Transport yourself to Africa, to Mozambique on Africa’s east coast. You’re watching the baptism of new Christians, plural, because the church is growing rapidly in Mozambique. You’re in Bible times. “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). You hear traditional baptismal questions, beginning with “Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways?” “Yes” comes the group’s answer but before the next traditional question, “Do you believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth?”, Pastor Carlos Walter Winterle added his own question. He asked if they renounced the fear and worship of their ancestral spirits. The group answered they did; one old woman shouting above the others, “Nevermore, nevermore, nevermore!” What a witness to us! “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).
Pastor Winterle preached this weekend at our church, Holy Cross in Collinsville, Illinois. He was here to receive an honorary doctorate from the faculty of Concordia Seminary. He said, “a new Pentecost is happening in Mozambique and God is adding more and more people to His family.” Here’s the encouraging picture. In 2015 the Lutheran church in Mozambique had 10 congregations when the first eight pastors graduated and were ordained. Now, there are more than 80 churches. Two new classes of 30 students each have been prepared for ministry, one since 2015 and the other since 2016.
From 1,000 church members in 2015, they have now more than 5,000. And the church is also spreading from the villages to the cities. Winterle said, “The doors are open to the Gospel and God’s kingdom is growing very fast.” Who among us can’t be energized?
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