# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S28 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 28 OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS scriptions, saw James hovering over Francis with his own body to protect Francis from the sun. This was not done for show. This was the fruit of a humble servant of God. James, by the way, is the son of one of the first Leonean church leaders ever baptized and trained. He and the other Leonean church leaders are super eager to leapfrog off this signal event to begin a new effort to evangelize the Muslims in the area. Within weeks of the MMT, the church opened a new training center in the area! Please pray for the new generation of LCMS missionaries bringing the love and mercy of Christ to this poor, struggling part of the world, where the church is sorely persecuted! Rev. Jacob Gaugert, Rev. Micah Wildauer, and Rev. Ryan McDermott are teaching at the international seminary in northern Togo. Rev. Steve Schumacher is training men for the ministry at the seminary in Accra, Ghana. Rev. David Erber is working with the current pastors to get them ready for true leadership as they enter upon a new generation in the church, where last year they elected only their second church president in 65 years of existence. Rev. Doug Thompson is helping James Yasseh and others in Sierra Leone to bring that church to the next level of pastoral formation as they are working to establish a new seminary there. Rev. Charles Wokoma is serving in our oldest partner church of West Africa, the Lutheran Church of Nigeria (LCN). The LCN’s rich history of bold national leadership from Rev. Jonathan Udo Ekong, and many generations of missionary work, beginning with the pioneers Rev. Henry Nau and Deaconess Helen Kluck, has been well documented. Rev. Wokoma, with the help of periodic volunteer teachers, serves tirelessly in a faithful—and in our largest—partner seminary in Africa. Please pray for these missionaries of your church and their families! And support their work! It’s what we do! It’s what we’ve been doing for blessed generation after generation! To God be the glory! Africa Region, Eastern and Southern Area— Rev. Shauen Trump, Area Director The OIM collaboratively supports and encourages God’s people in Lutheran churches or Lutheran mission areas across Eastern and Southern Africa to enact the Holy Spirit’s work of building the church such that the clear proclamation of the Gospel may go forth. The OIM works closely with the following church bodies in mutually agreed activities that spread the Word, plant churches, and show mercy. These relationships are our highest priority in this area due to the opportunities they represent for the Gospel and the OIM’s capacity and resources that can be brought to bear for those particular opportunities: •• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya (Fellowship Partner, 2004) •• Lutheran Church of Uganda (Fellowship Requested) •• Lutheran Church of East Africa (Fellowship Requested) •• Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus •• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania–Select Dioceses •• Confessional Lutheran Church–Malawi Synod 2019 Convention Workbook •• Lutheran Mission in Africa–Synod of Thousand Hills (Fellowship Requested) •• Ethiopian Evangelical Lutheran Church (Fellowship Requested) The OIM also has relationships with other church bodies but has limited ability to engage due to a lack of resources to dedicate to the opportunities or due to the church body’s existing capacity to do the work God has put before it. The OIM currently has some level of engagement beyond correspondence with the following church bodies: •• Lutheran Church of Southern Africa (Fellowship Partner, 1989) •• Evangelical Lutheran Church of South Sudan / Sudan (Fellowship Requested) •• South Sudan Evangelical Lutheran Church (Fellowship Requested) •• Igreja Crista da Concórdia em Moçambique •• Lutheran Church of Sudan •• Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy Categorized by the Synod’s mission priorities, the following examples demonstrate the kind of work the OIM is doing in this area and what she anticipates doing in the next triennium. 1. Plant, sustain, and revitalize Lutheran churches Through the OIM, the church currently strives to provide funding, missionaries, or other material support for •• A local missionary pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya to plant churches in the remote northwest Turkana region •• The Mission Training Center program in the South East of Lake Victoria Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, which includes the expectation that program participants plant a new congregation before graduation from the program •• Motorcycle grants to provide local pastors the means to visit congregations and mission areas •• A local pastor or seminary student to provide catechesis and Word and Sacrament Ministry to rapidly growing numbers of refugees in the refugee camps of Kenya and Uganda •• The Mission Training Center program in the Lutheran Church of Uganda, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, and Confessional Lutheran Church—Malawi Synod, which provides training for lay leaders of congregations and often functions as a pre-seminary program •• Guest preaching, administration of Holy Communion, confirmation, and Baptism in the course of visits •• Roofing of church buildings for congregations transitioning into larger or more permanent worship spaces (also Priority 3—Human Care)