Notes from the Mission Field: Taking the Next Step BOOTS ON THE GROUND Having served in Africa for seven years now, I have a greater appreciation fo
Notes from the Mission Field: Taking the Next Step
BOOTS ON THE GROUND
Having served in Africa for seven years now, I have a greater appreciation for the term Church Militant. Here, spiritual warfare takes on a slightly different meaning, when daily you are faced with both the utter devastation living in a fallen world has on God’s creation and the destruction our foe can heap upon Christians through false doctrine. When the Gospel is nearly all you have in life, you cling to it more fiercely. But a gospel built on a twisted application of law and works ultimately kills. Sheep facing abject poverty, violence, disease, war, greed, and corruption need life, not death.
The majority of Lutheran congregations in Africa are led on Sundays by evangelists. The reason for this is that congregations are started faster than pastors can be trained. Because ordained pastors may be responsible for 6-12 congregations, many congregants only see a pastor, perhaps, four times a year. This is why my own visits to teach often involve many baptisms that have been waiting and many, many Christians exited to finally have the Lord's Supper again. So, men who show an interest in the Bible and who are natural leaders are often chosen as "evangelists" to lead services in between visits by a pastor.
These evangelists are, sadly, often very poorly trained, due to the lack of seminaries, professors, and, even more damaging, a lack of training materials. Bishops and church leaders have pleaded with me to give more and more training. However, as I have shared before, the request for instruction and pure doctrinal resources vastly outnumber Lutheran in Africa's (LIA) ability to address them. It is a crushing agony to have to pick and choose among them, to have to say “no” to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
So, we have been praying for a way to leverage the work of LIA in the most efficacious manner possible. After all, we are struggling to disseminate books and hold training seminars organized across a continent that is two and a half times the size of the USA. Yes, that is the size of our mission field! And we also need to be good stewards and as efficient as possible for the long term with the offerings we receive. Therefore, the answer that we believe is the best is to answer a common request from Bishops from the countries in East and Central Africa: train the evangelists standing in the gap.
Let me be clear, Sacramental ministry must lie with called undershepherds. We remain committed to helping to raise up and training them as well. But that takes years. In the mean while, if we can help grow the ministry of the Word through evangelists properly trained in the essentials of the pure doctrine, more of our brothers and sisters will be strengthened and nourished and sanctified in the hearing and the preaching of the powerful, creative Living Word. This brings us to the question of a training center, a confessional base camp, if you will, for those at work in the fields of the Lord.
BASE CAMP
For East and Central Africa, amongst former French speaking colonies such as Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), Rwanda, and Burundi, there is a lack of Lutheran Training Centers, be they for evangelists or pastors. Even if funds could be collected to build in each of these countries, there are not enough professors and, more importantly, a dearth of sound teaching materials. This is why pastors and evangelists are confused in doctrine and yet bear the name Lutheran; missionaries have trained them using books written by Baptists, Pentecostals, and/or liberal prosperity gospel theologians.
Specifically, Rev. Joseph Mavoungou (President of the Lutheran Church of Congo), Bishop Ndaye Mbuanya (Bishop of Kananga and Lubumbashi), and Rev. Celestin Sarambuye (Dean of the Lutheran Church in Rwanda) have asked LIA to help train evangelists. We have the books in French. Land is available. AND they would get more than a week's worth of teaching. Having a central location would also: 1) aid in the translation of doctrinal resources into additional African languages with translation teams working on-site in conjunction with their own training and 2) aid distribution of LHF books and Good News magazines.
Therefore, we initially propose to offer a foundational course for evangelists and Sunday School teachers. Graduates could then enroll in a diploma course at an accredited school such as the Lutheran Seminaries in South Africa, Kenya, or Tanzania. This would also help raise the foundational level of students arriving at these quality Lutheran schools, increasing the efficacy of their training as well.
Sample homes for students.
OPERATIONAL MODEL
Having studied some of the most successful churches in Africa, we have noted a common theme of self-sufficiency. Therefore, that would guide our operation model. We propose a two-year evangelist course. Students would study half a day and work half a day. They would build their own homes with the wood or mud from the land, depending on which building type to which they are most accustomed. They would grow their own food from communal gardens. And they would rotate through helping with the cleaning and maintenance of the educational buildings.
The teaching materials would be LHF books and Good News magazines. We would also have a library and computers. Course work would cover: New Testament and Old Testament survey courses, biblical interpretation, Lutheran liturgy, how to teach Luther's Small Catechism, and distinguishing Law and Gospel in preaching and practice. And, as mentioned above, students from language groups in which the liturgy, catechism, and other basic material have not yet been translated would have their assignments tailored around that work.
In short, we would limit our financial contribution to transport to and from the center. No stipend, just transport, books, and training. Lodging, food, and maintenance would be their “financial” contribution.
Examples of how families will be providing their own meals.
FINANCES
Our goal, as outlined above, is to be as self-sustaining as possible. Therefore, while we would have initial expenses for land and utilities, once purchased, our operating costs would be minimal, relying on the efficiency of renewal resources and cooperative living. In doing so, we would lower the bottom line for the overall work of LIA by reducing current travel, resource dissemination, and living expenses for staff.
Until the home for LIA's missionary (currently yours truly) is built, there will be a period of overlapping operational expenses as we transition from the old operating model of rent and public utilities to our new one. After that period of time, all monies normally be used for rent and utilities would then be used for local and on-site seminars for already ordained pastors, i.e., continuing ed seminars, and the aforementioned LIA's portion of training evangelical students. Additionally, once we have the new model up and running, we are also hoping that a second missionary might be called to best leverage our expanded capacity.
Example of land option.
INITIAL DRAFT CAPITAL BUDGET $378,750-$528,750
We have six major capital expenditures to consider: Land Purchase; Fencing; Independent, renewable water supply; Independent, renewable electricity supply; Storage; and Offices. The wide range in the draft budget stems from land options, each with its own pros and cons.
1. Land Purchase $ 100,000-250,000. 2. Fencing $37,500 3. Drilling water borehole $37,500 4. Construction and installation of solar panels $10,000 5. Storage Containers $6,250 6. Office Block Construction $187,500
NOTES:
1. We currently have two land options offered to us: a) 10 acres for $100,000, which is about an hour outside of town, and b) 5 acres for $240,000, which is about 30 minutes outside of town and is on a paved road. Each has its own pros and cons. Obviously, one or both offers might not still be available when the funds for land have been raised. However, these represent the range of purchase price we face with this expenditure. 2. Fundraising for this expense has already started, since the project is scalable. By this I mean we can leverage the renewable energy source right now and then eventually upscale to the needs of the entire training center. We are pleased to announce, then, that our first solar panels have been purchased! We will still need batteries, an inverter, and framing materials. We anticipate that the remaining cost might be approximately $5,000, but will be able to clarify the exact total once the land is chosen and overall building plans are chosen.
PLEASE JOIN US IN THIS CAMPAIGN
As with all of our work, LIA remains committed to transparency in our communications. As such, each step we take along the path toward the training center, we will share with you, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Your prayers have supported and sustained me, my family, and the work of Lutheran in Africa since its beginnings. We remain grateful and honored to have such support.
At this time, we ask that you begin to pray specifically for a LIA training center. We ask that our triune God grant the LIA staff and board wisdom and discernment in our planning and that He provide for this project.
We also ask at this time that you consider contributing to our campaign to raise the capital funds necessary to expand the outreach of our work. All donations earmarked for the center will remain dedicated to the project. All contributions to LIA in general will be used to support current operations and expansion efforts where possible.
Many of you already support the work of LIA financially. For that we remain grateful. We believe you do so because you believe training African men to teach and preach the pure doctrine and suppling doctrinal resources to them (translating when needful) is an effective means for serving God's children in Africa, young and old, who are hungry for the Living Word. May our triune God continue to guide us in this work, as He guides you in the best way to support LIA according to HIs provision for us all.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. James E May, Jr.
After God (through the Holy Spirit in Baptism) has kindled and caused a beginning of the true knowledge of God and faith, we should pray to Him without ceasing. We should ask that through the same Spirit and His grace, by means of the daily exercise of reading and doing God's Word, He would preserve us in faith and His heavenly gifts, strengthen us from day to day, and keep us to the end. For unless God Himself is our schoolmaster, we can study and learn nothing that is acceptable to Him and helpful to ourselves and others. ~FSD, II, 16
To support the preaching of the Gospel and the training of workers for the harvest, please make a donation via our PayPal account or send your checks made payable to Lutherans in Africa to:
Lutherans in Africa
c/o Bethlehem Lutheran Church
7500 State Road
Parma, OH 44134
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