Tiptoeing: it’s something my cat Magic does when she wants to go outside. She tiptoes to the threshold, noses around, and then suddenly bounds through the doorway and dashes off on the hunt.

For the past year, the One Africa Team (OAT) has been “tiptoeing” around the Democratic Republic of The Congo (DRC). I was called to Africa to connect with French-speaking church groups. As soon as I arrived in Africa, I was given an interesting French-speaking contact: a Lutheran pastor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This pastor soon put me in touch with his church group’s secretary-general.

For a year, we texted and talked on WhatsApp and email and eventually held regular bible studies on Zoom, along with the pastors and evangelists. This year, they formed their own synod, la Mission Évangélique Luthérienne au Congo (“Evangelical Lutheran Mission to The Congo”—MELC).

A Country with a Painful Past

Although Zambian and WELS pastors have made occasional, brief visits to The Congo, this hasn’t happened since the 1990s, and it has never happened using French. As the MELC began the process of exploring the path to church fellowship with the WELS, we at OAT felt it was important to visit our friends. After getting approval for the trip and taking some special precautions, Missionaries Howard Mohlke and Keegan Dowling (me) flew to Lubumbashi, DRC, for face-to-face meetings with the leaders of MELC.

What do you know about The Congo? It suffered terribly for generations under the brutal, exploitative rule of Belgium’s King Leopold and then of Belgium itself. In the 1990s, it was flooded by refugees from the Rwanda genocide, which led to an international African war that killed millions in the DRC. Today, The Congo is famous for its rich deposits of “rare earth metals”—scarce elements essential for the manufacture of advanced electronics, such as phones, missiles, and computers. Warlords still exploit the mines for these—and other—precious minerals, causing much turmoil and pain. If you follow current events, you probably wonder why anyone would dare to go to The Congo.

Spoiler alert: it wasn’t dramatic for us at all. The DRC is a huge country (the world’s 11^th-largest), and Lubumbashi turned out to be a sea of tranquility while we were there. We went because we have Lutheran friends there who want to walk together with the WELS. Face-to-face visits show honor and respect, which is why OAT missionaries live in Africa: so that we can regularly visit WELS’ many partners and prospects throughout the continent.

Evidence of God’s Kingdom at Work

In The Congo, we visited MELC worship services at a house church and a large meeting tent. The people of MELC use both French and Swahili, two languages that are mushrooming in their significance for OAT’s current outreach efforts. The pastors of MELC have a heart for sound doctrine and a heart for evangelism. At the end of the visit, OAT and MELC shared a traditional Congolese meal in celebration of our friendship. Our goal is to see each other—and as many people as possible—at the Lamb’s ultimate, eternal feast in heaven!

The Democratic Republic of The Congo: been there… done that… going back. God willing, OAT missionaries will return in 2024, after the DRC’s elections, to conduct a doctrinal workshop with MELC. Over the following months and years, we hope to grow in our understanding of God’s Word and each other. We are tiptoeing no longer, but taking the plunge. Diving into ministry in a land of people Jesus loves.

Missionary Keegan Dowling lives in Zambia.

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

A kickoff always signals the start of a football game.  This past week (2-9 September), we kicked off a new organization in Africa. The One Africa Team brought together two leaders from each of WELS’ three partner church bodies in West Africa: Christ the King Lutheran Church of Nigeria (CKLCN), All Saints Lutheran Church of Nigeria (ASLCN), and the Lutheran Church of Cameroon (LCC).  These six men sat together to solve some very sticky issues involving budgets, curricula, and staffing of their Seminary programs. 

We set up a WhatsApp chat group to communicate throughout the week.  It was useful for communication about what we had done in the Conference Room, meals, etc. We also came to understand that we could also use this forum for a monthly meeting.  That meeting is currently scheduled for 8 am the first Thursday of each month.  Regular communication will greatly assist us in making plans and holding one another accountable so that things get done.

Our biggest topic of conversation was to gain an understanding of the One Africa Team’s vision for “Quarterly Ministry Plans.”  Much has changed since the days when missionaries resided in Nigeria and Cameroon. Due to security, WELS missionaries do not live in West Africa.  In those days our partners were quite free to come and tell us, “We need ____ to carry out our ministry.” Then the local missionary would see what he could do to provide it for them. 

Now, our West African brothers are writing their own plans. They are very clear about the programs that they are planning to implement. These plans include the purpose of the proposed program and who will be the participants and the teachers. Plans also include where the proposed program will take place, and benchmarks to gauge the program’s effectiveness.  The focus of ministry planning must remain on reaching people with the Gospel. However, detailed estimates of expenses and funding sources are important for successful planning. We now have a good understanding of what our partners need for the October-December quarter. With some minor adjustments, our partners will be ready to move forward with assistance from the One Africa Team.

We have opened a line of communication between the One Africa Team and the West African Leaders group. After the initial kickoff, the ball is now rolling.

Dan Kroll lives in Malawi and is the OAT Liaison to WELS Mission Partners in 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

A little flock gathered in Douala, Cameroon Monday, August 28 through Friday, August 31.

We were six sheep. Six shepherds.

Two from Christ the King Lutheran Synod of Nigeria— Pastor Idorenyin Joshua Udo and Pastor Aniedi Paul Udo;

Two from the Lutheran Church of Cameroon— Pastor Mesue Israel Muankume and Pastor Ngalame Gervase; and

Two from the WELS One Africa Team— Pastor Dan Kroll and Pastor Dan Witte. Kroll lives in Lilongwe, Malawi. I live in Lusaka, Zambia.

My brother in Wisconsin asked me before the trip, “Why are you going there?”

I told him, “It’s kind of a week-long faculty meeting.” Four West African pre-seminary and seminary professors meet with two missionaries. They have experience helping West African Lutheran seminaries.

But it was more than a faculty meeting, brother. Sister, it was more.

It was a prayer meeting. We prayed before all our meals together. We prayed at the start, middle, and end of all our meetings.

One of the Cameroonian pastors set the tone on the first day.

Pastor Israel led us in singing and prayer. He focused us on  Luke 12:32. There Jesus tells his twelve disciples, “Have no fear little flock, for your Father was delighted to give you the kingdom.”

The kingdom. The reign of God is most merciful in human hearts.

But the men Jesus is talking to will run away from him in fear the night he needs them most.

One of them will deny Jesus first. One will betray. Jesus knows. Oh, does he know.

So, “Have no fear little flock,” Jesus says, “for your Father was delighted to give you the kingdom.”

The kingdom. The one-and-only.

The cumulative impact of all the Father has always been doing, royally, redemptively, through his Son and Spirit, and always will.

Imagine.

Who is this man, talking to these twelve other men in Israel?

How does this man know what made their Father happy?

He is God’s Son, you say.

Okay. How can he claim that his Father is their Father too?

How humble is Jesus, not telling these men, “My Father was tickled to give you our kingdom”?

How humble is he, when he should be the one most afraid, as he goes to the cross, telling them not to be afraid?

And you, brother. You, sister. You, sheep of the Good Shepherd.

In Doula met six sheep for a week-long faculty meeting, a prayer meeting, a preparation-for-the-upcoming-school-year meeting, a let’s-become-better-educators meeting.

We were six men from four countries in a friendship meeting. We laughed a lot.

We could have cried a lot too.

We discussed problems. We could have opened up more about our worries. So many fears, we harbor. Those are hard to admit. We six—secretive sinners. But Jesus laid down his life for us all.

And Jesus lives.

Who are you with today as you read this? Are you by yourself? Are you with a few other believers?

Your Father was thrilled to give you the kingdom.

Why do you ever fear anything, when Jesus’ Father is giving you everything?

Have no fear, little flock.

Pray for the same fearlessness in the five students who will soon start again studying for pastoral ministry in Kumba, Cameroon. Pray in Christ for the ten students starting a new school year soon in Uruk Uso, Nigeria.

Our sister ministry training schools in West Africa are small. Difficulties? Huge.

Bigger than anything: “Your Father delights to give you the kingdom.”

Missionary Dan Witte lives in Lusaka, Zambia.

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