Multiplying Gospel Reach In Africa
A generational missionary provides the blueprint for placing the gospel first and foremost.
By Rev. James May, Director, Lutherans in Africa
Dear friends of Ad Crucem,
My name is Rev. James May, and I am the director of a mission organization called Lutherans in Africa. Our mission statement is “Forming African Lutherans to be Teachers of the Faith.” This includes seminars for church leaders to equip them to teach others and flows from Paul’s command to Timothy:
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:1–2)
We do not simply teach; we form and equip church workers to teach others so that the Gospel's reach is multiplied.
I have been working as a missionary in Africa since 2006. I graduated from CTSFW and was sent to Burkina Faso and Togo in West Africa as a church planter and theological educator. I was called by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation in 2009 to move to Kenya and expand the work by facilitating the translation of Bible study materials like Luther’s Small Catechism, the Book of Concord, the Good News magazine, and Lutheran liturgies and hymns. I traveled to more than 20 African countries to equip church workers with their respective Lutheran Church bodies.
The demand for training church workers led to the establishment of the Lutheran School of Theology (LST) in Kimuka, Kenya, so that, instead of me traveling, students now come from many countries to the LST to get more in-depth training. As an accredited Bible school, they can now earn certificates and diplomas that satisfy governmental requirements for church leaders. It also qualifies them to enter universities where they can earn advanced degrees in theology.
I have had the privilege of working with Tim and Wanita Wood over the years. They also proclaim the Lutheran faith through artworks that testify to the teaching of God’s Word.
Tim asked me if I would briefly address mission work in Africa, particularly the confusion about the true needs of those who have not yet encountered the good news. It would be best to begin with what Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said:
Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31–33)
Most Africans are not as apprehensive about food and clothing as Americans are. However, when social work is prioritized over the church's mission, it does make people anxious. How often I have heard people say, “We, in America, have so much, and Africa has so little. We should give what we have.” However, if one studies Christianity worldwide, the number of believers in Africa is exponentially larger than in America. It might make one think of what Jesus says in Revelation:
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. (Revelation 3:17–18)
Americans are indeed much more financially prosperous, but are they better off? Are they happier? Are they richer in faith? Do they love to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness? Look at the way people are living. Do they live more righteously or more shamefully?
I used to teach at a Lutheran Bible school in Zambia, which European Lutherans sponsored. On the adjacent property, they also had an orphanage. But over the past decades, mission dollars have significantly decreased, leading them to face the decision to close one or the other. Being led by emotions for the children, they sold the Bible school to Muslims and kept the orphanage open.
A few years later, I was teaching a seminar when a representative was also in town to check on the orphanage. They were pleased to see more children than in years past. However, there was a lot of fighting among the church leaders because it was discovered that most of the “orphans” were the illegitimate children of one of the wayward pastors.
If we are primarily anxious about food, drink, and clothing, we can lose sight of the primary thing: being fed with the Word of God, which leads us into all righteousness.
Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31–33).
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Praise be to saints like reverend may.
There is zero reason for us to be in Africa when our own synod is in shambles.