Monday, May 5, 2008

Article on the Seminary

This article (with a couple minor changes) originally appeared in the 'Missions Corner' of the Cornerstone, Concordia Theological Seminary's student newspaper:

Missions should be simple, right? Send a pastor to preach the Gospel, and let the Word do the work. Perhaps even drink some Wittenberg beer while you’re at it. But no, Christ has chosen sinful human beings to proclaim the Gospel, and that can often lead to problems. Spending three weeks in South Africa definitely made me aware of this. One hundred and fifty years ago, German missionaries came to that country to spread the Gospel. They set up mission stations and big, beautiful churches. Souls had the Gospel preached to them, they were baptized and received the Lord’s Body and Blood. However, events completely out of their control threatened to derail the Lord’s work there. The Boer War and two World Wars saw many German missionaries placed in concentration camps, unable to serve their flock with the Gospel. During Apartheid, forced removals of blacks meant that church buildings were abandoned or destroyed. But the Lutheran Church survived, thanks in large part to native pastors trained by the Germans.
Every country (and every person) is a product of its history, and South Africa is no exception. Apartheid has left deep scars, and issues that affect the Lutheran Church as well as the country within which it dwells. The country has a lot of tension, and several racial incidents while we were there did not help matters. This tension is also manifest in the Church. Needless to say, missions in a country that has such deep racial issues can become quite complicated.
This is precisely why the seminary in Pretoria, Lutheran Theological Seminary- Tshwane, is so important. In, fact, I will boldly say here as I plan to do at every presentation I make that this seminary is absolutely VITAL to the survival of confessional Lutheranism in Africa. Let me say this again- LTS-Tshwane is a strong bulwark against the Lutheran World Federation, and without it, we may wonder if confessional Lutheranism would survive in Africa. Now I am not saying that other seminaries are also combating LWF, but the international character of this seminary, the vision of Dr. Weber, the expansion of the seminary campus make Pretoria an indispensible cog in the task of spreading the Gospel in a continent stuck in the mire of LWF blackmail. And how do they do this? By training pastors. Lay volunteers do help in the mission field, but ultimately, the people of Africa need men to proclaim the Gospel and administer the sacraments to them. The Office of the Holy Ministry is a mission office, as God works through a sinful man to give life, to bring people to faith. The seminaries in Africa, and especially this particular one, need our support and prayers as they bring the Gospel into the midst of conflict and poverty.
As I noted in the brief history lesson that began this article, missions can often be derailed by things outside of our control. War and racial problems hindered the spread of the Gospel, putting missionaries into camps and moving churches. Only the seeds planted by these German missionaries, and the men raised up and trained to serve allowed the Lutheran Church to survive. Today, the seminaries in Africa seek to raise up and prepare Africans to serve, so that despite what this sinful world might throw at the Church, the Gospel might be proclaimed.

Christopher Maronde

No comments: