we all live in Africa, just like Moses long ago. We all work in more than one language, just like Moses long ago.

“As we sift through sources, like Moses might have when he wrote Joseph’s story, to write and encourage your people on our way to your promised land, would you please make us more skilled in theological writing?

“Above all, keep us true to you and your gospel. Make us more like Moses.”

So we prayed. Each week, one of the pastors posted a prayer for the rest of us on WhatsApp.

For example, Pastor Ochichi typed this prayer to begin our second week: “In the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Our dear heavenly Father we come unto you tonight. We beg you to forgive us where we have gone wrong as per your will. We thank you for your protection all through. This is the second week; we need your guidance all through.

“I pray for all who are involved both from abroad and within Africa in any way to reach out many with your word bless them. Do not leave anybody empty-handed but send your blessings.

“All challenges we are facing give us a way through. I commit the entire workload to your hands let all go as per your will. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”

When Pastor Ochichi wrote that prayer I did not know about his own daily challenge just to support his family. I did not know that he was submitting his work either first thing in the morning or after dark because to keep food on the table he and his family raise chickens. Five days a week, starting around 9 a.m., he hawks —his word—boiled eggs on the street.

“This is what I do to feed my family. Here I’m serving the shopkeeper with boiled egg. You can see also a bucket of melon and tomato fruit. On Saturday morning hours I have counseling for any member of the congregation and any in need. In afternoon hour I am teaching baptism class and doing home visitation for sick and those with special needs.”

Pastor Ochichi and his wife have three children. Is he bitter about his busy schedule and what he calls his “side hustle,” to pay for his family’s food, clothes and rent?

No, he is thankful and realistic. He is not angling for anyone’s pity.

He writes, “This has given me an opportunity to meet many as we share the word but to grow the congregation has become a challenge. That is why my class (More like Moses tasks) I can do in early morning or late in the evening. I’m grateful for a chance to learn more from you and the entire Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary.”

Missionary Dan Witte lives in Zambia and is the Director of Formal Continuing Education of the Confessional Lutheran Institute. For more information visit https://cliafrica.net/

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