Issue #1 • sprIng 2013

introducing a Capital Campaign for Lutherans in africaLutherans in Africa is building a new center in Africa todowhatelse,createandsupportLutheransinAfrica.ThisnewsletterintroducesyoutothisGod-pleasingandexcitingproject.Inafewweeksyouwillbeaskedtogetinvolved.Fornow,takeafewminutesandreadaboutthiswonderful plan to spread the Gospel and LutheranismacrossAfrica.

who are the Lutherans in africa?Picture it…agrowingvillage insub-Sahara, Africa 2013 and new Christians arehungry for thepureGospel.Theyhave been told that the one trueGodsent his son to save the world andthey want to learn all about it. Theyhavemet localEvangelistswho sharethis great faith. They have even heldtheBiblesthatcontainthislivesavingWord andhave seenother books andhymnals that allow them to study andworshipthisGodandSavior.Butthere are not enough Evangelists and

there are not enough Bibles and some ofthebooksarenotyetintheirnativelanguage.

Travelishardandmoneyisinshortsupply so they wait until it is their turn for the teachers of this wonderful faithtocometotheirvillages.BetweenvisitstheyusethenewBiblesandotherbooksthattheycangettheirhandsonand gather for study and worship.They sing hymns from the Lutheran Service Book to a simple drum beatand some even memorize the entireCatechism in their joyous new faith.ThesearethenewLutheransinAfrica.And they are growing faster than any Lutheranchurchintheworld.

Jesus said to his disciples, his evangelists, “Go into all the worldand proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. …” This is happening nowand on a large scale in Africa. TheGospel is being spread to those whoare most hungry for it. The missionfield is enormous but there are just too few churches, seminaries and pastors toservethesenewLutheranChristians.

what is this organization Called Lutherans in africa?Lutherans in Africa was born out of mission work that was started backin 1996 by Rev. Dr. Anssi Simojoki. Rev.SimojokiworkedwiththeLutheranHeritageFoundationandspentseveralyearsdoingmissionworkinAfricaandtranslating the Book of Concord intoKiswahili, a language spoken by 150million people. Rev. James E.May, Jr.hadalsobeenworkinginAfricawiththeLutheranHeritageFoundationtobringthepureGospeltothepeopleofAfrica.That work formed the foundation forLutherans in Africa (LIA) which was founded in 2010. The mission of LIAis “to form African Christians to be teachers of the faith” Currently LIA worksin20Africancountries,teachingconfessional Lutheran doctrine to pastors, evangelists and other churchleaders. They also continue theimportantworkoftranslatingLutheranresources into the many languages of theAfricanpeople.

Since 2010, Rev. May has traveledall over the continent to teach. Hespends one or two weeks in an areaandthenmovesontoanothercountryrequesting training. He sometimesteaches seminary students who benefit from intense preparatory classes and sometimes trains Sunday School teachers who need materials to bring up their children in the correct faith which is given in the Catechism. ButRev. May and those working withLutherans in Africa have found thatthe most pressing need is to train the Evangelistswhoareholdingthesenewchurches together while they wait for theirnextpastoralvisit.Thesearelocalmenwhoteachandleadworship.Theydo not administer the sacraments but they can teach their people once they, themselvesarestrongintheknowledgeofGod’sWord.

what is the plan to train these evangelists?With their focus now on training the Evangelists, LIA was quickly able tocomeupwithaplantomakethishappenas effectively as possible. Instead ofhavingafewpastorstraveltoallpartsofthecontinent,LIAwillmakeitpossiblefor themany Evangelists tomake onetrip to a central TrainingCenter. Theywill spend two years living, learningandworkingattheTrainingCenterandthentheywillgobacktotheirchurchesandsharethisknowledge,thisGospel,withtheirownpeople.

what is the Cost to fund the training Center?The first order of business is to purchase land, fence it in, and install the well and solarpanels.Thenwecanbeginbuildingclassrooms. The estimated cost for theinfrastructure and space for classrooms isroughly$500,000.Thisfigurecanvarygreatly depending on how close the facilityisbuilttothecityofNairobi.

how will this Capital Campaign reach so Many people?We started the campaign by recruiting a slate of LIA supporters—pastors and laymen from all over the world.Weasked them to takeon the taskofidentifying even more current andpotential supporters of LIA. We arein the middle of that process right now. Once this network of campaignvolunteers is set, wewill roll out therest of the campaign by using these main components:

• Newsletters• InformationalBrochure• InspirationalVideo• Live,Real-TimePrayerVigil• HomeGatherings

newsLettersThis is the first campaign newsletter, intended to share the exciting visionthat LIA has set forth and to introduce you to the Capital Campaign. Moreinformation will be coming your way intheweeksahead.

what will this new training Center include?The main components of the Training Center will be:

• Classroomsandoffices• Theologicallibrary• Spaceforcontinued

translationwork• DevotionalChapel• Housingforthestudentsand

teachingstaff.Based on research of other successful Christian centers, the Training Center will strive tokeep costs down by establishinga program of self-sufficiency. Thestudents will build their own housing and will use the land to itsbestadvantageforfood.Adeepwell will be drilled for water and solar power will be the source of electricity. Once the TrainingCenter is established, maintenance costs will be minimal and the current costs for rent and staff travelwillbeeliminated.

what Can You do to Make this a reality?host a hoMe gatheringAfteryouhavereadthisnewsletter,takeamomenttodecidejusthowyoumighthelpwiththeLIACapitalCampaign.WearejustbeginningtorecruithostsforourHomeGatherings.IfyouhaveagroupoffriendsthatwouldbewillingtocomelearnmoreaboutLutheransinAfricaandconsidermakingacontributiontothiscampaign,pleasebegintomakeplansforyourGathering.

partiCipate in the praYer VigiLIfyourchurch isnotalreadyinvolvedinthesimultaneousPrayerVigilonMay31,checkwithyourpastortoseeifyoucanhelptoorganizethisthreehourevent.

donatePlan to make a financial contribution or an ongoing pledge of financialsupport for LIA.Help us reach our goal of $500,000 thatwill allowus topurchase the land and begin the building process. Consider making LIAyouronedesignatedcharitableorganizationthisyearastheyexpandtheirministrytobetterservethepeopleofAfrica.

praY for Lutherans in afriCaThesenewLutherans inAfricaare sohungry forGod’sWord, soeager toreceivethesacramentsandsohappytosingHispraises.PraythatGodwouldworkthroughLutheransinAfricatomeetthemanyneedsofHispeopleinthishugemissionfield.

inforMationaL BroChureWatch for even more details aboutthe Training Center in the campaign brochure.Hereyouwillalsoseedetailsof the financing plan for the building and maintenance of the Center, the types of gifts that will be needed to fund the project and inspiring quotes from thenewLutherans inAfricawhohavealreadybeenblessedbytheworkofLIA.

inspirationaL VideoProductionworkiswellunderwayforourcampaignvideo.WearefortunatetohavebeenabletorecordRev.JamesMayspeakaboutplansforthisTrainingCenter while he was in the UnitedStates in mid-February. What betterway to become involved in a projectthan to hear about the plans firsthand! Listen to the needs of the African people, the progress already made and thevisionforthefuture.

LiVe, reaL-tiMe praYer VigiLMarkFriday,May31onyourcalendarright now! On that evening from 9p.m. to midnight, Central StandardTime, we are having a world-widereal-timeprayervigil.Thismeansthatduring those three hours thousands of people will be praying together at their own churches and in their homes that Godwillbemercifultothiscampaignto raise funds for the Training Center in Nairobi. Hour one will be

simultaneous vigils at hundreds ofchurchesandhomeswithalivestreamvigil from Bethany Lutheran Churchin Naperville, Illinois. Hour two ofthevigilwillswitchtoalivebroadcastfrom Nairobi as we interview Rev.James May and pray together withthoseacrosstheworld.Hourthreewillroundoutthevigilwithanotherhourof live streaming from Bethany andsimultaneous vigils at churches andhomesthroughouttheworld.

hoMe gatheringsFinally,afterwehavespreadtheword,asked God to bless our efforts andshared the story of LIA with as many as possible, we will gather in groups in the homesandchurchesofoursupporters.Thismightinvolveaspecialdinner,anevening ofwine and cheese or coffeeand cookies. In a comfortable settingwe will read through the LIA campaign brochure, watch the video and thenmake a prayerful gift or pledge insupportofthenewTrainingCenter.

Maggie

tristan

jonas

jaMestiina

Matthew

sofia

sarai

The May Family

Lutheran bishops in Africa are crying out to LIA—“Can you start a Bible school for our people?” This campaign will raise funds to build that Bible School in a permanent Lutheran Center that is partially self-sustaining that will include:

• Classrooms• ATranslationLab• ATheologicalLibrary• Studenthousing• SustainableGardenPlots

for Student Families• ADevotionalChapel• AMissionaryParsonage

The Center will welcome students from alloverAfricaforatwoyearprogram.It will extend LIA’s outreach in Africa by reducing staff travel time and byadding more teaching time with the students. Itwill keep the studentandhis family together and allow them to contribute to the Center via thesustainablegardenplots.

The savings on rent alone is reasonenough for doing this ($40,000 a year) but of course the greater purpose is that the pure teaching of the Gospel willready more workers for the harvest.

Case statement and Leadership team

Lutherans IN AfricaFORMING AFRICAN CHRISTIANS TO BE TEACHERS OF THE FAITH

Contact Information:TheRev.TimothyA.Rossow (Wittenberg Church Consultants)BethanyLutheranChurchandSchool,Naperville,Illinois 630/355-2198•LIAcapitalcampaign@gmail.com

www.LutheransinAfrica.com

The first phase will provide the land,fencing, water supply electricity classroomsandoffices.YourgiftstothiscampaignwillbringtheGospeltomanyandmakemoreLutheransinAfrica.

the CaMpaign Leadership teaM• Rev.JamesMay—Director,LutheransinAfrica,Nairobi,Kenya,Africa

• Rev.JonathanFisk—BethanyLutheran,NapervilleIllinois,USA; Editor,WorldviewEverlasting

• BishopMattiVaisanen—Luther-Saatio(MissionProvinceofFinland)

• Rev.RobertGreen—BethlehemLutheranChurch,Parma,Ohio,USA; LIA Chairman of the Board

• Rev.DavidRohde—St.PaulLutheranChurch,Wilson,Texas

• Rev.BenjaminBall—St.PaulLutheranChurch,Hamel,Illinois

• RevTapaniSimojoki—The Lutheran Church of England

• Rev.MattAnker—GoulburnMurrayParish,Shepparton, Victoria, Australia

• Rev.StephenvanderHoek—GippslandLutheranParish,Traraigon,Victoria, Australia

• Rev.Dr.AnssiSimojoki—Uusikaupunki,Finland