Tag Archive for: one africa team

Meet the Felgenhauers

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Stefan Felgenhauer has recently been hired to serve WELS Missions in Africa as the Director of Operations for One Africa Team. Stefan and his wife Kathy have lived in Malawi previously and served WELS through the Kingdom Workers organization. Listen to Stefan as he (re)introduces himself: 

Felgs on the move… this has become our theme. We’re about to move to Africa for the 3rd time and we couldn’t be more excited! My wife and I met in Bali, Indonesia, got married in New Ulm, MN and lived in Germany, Canada, the USA and in Malawi (twice). When we sat down to think about it we realize we’ve never lived in the same house for more than 2 years. Currently we live in Kansas and it’s true that we there is “no place like home” – we are in this world but not of it and heaven will be where we completely settle down for eternity.

Having grown up in Communist East Germany, I certainly couldn’t have imagined the plans the Lord had for me. Looking back at my experiences I see God’s hand in leading me to this new opportunity to work as the Director of Mission Operations for One Africa Team. My love for Africa really began when my wife and I were engaged. She was teaching in Lippo Karawaci, Indonesia and I was in the military in Germany – together we traveled to Blantyre, Malawi to visit my in-laws. My father-in-law, Missionary Ron Uhlhorn, was the first WELS urban missionary to Malawi (1998-2003). It was an awesome experience to travel around with them seeing the mission work first hand, and a year or so later after we were married. Soon we returned for another visit to this intriguing place, which was already growing on our hearts.

Stefan greeting a new VBS group

In time I heard about a position opening to be the Business Manager for our mission in Malawi. This position description encompassed engaging in all “non-Word work” to free the missionaries for their “Word-work”. We moved from Germany with our newborn daughter Louisa with the intent of staying only 2 years. We left 6 wonderful years (and 3 houses) later with two more children, Benjamin and Anna, who were born in Blantyre. The idea of a business manager on field was a success and the Warm Heart of Africa had become home.

We then engaged in a four year adventure to Canada, Germany and the USA, calling several more houses and apartments home before another opportunity came knocking that brought us back to Malawi. This time I worked directly for Kingdom Workers as their Field Manager. My wife and I developed short term volunteer opportunities for VBS events in rural villages, and eventually a ministry to the disabled using Jesus Cares materials translated into the Chichewa language. Our growing children attended the international school and we felt right back at home.

Two houses and three years later we returned to the USA to live in Manhattan, KS and then Salina, KS where my wife held calls as preschool director and teacher. Our children picked up the American way of life and I found continued work in serving those with special needs.

I appreciate all the different fields of service that the Lord has given me. All of these experiences have helped me develop continued skills to now lead my family to Lusaka, Zambia in the coming months. Working for One Africa Team, I look forward to the challenge of supporting the mission and ministries in many different African countries!

Stefan Felgenhauer and his family will be based in Lusaka, Zambia

Africa Updates – Mission Work in Liberia, Unrest in Cameroon

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Mission Work in Liberia

Do you call it reaching out? Or reaching back? WELS One Africa Team, made up of WELS missionaries serving in Africa, will soon become involved in the mission trips taking place to Liberia.

These trips had a special start. Over the years, people from Liberia have fled civil wars in their country and found peace and life in the United States. Some have joined our WELS churches where they settled.

Matthew Cephus trains church leaders in Liberia

Starting in 2016, Isaac David – a Liberian immigrant living in Las Vegas, Nev. – began making trips back to Liberia to share the message of God’s love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. More recently, Matthew Cephus, a Liberian immigrant living in New Hope, Minn., has done the same.

What’s next? In September and November 2018, a couple members from the One Africa Team will join these men and their teams from the United States in training more pastors and leaders on Liberian soil. The plans are made: training will take place for 125 pastors and leaders in September. An additional 40 pastors and leaders will continue their training in November. The numbers of people reached grow from there as these church leaders take God’s precious word back to their churches and communities and share with others.

So whether you call it reaching out to Liberia or reaching back, there is only one place to find lasting peace and security. That is in the hands of God who reached down from heaven with his love and forgiveness found in Jesus Christ.

From Missionary John Hartmann, Outreach Coordinator – One Africa Team

Unrest in Cameroon

Please keep our brothers and sisters in Christ in Cameroon in your prayers.

The English-speaking areas of Cameroon are in conflict with the dominant French-speaking regions, including the government. Some of the national pastors of the Lutheran Church of Cameroon (LCC) and their members are finding themselves running into the bush (country) at night because of fear. There is no denying it – as selfish interests and tempers flare, guns go off and people are losing their lives. The times are troublesome as the devil tries to deter Christians with fear. We remember well how many times our Lord reminded his followers “Do not be afraid” in both Old Testament (2 Kings 6:16, Nehemiah 4:14) and New Testament (Matthew 6:31, 17:7; Mark 6:50; Luke 8:50). We especially pray that God continue to strengthen our brothers and sisters in the LCC.

Missionary Jeff Heitsch preaches at a congregation of the Lutheran Church of Cameroon

Cameroon Missionary Jeff Heitsch and his wife Stephanie, will be leaving Cameroon and be temporarily relocated to the United States due to the internal political unrest in the country. They arrived in Cameroon in October 2017.

Conflict between the English-speaking and French-speaking parts of Cameroon began to intensify about the time of the Heitschs’ arrival, and the security situation has deteriorated significantly since then. By mutual decision of the Heitsches and the WELS World Mission Board, the Heitsches will remain in the United States for the time being. Missionary Dan and Karen Kroll, who also serve on Cameroon, were already planning being back in the United States on furlough until mid-July.

“It’s always a difficult decision to remove a missionary from their field, but it is also important that we keep them safe as well as pray for our brothers and sisters in Cameroon who live in the midst of the strife. We have faith that the Holy Spirit will continue to bless the gospel-sharing work of the national church body, and if it is his will, that one day we will, once again, be able to serve this mission field in person,” says Mr. Sean Young, director of Missions operations.

WELS Missions and the members of the LCC continue on in the assurance that our living and victorious Savior is in control and knows all things. Nothing will happen without his knowledge and approval, and we join with David to say “My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:15). May we all continue to walk in the confidence and peace of our Risen Lord, no matter where in the world we might be.

Want to stay up-to-date on what is happening with Africa mission work? Subscribe to One Africa Team blogs or follow them on Facebook at fb.com/OneAfricaTeamWELS/.

 

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World mission teams provide coordination and expertise

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For decades WELS members have been hearing about the WELS mission work being done in Malawi, Zambia, Cameroon, and Nigeria and how God has blessed these efforts.

But what about Rwanda, Liberia, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Mozambique? New opportunities are blooming in Africa either as church leaders reach out to WELS for fellowship and help or as WELS and its African sister church bodies recognize new outreach potential.

To help WELS explore these burgeoning opportunities, the One Africa Team has been formed. This team, which comprises the 10 WELS missionaries serving in Africa as well as the US-based Africa administrative team, is coordinating WELS missionary work and resources across Africa.

“In the past we were separated into fields. One field would figure out how to help sister synods do evangelism, ministerial education, administration, publications, and whatever else we could help with,” says Paul Nitz, missionary in Malawi and coordinator of the One Africa Team. “The new One Africa Team allows us to pool our knowledge and share our strengths to best serve the sister synods we work with.”

While the missionaries will continue to serve in their respective countries, they will also coordinate their efforts across fields, especially in the areas of evangelism, theological education, communication, and administration. “As we focus our attention and resources on a particular function, the opportunities to do more effective work blossom,” says Nitz. He shared a recent example in which the missionaries were working with a national church body to recruit qualified candidates to study for the ministry. “As we looked into that problem, we ended up looking across all the synods in Africa and comparing what is done,” he says. “And so, working on a problem in one country will likely help us to improve what we do in all of them.”

This team approach also will help WELS as it examines new opportunities for outreach in Africa, providing on-the-ground research and years of knowledge. “You combine the wisdom and experience of African missionaries who have served for decades and add that to the decisions WELS is making to reach out into other parts of Africa—it really is a blessing,” says Larry Schlomer, administrator of WELS World Missions. “It should allow us to make quicker, more confident decisions and to be better stewards of the resources God has given us so more mission work gets done.”

Already the One Africa Team has been collaborating with the Pastoral Studies Institute and WELS’ sister churches in Africa to examine potential confessional relationships and provide training:

  • In October 2017, WELS Zambian missionaries and several national pastors from the Lutheran Church of Central Africa–Zambia (LCCA-Z) traveled to Kenya and Ethiopia to continue fellowship discussions with one church body, to encourage and teach South Sudanese refugees in refugee camps, and to participate in a graduation service with one of WELS’ newest sister churches.
  • In September 2017, Philip Birner, a missionary in Zambia, and an LCCA–Z national pastor visited Rwanda to meet with a young church body interested in becoming confessional Lutheran.
  • Work also continues in Mozambique as the Lutheran Church of Central Africa—Malawi Synod encourages Mozambican Lutherans who live right across the border from Malawi.
  • Future priorities include looking more closely at two different groups in Liberia.

Africa isn’t the only mission field using this team approach. 1LA (One Latin America) coordinates ministry opportunities in Spanish-speaking countries, and a similar method is used in East Asia. “WELS overseas mission work was started decades ago. The world has changed. Instant communications, easier travel, and migrant tides make broader efforts much more necessary than before,” says Schlomer. “Our new world teams are poised to carry the gospel with an effective use of WELS resources to a rapidly expanding list of new people.”

Read more about WELS missions at wels.net/missions.

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Volume 105, Number 3
Issue: March 2018

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