Ethiopia
Professor Douglas Lange WLS ’77 (physical education) taught “The Babylonian Exilic History of Judah” in June at the Maor Theological College and Seminary in Bishoftu, Ethiopia. During the evening, he taught the same course online to about 20 students of Ethiopian descent living 4,000 miles south, in Cape Town, South Africa. The Ethiopian church and seminary were received into fellowship with WELS at the 2017 synod convention.
Professor Douglas Lange and his class at Maor Theological
College and Seminary in Bishoftu, Ethiopia.
Professor Lange (left) preached during the Sunday morning service,
and Dr. Kebede Yigezu (right) translated his words into Amharic.
Dr. Yigezu is president of both the seminary and the church body.
Finland
Dr. Keith Wessel and Pastor Juhani Viitala, head bishop of the
confessional Lutheran church in Finland.
Dr. Keith Wessel WLS ’91 (Greek) traveled to Pörkenäs, Finland, in July on behalf of the WELS Commission on Inter-Church Relations. He met with leaders of the Lutheran Confessional Church of Finland (Suomen Luterilainen Tunnustuskirkko) and presented “Serving Widows, Serving Women” at the church’s annual retreat.
Southeast Asia
Luke Meihack, Ms. Scharf, Elissa Koch (Beautiful
Savior-Summerville SC), and Kaitlyn Solofra (CrossWalk-Laveen AZ).
Director of Women’s Services Angela Scharf ’99 accompanied three MLC students on a short-term teaching trip to Southeast Asia in May. The team led an English camp for adults. “I learned an insane amount in a short period of time,” said Luke Meihack (Redeemer-Fond du Lac WI). “The mission field is very ripe, and there’s no limit to how far we can spread the gospel.”
This feature was originally published in the MLC InFocus, Fall 2018 issue.
