Cameroon

Cameroon is often called the “Hinge of Africa” because it is located in the area of a geographical bend of the continent. It is also called “Little Africa”, as the diverse terrain and culture found within it’s borders are representative of those found on the entire continent. Slightly larger than California, Cameroon is located in Western Africa and shares borders with Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. It is the home of Mt. Cameroon, the highest peak in West Africa and the site of an active volcano.

Despite oil reserves and farmland to foster economic development better than other African countries, unemployment and poverty are still high. However by God’s grace, a favorable climate and vast farmland provide plenty of food.

The main focus of our WELS missionary, Missionary Dan Kroll, is to work with the Lutheran Church of Cameroon (LCC) to establish an indigenous worker training program, ensuring future workers for the church. As lay workers in local congregations move on to be trained as pastors, the missionary works with national pastors to train new lay leaders for local congregations. In addition, the missionary is an adviser and mentor for the national pastors, carrying out short courses for their continued education.

Mission update

Due to various reasons, the LCC has not trained any new pastors since 1999. This is an exciting time for the LCC as they recently started (September of 2017) the second year of pre-Seminary with 11 students. Pastor Mesue Isreal puts much effort in his role as the Dean of Students, living on campus and working closely with the students to develop proper pastoral attitudes and behaviors. Pastor Isreal works together with Pastor Kroll as the second teacher and works to develop a locally sustainable worker-training program.  Please keep the Lutheran Church of Cameroon in your prayers.

Mission statistics

Baptized national members: 753
Congregations: 31
Preaching station: 1
National pastors: 8
Evangelists: 3
Certified Assistants: 4
Seminary students: 8
Missionaries: 1