WELS World Missions: “My name will be great among the nations”

Wednesday morning’s presentations from the Commission on Inter-Church Relations (CICR) and the Board for World Missions echoed the sentiments shared in the morning’s opening devotion. Steven Prahl, pastor at Foundation, Peyton, Colo., encouraged the assembly of delegates “to look upon a world of broken and lost souls with compassion.”

A flourishing partnership in Africa

On Wednesday morning, delegates heard a presentation from Prof. James Danell, chairman of the Commission on Inter-Church Relations. He reported that the CICR is deferring its planned declaration of fellowship with the Africa Mission Evangelism Church (AMEC) in Tanzania to the 2027 convention (read the official statement).

The delay will allow more time for AMEC’s newly elected leadership to circulate its doctrinal statement even more widely among its congregations.

Despite the delay, Baltazar Kaaya, bishop of AMEC, attended the convention as a special guest. He expressed his gratitude for the partnership his church body shares with WELS. “I am so happy to be welcomed in the conference,” Kaaya shared. “It’s been a privilege to our church to have missionaries from WELS in our country visiting congregations but mainly holding seminars with all of our pastors.”

To help delegates better understand the complexities involved in declaring fellowship with other confessional Lutheran church bodies, Danell outlined the careful, thorough, and often years-long process followed by the CICR:

• As a first step, local missionaries take the lead in engaging the church body in conversation and guiding leadership through a discussion of Luther’s Small Catechism.
• Stage two involves deeper, more involved doctrinal conversations with a wider circle of leadership and church membership. A member of the CICR travels to the country and works in partnership with the One Africa Team to guide a church in developing a statement of faith. This stage culminates with CICR’s request for a formal group statement of faith and a church constitution for review.
• Stage three involves a greater focus on doctrine as it’s lived out in practice within the church body. Missionaries and even a CICR team member travel again to the country to see how the church body practically carries out worship, evangelism, stewardship, Christian education, doctrinal discipline, etc.
• In step four, if all parties agree, a declaration of fellowship is recommended and brought to the Synod in Convention.

“We fully anticipate that AMEC will complete this work and that we’ll bring the same recommendation back to the Synod in Convention in 2027. In the meantime, our One Africa Team has very concrete plans to continue to develop and nurture this relationship over the next two years,” said Danell. “I thank you for your patience and your understanding as we carefully and prayerfully carry out this work. We ask for God’s blessings on all who labor around the world in our name for unity of faith and love in Christ.”

Equipping a global missionary force

Delegates also heard an update on WELS World Missions from Rev. Jonathan Schroeder, chairman of the Board for World Missions, and Rev. Larry Schlomer, World Missions administrator. During his introductory remarks, Schroeder shared that WELS shares fellowship with church bodies in 49 foreign countries with exploratory work in 16 prospective mission fields.

He urged the assembly to remember its God-given purpose to act as the Lord’s mouth to an unbelieving world. “You have been called on to preach Christ publicly, to share Christ privately, to live Christ openly,” said Schroeder. “This is an invitation to be a mission that takes this message to every tribe and language and nation and people.”

When Schlomer took the stage, he set the scene for the work WELS carries out in the world with the Lord’s prophecy found in Malachi 1:11: “ ‘My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,’ says the LORD Almighty.”

Schlomer reported on many of the ways in which WELS supports and trains over 500 pastors and 300,000 members outside the United States. He also highlighted the goal, as stated in the proposed long-range strategic plan, to serve 1,000,000 members by 2035 in the United States and beyond. For example, God has richly blessed mission work in places like Ukraine, Tanzania, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Latin America. Programs like TELL and Academia Cristo have also been instrumental in extending the synod’s reach far beyond existing borders and barriers.

During his presentation, Schlomer shared a vision of a global confessional Lutheran church with a shared, borderless mission. “This network . . . will be with us when we reach our heavenly home,” he shared. “Let’s step into this mission. Let’s ask the Lord to bless our work so that the gospel can be heard in the darkest corners of the world.”

On Wednesday evening, delegates heard presentations from world missionaries, including Rev. Luis Acosta (Academia Cristo for Spanish ministry), Dr. Erik Landwehr (Native American Missions), and Rev. Howard Mohlke (One Africa Team). To watch the presentations, visit welsconvention.net/news/livestream. Learn more about WELS World Missions at wels.net/missions.