The Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC/Kenya) approached The Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA/Zambia) with a formal request to establish formal church relations. On a prior visit to Zambia in 2015 the chairman of their Synod, Pastor Mark Onunda, invited the LCCA to come and start the process. The LCMC had left the fellowship of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya (ELCK) for compromising true confessional Lutheran doctrine and practice. The LCMC desires to join in fellowship with a confessional Lutheran church body in Africa.
LCCA/Z members made their first visit to Kenya in October 2016. Pastor Merven Shanzala and Missionary Daniel Sargent made a second visit to Kenya in October, 2017. One Africa Team is working with the LCCA/Z to make these trips possible.
The purpose of the most recent visit was to present lessons on “Church Fellowship” and “A Confessional Lutheran Look at Pentecostals.” The meeting took place at Kadongo Parish in Kisi Province. After the lessons an older gentleman by the name of Richard Ajure got up before the congregation to make a comment on the teaching lessons he had just heard. He told the group that he joined the Lutheran church in Kenya in 1948, at which time the church was called the Swedish Lutheran Mission. In 1968 he graduated from Bible school to serve as an evangelist in the church. He said the Swedish Lutheran Mission used this catch phrase all the time: “We are true friends of the Bible.” He told the group his beloved church body, now called the ELCK, is no longer a “true friend of the Bible.” Then he added, “Today the true friends of the Bible have come back to us.” Others who were present then began to comment that they also want to have a true confessional Lutheran fellowship with the LCCA and like-minded Lutherans.
Missionary John Hartmann and Pastor Simon Mweete from Zambia joined us as we met with the LCMC Synodical Council in Nairobi to discuss some doctrinal issues in their constitution. The group discussed the doctrine of the Divine Call and the doctrine of Church and Ministry. We agreed on a road map for discussing issues that are still unclear. We then invited the LCMC to send a team of pastors to Zambia in April 2018 to continue fellowship discussions.
The LORD is truly blessing this work. Keep the LCCA and the LCMC in your prayers as they work towards establishing formal church relations.
Missionary Daniel Sargent serves in Zambia
Please pray for those working in fields that are ripe for harvest. Share their story, engage with future news and receive updates. Go to this link to learn more about our mission fields in Africa and how the Holy Spirit is working faith in people’s hearts https://wels.net/serving-others/missions/africa
