Multi-Language Publications reaching Malawi and beyond

Imagine if you could speak 47 different languages. Suppose you are able to…

Greet someone in Nuer.
Ask for directions in Burmese.
Order food in Kurdish.
Say a prayer in Urdu.
Read a book in Tagalog.
Explain a concept in Mizo.
Tell an idiom in Russian.

Sound improbable?  Even impossible to speak so many languages?

Rev. Nate Seiltz¹ can!

Well, to be more accurate, Multi-Language Publications can.  Rev. Seiltz, former WELS missionary to Dominican Republic and Haiti–and a Spanish speaker himself –is currently the Director of the Multi-Language Publications (MLP).  He travels the world making sure that the Word is getting out and the Word is getting in.

In homes.
In schools.
In congregations.
In hearts.

Try to wrap your head around these numbers: in its 20+ year history, MLP to date has printed over 2.9 million items² in 47 languages!  I guess the Word has gotten around and is getting around.  But now consider Rev. Seiltz’s vision and MLPs goal:

“To reach 100 million people with the gospel in the next ten years with the additional goal of having at least 2 million people using discipleship training media produced by MLP.”

“это не мелочь”

In Russian, “It’s no small thing!” You might say, “That’s no small potatoes!”

100 million people hearing the gospel never is. Reaching even just one is not insignificant. Heaven rejoices when even one coin is found.³

If you want to meet someone passionate about reaching out to lost souls, sit down with Rev. Seiltz. He realizes the MLP potential and knows that it’s not merely about ordering food or asking for directions in many languages.

He shared this story:

“I met a young Indian man in an airport in India. He was Christian pastor…I asked him if he had any converts from Hinduism and he said ‘yes.’ I asked, ‘What are some good ways to reach them?’” He replied: ‘Really the only thing that works is the gospel.’”

Good answer. No…great answer.

So just think, in that respect, then, it is about food: Jesus, the Bread of Life⁴ and the Living Water!⁵  And it is about directions:  the one way to heaven!  Jesus is it!  John emphasizes, “no one comes to the Father except through him.”⁶

According to the Scriptures, not only is there only one road, it’s also a bit narrow.⁷

But there’s room for all.

Because of MLP, some people who speak and read Nuer or Burmese or Kurdish or any of the other 44 languages can now discover the amazing, bewilder-ing, perplexing wonders of God in Christ Jesus.

By the way, I’m just borrowing those words, “amazing, bewildering and perplexing,” from Acts 2. There you will find the story of the original MLP, the Multi-Language Pentecost. That’s the day when people of different nations suddenly heard Galilean locals speak their own native tongue. It raised eyebrows as well as accusations. It probably would have been headlines in the Daily News. More than surprising and greater than astonishing, it was…

Amazing!
Bewildering!
Perplexing!

Not just the men, but the message. Especially the message.

Sin and Savior. Law and Gospel. Hell and heaven. Works and Grace. Repentance and forgiveness. Ah, yes, forgiveness.

Really?  I, too, am forgiven?

The message of today’s 21^st century MLP is the same message as the first-century MLP:

Yes, you are forgiven in Jesus Christ!  Believe it!

No wonder Nate writes in MLPs 2016-2017 Catalogue: “The majority of MLP products are evangelism and Bible Study materials.  These can be used by anyone who sees a need for ministering to others in Christ.”

After all, who doesn’t need that kind of message?

We, on the Malawi field, were blessed to have Rev. Seiltz visit us this month of March 2017.⁸ He took time to travel to “The Warm (and these days, rainy) Heart of Africa” to share information, goals and visions of MLP.  He met with the Lutheran Mission missionaries and with some of the national pastors in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa, Malawi Synod. (LCCA-MS).

His visit revealed, not only his work but his joy.

His joy?

“Being able to put gospel materials in different languages so many people can learn of their Savior and grow in their faith. Working with national churches and missionaries, brothers and sisters in the faith as they minister in their Savior’s Kingdom.”

Dear Mission Partner, do you have a friend who speaks Spanish?  Got a Ukrainian neighbor?  Is there a member in your church whose mother tongue is Chinese?  Anyone you know come from Korea or Japan?

Do you speak his/her language?

Even if you can’t, MLP can.  If it can’t, it’ll do what it takes to speak that language, too.  After all, it wants to help you in…

Declaring the Wonders of God.⁹

By Missionary John Holtz, Malawi, Africa

1. Seiltz is married to Natalie and they have 3 children Brett, Carlos, Angela. They live in Jackson, Wis., and are members of Morning Star Lutheran Church.  His MLP office is at the Synod Headquarters, (Center for Mission and Ministry) in Waukesha, Wis.  Rev. Seiltz regularly travels internationally and domestically for MLP promotion.
2. Items such as Sunday School materials, The Promise, Bible Stories in Pictures, Evangelism movies, What the Bible and Lutherans Teach, Book of Prayers, etc.
3. Luke 15:3-10
4. John 6:25-59
5. John 4
6. John 14:6
7. Matthew 7:14
8. On this same trip to Malawi, Rev. Seiltz also visited Cameroon and Zambia for the same purpose of promoting MLP and its materials.
9. Acts 2:11

 

[fbcomments url=”” width=”711″ count=”off” num=”5″ countmsg=”” linklove=”0″]